The Friday Five: November 4, 2011
Friday Five : ‘frī-(,)dā,-dē ‘fīv : On the sixth day of every week, I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes, then share the first five tracks and thought for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, occasionally we’ll have a guest, but most of the time it’s just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments.
The Five:
I hear that my little town—Newtown, CT—has made the news recently as being “ground zero” for the power outages effecting the Northeast, thanks to the Halloween snowstorm this past weekend. I say “hear” as I’ve been living life a little bit more simply the past few days, relying on the kindness of friends and family to get warmth, recharge my batteries and catch up on the world.
So … live, from my Mother-In-Law’s dining room, it’s the Friday Five!
“This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race” by Fall Out Boy (from, Believers Never Die – Greatest Hits, 2009)
“All My Tomorrows” by Frank Sinatra (from, Nothing but the Best, 2008)
“Hated” by The Afghan Whigs (from, Up in It, 1990)
“Mr. Bojangles (live)” by Nina Simone (from, To Be Free: The Nina Simone Story, 2008)
“Datskat” by The Roots (from Buy-Product 1, 1995)
What’s on your shuffle today?
7 Comments
Phil
Rush – “Manhattan Project” (A Show of Hands, 1988)
Another Friday Five, another live Rush track to kick off the list, this time from their more polished, synth-based period. Though this is not the Rush I was first introduced to, nor is it the Rush I immediately reach for, I really liked their 80s output. This is a great album, although it is so polished you forget at times you’re listening to concert performances.
King’s X – “Far, Far Away” (Out of the Silent Planet, 1988)
Excellent track from the debut album of my favorite band. Some of the songs from this disc are beginning to sound dated, but I love Ty Tabor’s guitar tone, the vocal harmonies, and the swirling sitar in the background. This is the beginning of the sound that King’s X perfected on its next release Gretchen Goes to Nebraska and the sonic palette some fans wish the trio would revisit.
The Waiting – “Nobody’s Love” (Blue Belly Sky, 1998)
Poppy upbeat fare from a 90s jangly alterno-pop Contemporary Christian band that I had a brief infatuation with. Their lyrics and musical style set them well apart from their CCM kindred whose sickly-sweet bubblegum pop sounds filled the airwaves on my local CCM FM station.
The Isley Brothers – “Love the One You’re With” (Givin’ It Back, 1971)
I love the vocals on this Isley Brothers take of the Stephen Stills song. They seem to be feeling it more than Stills ever did.
Geoff Tate – “Grain of Faith” (Geoff Tate, 2002)
The Queensrÿche frontman’s solo album was quite a bit different stylistically from the music his main gig was putting out a the time. A bit more on the pop side, the songs still have some guitar crunch tempered with more electronic and ambient elements and drum loops than you might expect. But that voice is ever-present throughout. Worth a listen if you’ve never heard it before.
Anonymous
1. “Lily Was Here” – Dave Stewart & Candy Dulfer – Pure Moods
2. ” Desolation Row” – Chris Smither – Live at Middle Earth Mussic Hall Bradford, VT
3. “Never Make your Move Too Soon” – Ry Cooder – Borderline
4. “Morning Is My Destination” – Tift Merritt – Another Country
5. “Wonderful World” – Sam Cooke – Sam Cooke: Greatest Hits
Anonymous
1) Tracy Chapman — “Fast Car” (Tracy Chapman, 1988). Saddled by a shaky economic climate and elder care responsibilities, the young protagonist in this song remains hopeful of finding one’s place in the world. This may have been recorded over 23 years ago but still has considerable resonance in the here and now.
2) Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions — “People Get Ready” (People Get Ready! The Curtis Mayfield Story, 1996). The late Curtis Mayfield defined soulful in every sense of the word. No one can deny the uplifting power of Mayfield’s gentle but determined resolve in this civil rights anthem.
3) Stevie Wonder — “Overjoyed” (Natural Wonder, 1995). A sublime live version full of earnest sweetness and terrific string accompaniment.
4) Black Keys — “Howlin’ For You” (Brothers, 2010). Distorted disco meets Village People redux call ‘n response in a mashup driven by hazy testosterone fuel. I doubt anyone else can pull this off but it works. Looking forward to the new album later this year.
5) Nanci Griffith — “Going Back To Georgia” (Flyer, 1994). Fine country-spun duet with Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz.
Dennis Corrigan
Like Michael, I’m a refugee from the Connecticut power outages, having hightailed it up to my folks in New Hampshire when enough became enough. Our town’s restored, so Michael when I get back you’re welcome to come south if you need to.
1. “Stagger Lee” by Wilson Pickett from A Man and a Half – The Wilson Pickett Anthology. A little Wicked Pickett will warm up the coldest soul
2. “Swingtown” by the Steve Miller Band from Book of Dreams. Admit it, you own or have owned multiple copies of his Greatest Hits record.
3. “Something Inside Me” by Elmore James from Blue Masters Volume 8, Mississippi Delta Blues – just an incredible sound
4. “Orange Juice Blues (Blues for Breakfast)” by the Band from A Musical History. A Basement Tapes track
5. “I Want Someone” by the Mad Lads from The Complete Stax/Volt Singles 1959-1968. I plunked down some (OK a lot) of my hard earned junior officer pay and had this thing shipped to Germany when it came out. It continues to turn me on to great stuff all these years later
Hope everyone stays warm and hears (or sees) something great this weekend!
Blerd
Well–my night just went down the shitter! Fortunately, I have a Friday Five and what looks to be a fun weekend ahead. I promise to have all the pissypantsness out of my system by tomorrow morning.
1-“Right On” by Clarence Wheeler & The Enforcers
2-“I’ll Be Around” by The Spinners
3-“Single” by Everything But the Girl…one of my favorite songs ever
4-“Obsession” by Animotion…not one of my favorite songs ever
5-“Readymade” by Beck
Pete
1. The Black Keys – “Next Girl” (Brothers, 2010) –
2. Prince & the NPG – “Milk & Honey” (live, 2006 BET Awards Afterhow, ‘Hotel California’) – With Shelby singing (I think). Prince loves her, that’s evident. How long has she been performing with him now? 5-6 years?
3. Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears – “Since I Met You Baby” (Scandalous, 2010) – A nice uptempo soul ballad.
4. Bruce Springsteen – “If I Should Fall Behind” (live, April 24, 1996, Brixton Academy, UK). Great Tom Joad Tour bootleg.
5. Lily Allen – “The Fear” (It’s Not Me, It’s You, 2009) – I’m not sure if I’d consider Lily a guilty pleasure, but I like her music when I hear it, and I like her performances when I see her (she shows up from time to time on the Palladia UK festival shows). Yum.
Mike Duquette
Listened on a Friday, posted on a Saturday:
1. Bruce Springsteen, “Brilliant Disguise”: I love this song. If I knew all the words, I’d find a little coffeehouse or bar and put together a cover band to sing this song.
2. All-American Rejects, “Stab My Back”: Get me drunk enough and I will walk you through a poorly-constructed, obviously bullshit theory about AAR being the 2000s version of Cheap Trick. I know I’m wrong, but I definitely remember devising this theory.
3. Green Day, “She’s a Rebel”: I was old enough to care but not quite old enough to vote when this album came out, but I really wonder how great time has been to the record in full. It feels too shiny to be a real protest record, and turning the story into a Broadway musical was a little too Who-like, if you ask me.
4. Duran Duran, “Too Much Information”: One of my favorite songs off the not-as-good-as-the-sum-of-its-parts 1993 self-titled album (the comeback LP with “Ordinary World” and “Come Undone.” A weird sort of bridge between their New Wave-y stylings and something more ’90s modern-rock.
5. Duran Duran, “Is There Something I Should Know? (Monster Mix)”: I feel like the 12″ of this non-LP single was crafted hastily – it’s more of a dub than a true remix. I remember reading that Bob Clearmountain did a proper 12″ mix that remains unreleased, and greatly regret that the recent round of expanded Duran albums didn’t include this.