Friday Five

The Friday Five: December 30, 2011

Friday Five

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:

How about we take a shuffle through 2011?

The Healing Tree” by Kensington Prairie (from The Healing Tree, 2011)

This little EP was enough to tide me over, but I’m sincerely hoping for new material from Kensington Prairie in 2012.

“A Simple Song” by Colin Hay (from Gathering Mercury, 2011)

Gathering Mercury is easily one of my favorite releases of the last twelve months.

Maybe Baby” by Justin Townes Earle (from Rave On Buddy Holly, 2011)

This record has been sitting on my desk for months and I have had no strong urge to actually listen to it. Listening now, I may actually go back and listen to the rest. It could just be the good fit of Justin Townes Earle’s tenor with the material, but this isn’t half bad.

Anything (feat. Swizz Beatz)” by Musiq (from Musiqinthemagiq, 2011)

Mr. Soulchild stepped outside of his neo-soul wheelhouse for this one, with mixed results. The addition of a Swizz Beatz feature just makes the whole thing feel contrived. This record didn’t make a whole lot of noise (despite moving 33,000 copies its first week.) Here’s hoping Musiq goes back to the drawing board in 2012.

Stick Around” by Mayer Hawthorne (from How Do You Do, 2011)

I don’t know, this Mayer Hawthorne cat leaves me cold. I get what he’s trying to do, but it just feels like he’s trying too damn hard. The arrangements hit all the right markers, the vocals are serviceable, but it’s all too clean.

What’s on your shuffle today?

7 Comments

  • Anonymous

    1) Kelly Willis — “What Did You Think” (Easy, 2002)
    2) Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses — “Junky Star” (Junky Star, 2010)
    3) Cyrus Chestnut — “In The Garden” (Earth Stories, 1995)
    4) Danilo Perez — “Round Midnight” (PanaMonk 1996)
    5) Lucinda Williams — “Buttercup” (Blessed, 2011)

    Happy New Year everyone!

  • Mike Duquette

    1. Michael Jackson, “Bad (Extended Dance Mix)”: “includes false fade,” as the 12″ sleeve trumpets. I do love those horn parts, and as I got more than a few MJ-oriented gifts for Christmas, he’s been getting a lot more rotation than usual. It’s like my iPod knew!

    2. John Williams, “The Arrival of Tink/Flight to Neverland”: from the awesome score to the oft-maligned “Hook” (which, I’ve said before, people in my age group seem to adore). I’m really hoping one of the indie soundtrack reissue labels does a deluxe version of this one in the new year; there’s good music missing even from this very cue.

    3. Bon Jovi, “You Give Love a Bad Name”: not a fan past the singles – which is weird, because I live in New Jersey – but this one still holds up. That sub-“Owner of a Lonely Heart” synth stab before the second verse notwithstanding.

    4. Queen, “Friends Will Be Friends”: I like that this one showed up, given how many wonderful new friends I’ve made this year.

    5. John (Cougar) Mellencamp, “Can You Take It”: from “American Fool,” an album I like but think is slightly overproduced – by Mellencamp standards, anyway.

    Happy 2012, everyone! It is my pleasure to meet you back in the New Year and share Friday Fives, until the Mayans correctly predict the end of civilization, leaving Jon Cusack and his plucky children to save us all.

  • Anonymous

    I put together a pretty rad special New Year’s Eve WeekEND ’80s Dance Party mix for Popdose (it’ll publish early tomorrow afternoon), so I decided to shuffle through my massive ’80s 12″/Extended/Dance/Remix collection for my Five.

    “In the Air Tonight (Extended Version)” by Phil Collins (1981). This one is a little more than 7 1/2 minutes long and opens with this weird piano intro. This mix also is a lot more, um, industrial sounding than the single version. It’s a very strange mix, but I kind of love it.

    “Enjoy the Silence (12″ Mix)” by Depeche Mode (1989). If you’re planning a goth/emo themed NYE party, you need to play this.

    “Suburbia (The Full Horror)” by Pet Shop Boys (1986). This clocks in at almost 9 minutes. And it is fantastic. I also love the name they gave this extended mix — I’m a big fan of bands who give their 12″ remixes clever names.

    “I Can’t Wait (12″ Mix)” by Nu Shooz (1986). I actually have two different remixes of this song and this one is the longer version at almost 6 1/2 minutes. It has a really strange breakdown in the middle and also samples Madonna’s “Into the Groove.”

    “C’est La Vie (Extended Version)” by Robbie Nevil (1986). Bet you didn’t know there was a mix of this song that clocks in at 7 minutes. Now you do.

  • Anonymous

    1.  “Thunder Rail” – Austin Lucas – A New Home In The Old World
    2.  “The Most” – Lori McKenna – Lorraine
    3.  “Move Over Mama” – Justin Townes Earle – Harlem River Blues
    4.  “Midnight In Harlem” – Tedeschi Trucks Band – Revelator
    5.  “My Opening Farewell” – Alison Krauss & Union Station – Paper Airplane

    Happy 2012 to everyone!    Looking forward to more great tunes like these!

  • EightE1

    Kelly Clarkson, “Alone.” Ron Paul’s favorite American Idol winner. Though her endorsement is a shame, this song rocks.

    Jimi Hendrix Experience, “EXP.” I can only imagine this freaking out some fans of the lysergic stuff back in the day.

    Eagles, “Best of My Love.” Henley is a tool.  This song is beautiful.

    Pixies, “Velouria.”  The mighty Pixies. Mighty, mighty Pixies.

    Charlie Haden w/ Gonzalo Rubalcaba, “Sueno Solo Con Tu Amor.” From the lovely Land of the Sun record. Worth checking out, if’n you’re into that kinda thing.

    • Baby Blerdy New Year

      @EightE1:disqus 
      : Gonzalo Rubalcaba is one of my favorite musician names ever:

      “Fire”-The Jimi Hendrix Experience: I think every fourth song Lenny Kravitz records inadvertently copies this.

      “Nightingale”-Norah Jones: Man, her voice sure is purty.

      “Love Hurts”-Nazareth: I think I’ve finally stopped automatically associating this song with the stupid commercial it was in.

      “Ain’t No Telling”-The Jimi Hendrix Experience: shuffle is diggin’ on some Jimi today!

      “Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)”-Jay-Z: Black Superhero Music!!

      Happy New Year, everyone!

  • Dennis Corrigan

    Strolling back through 2011 – to me one of the strongest years for music in some time.  It had quality releases right off the bat in January (The Decemberists’ King is Dead) right up through December (The Roots’ Undun)

    1. “So Young” by the Rolling Stones from the Some Girls reissue.  Naturally first off comes an outtake from Some Girls.  The may seem like heresy, but on the whole I think I’ve enjoyed the outtakes from Some Girls more than those from Exile on Main Street.
    2. “All Die Young” by the Smith Westerns from Dye It Blonde.  A totally enjoyable record
    3. “Civilian” by Wye Oak from Civilian. This record never really grabbed me, title track to the contrary
    4. “My Home Town” by Blitzen Trapper from American Goldwing – I would have liked these guys better if Dawes hadn’t totally blown the house away right before them
    5. “When I Get Like This” by Steve Cropper & Lucinda Williams from Dedicates – A Salute to the 5 Royales.  This is a really great R&B record

    Happy to New Year to all, and hope 2012 brings as much good listening as 2011!

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