The Friday Five: February 17, 2012
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:
“Armageddon It” by Def Leppard (from Vault: Greatest Hits 1980-1995, 1995)
It’s not my favorite Def Leppard song, but it is as catchy as VD at the Jersey Shore (or, somewhat ironically, a Def Leppard show during the Hysteria tour.)
“Candy Store Rock” by Led Zeppelin (from Boxed Set, 1990)
The Zeppelin box set was standard issue for high school students in the early ’90s.
“Nobody But You” by The Apples in Stereo (from Travellers in Space and Time, 2010)
Phew, I was getting worried that Matt Wardlaw had somehow possessed this week’s shuffle.
“Wrapped Up in Books” by Belle and Sebastian (from Dear Catastrophe Waitress, 2003)
I’m suddenly getting sleepy.
“Come Up to My Room (feat. Tha Dogg Pound)” by Jodeci (from Murder Was the Case, 1994)
Whoa, that is like puling the emergency break while speeding—albeit rather gently—down the highway.
What’s on your shuffle today?
8 Comments
Phil
AC/DC – “What Do You Do For Money Honey” (Back in Black, 1980)
Yeah! Off to a good start so far. I absolutely love the chorus on this one.
Andrew Peterson – “Mystery of Mercy” (The Far Country, 2005)
Peterson has popped up on previous Friday Fives. This is a song of his that CCM act Caedmon’s Call recorded for their 2003 album Back Home and is one of the strongest tracks on this album.
U2 – “God Part II” (Rattle and Hum, 1988)
Meh track from a meh-ish kind of album. I never really got the point of Rattle and Hum, although I do dig their version of “All Along the Watchtower.”
Ramones – “Bop ‘Til You Drop” (Ramones Mania, 1988)
Just over 2 minutes of Ramones goodness. Nice.
Phil Keaggy – “Passing Thought” (Acoustic Sketches, 1996)
Looks like my iTunes is all over the place today. Acoustic Sketches is (true to its name) an acoustic album from criminally underrated and largely unknown CCM guitarist Phil Keaggy, and as the song title suggests, this is a sort of segue track on the album. Keaggy is an amazing guitarist. He does this thing live with digital delays where he lays down a guitar part and loops it, then starts layering on more and more parts so that he can play along with himself. This album was one of the backing tracks for my web programming years ago.
Pete
1. Willie Nelson – “Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning” (Always on My Mind, 1982). Beautiful heartache ballad. One of my Willie faves.
2. Vampire Weekend – “White Sky” (Contra, 2010). I do have a soft spot for these fellows.
3. Gov’t Mule – “Bad Little Doggie” (Deepest End: Live in Concert, 2003). Bone crunching rock n roll, sounding great on a Friday morn.
4. Willie Nelson – “Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Eachother” (iTunes exclusive, 2006). Okay, um, what’s going on here? 20,000 songs and 2 Willie tunes? And Willie’s oddest song of all time to boot?
5. Bob Dylan w/ Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers – “Thank God” (Rich for Poor, 1986 – live bootleg).
Honorable Mention: #6 is “Morning Song to Sally” by Jerry Jeff Walker. Another in my list of favorite heartsick ballads. A classic.
“For it seems our love was destined to be caught in other nets / But the love we held so brief I’d chance again without regrets”
A nice live version from Jerry Jeff here.
BillCass
Lisa Stanfield-Mack the Knife. Before there was Amy or Adele, there was Lisa Stanfield. And she ruled. A great rendition of the classic Bobby Darin song.
Kelly Willis-I don’t Want to Love You But I do. Kelly Willis is one of the most underrated country singers around.
The Belleville Outlet-Will This End in Tears. I saw this band open for Junior Brown and they were amazing. This is a great song, and I highly recommend this band. A sort of country jazz with a couple of classically trained musicians.
Venon Wearin’ Denim-Junior Brown. Well that’s weird. I really like Junior, but can’t take too much of him. But this is a cool song.
I Saw Her Standing There-Beatles-Live at the BBC. Like I can really comment on this.
jhallCORE
1) John Mellencamp — “Pink Houses” (Words & Music: John Mellencamp’s Greatest Hits, 2004). Okay, this has been misappropriated by lame politicians over the years but it still holds up very well.
2) Bonnie Raitt — “Good Man, Good Woman” (Luck Of The Draw, 1991). Fun duet with Delbert Mcclinton. Looking forward to Bonnie’s new disc in April. Apparently, it will include a couple of covers from Dylan’s Time Out Of Mind album.
3) Paul Simon — “Cecelia” (Concert In The Park, 1991). Odd that this would follow right after Bonnie. Saw this concert the day after seeing Bonnie at the Mann Music Center back in 1991.
4) Erykah Badu — “My Life” (Mama’s Gun, 2000). Haven’t been able to get into her more recent stuff but my advancing age may be the culprit here.
5) Ben Harper — “Better Way” (Both Sides Of The Gun, 2006). Seems to have lost his way a bit musically in recent years. Had a good run for a while. Hopefully, he can reclaim some of that mojo.
Blerd
Prince-“Better With Time” (from “Lotusflow3r”): Probably my favorite Prince song of the past five years or so. It’s a retread, but it’s a very well done retread.
Lansing-Dreiden-“Missing Message” (from “The Incomplete Triangle”): My friend Leon gave this album to me years ago, telling me I’d love it. I can’t say I’ve ever listened to it straight through, but every time a song pops up randomly, I’m like “shit, I really need to give this one a spin!”
Bob James-“Angela (Theme From Taxi)” (from “Touchdown”): TV show themes kicked ass in the Seventies.
Rihanna-“Say It” (from “Good Girl Gone Bad”): From back when she was actually kind of demure. She’s lost major likability points with me this last week or so.
Loverboy-“Lovin’ Every Minute of It” (from “Lovin’ Every Minute Of It”): Matt Wardlaw lives!
EightE1
Wardlaw nothin’! You love “Lovin’ Every Minute of It,” and you know it. Shit, even I love “Lovin’ Every Minute of It,” and I know it. Whoa- whoa, whoa-whoa!
EightE1
Buddy Guy, “Bad Life Blues”
Stevie Wonder, “Ebony Eyes”
Grateful Dead, “Casey Jones”
Eddie Money, “Shakin'”
The Police, “Deathwish”
Dennis Corrigan
It’s an IrishJava Theme Time Friday Five featuring songs containing “happy” , “joy” or “smile” in their titles – vacation time for me!
1. “Happy Song” by the Rascals from the Rascals Anthology. The later stuff is so good, like this little bit of joy
2. “Happy” by the Rolling Stones from the Brussels Affair bootleg. First song I heard on the way to work this morning was the original version from Exile which just put me in a great mood (as those of you who follow me on twitter know). Coincidentally I heard Public Image Ltd.’s “Happy” on my afternoon coffee run, but that’s not quite the same now, is it? Anyway, this versions smokes with Mick Taylor and Bobby Keys wailing away. “Merci, Keith!”
3. “Joyce No. 2” by Johnson Mkhalali from the Indestructible Beat of Soweto Volume One. OK, so I didn’t quite get the editing right on the smart playlist, but this infectious little tune fits the mood. You can hear why Paul Simon & Vampire Weekend wanted to make Graceland and their entire sound, respectively, based on music like this.
4. “Savannah Smiles” by Okkervil River from The Stage Names. They’re in the same category with Spoon of bands I try to like but can’t quite get over the hump.
5. “Happy Town” by the Replacements from All Shook Down. Yeah it’s basically the Mats in name only on this record, but I’ve always kind a liked it. “Actors, authors, artists and thieves have afternoon parties where nobody heaves”
Happy weekend to one and all – and hope you hear something great this weekend!