• Friday Five

    The Friday Five: April 30, 2010

    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:

    Would you believe I actually forgot it was Friday? I was able to sneak in a quick listening session during a short break between meetings, here’s what I heard:

    “Let Me Love You Tonight” by Pure Prairie League (from The Best of Pure Prairie League, 1995)

    “A Matter of Trust” by Billy Joel (from The Bridge, 1986)

    “Rapture” by Seed (from Ling, 1994)

    “Stars Fell on Alabama” by Cannonball Adderly & John Coltrane (from Cannonball & Coltrane, 1960)

    “3×5” by John Mayer (from Room for Squares, 2001)

    What’s on your shuffle today?

  • Friday Five

    The Friday Five: December 11, 2009

    https://ickmusic.com/pics/FridayFive03.png

    Friday Five : ˈfrī-(ˌ)dā,-dē ˈfīv : On the sixth day of every week I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five and drop a little knowledge and insight for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, sometimes there isn’t. Sometimes we have 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:

    Ani DiFranco – “Hide and Seek” (from Living in Clip, 1997)

    Steve Perry – “If Only for the Moment, Girl” (mp3) (from Street Talk, 1984)

    The Smashing Pumpkins – “Cherub Rock” (from Siamese Dream, 1993)

    Joe Jackson – “Tiger Rag” (from Tucker: The Man and His Dream, 1988)

    John Mayer – “Perfectly Lonely” (mp3) (from Battle Studies, 2009)

    It’s still Friday, right? What are you listening to this evening?

  • Rock

    Ickmusic’s Friday Five: October 24, 2008

    Takes a Shuffle but it Keeps on Tickin'.

    Is it 5:00 EST already? Who’s ready to shuffle out into the weekend?

    For those who have not joined in the Five, here’s how it works: … I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five with a bit of insight for each track.

    Then it’s your turn! Just share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments and see what your fellow readers are listening to as well.

    Here are this week’s tracks:

    1. Counting Crows – St. Robinson in His Cadillac Dream / Kid Things (from This Desert Life)

    I’ve always connected with this tune. It’s laid back mid-tempo sing-song feel coupled with the big Hammond organ sound just hit me in the right spot.  “Kid Things” is about as close to a ‘happy’ record as Adam Duritz could muster (this in the days before “Accidentally in Love” proved he could write a truly ‘happy’ love song).

    2. Ayla BrookWake Up Early (mp3) (from After the Morning After)

    This track makes you feel like you are sitting in the room with the band. This is one of my favorite records of 2008.

    3. John Mayer – St. Patrick’s Day (from Room for Squares)

    From his major label debut, this tune along with “City Love” and “Neon” showed the true potential that has come to fruition in his more recent records.

    4. New Edition – If It Isn’t Love (from Hits)

    My second favorite New Edition song… “Cool It Now” holds the top spot though.

    5. Prince – 1999 (from Foefur’s Remaster: 1999)

    Since it’s not likely that His Royal Badness is not likely to allow Warner Bros. to re-master and re-release his catalog, nor will he be inclined to do so when he obtains the masters, some brave and intrepid fans decided to take it on themselves. Truth be told, this version ‘sounds’ one hundred times better than the Warner Bros. CD version.

    Ready! Set! Shuffle!

  • Rock

    Review: John Mayer Live at New England Dodge Center

    Mayer leaves the paparazzi behind and delivers a heartfelt set to his hometown crowd.

    What Would You Do For A John Mayer?“Here are the delays and cancellations of your problems…” promised an earnest John Mayer Saturday night, and for the two hours he occupied the stage, he delivered just that. He quietly walked onstage and kicked straight into his Continuum heavy set with a humble determination that shined though every note. And while his crowd may have proved quite lame (seriously, who sits for an entire show and texts for three quarters of it?) he delivered a solid and energetic show that will stick with me for quite some time.

    Mayer kicked off the set with the mid-tempo burner “Belief” into the soulful “Vultures”. A quick guitar change later (seriously, the guy rolls with an obscene amount of gear) brought the first cover of the evening in the form of Robert Johnson/Cream‘s classic “Crossroads” which had a decidedly funky twist to it. This was also the first opportunity that he took to let his guitar playing take the center stage. And say what you want about his pop-leanings and celebrity persona, Mayer knows how to throw down and can hang with the best of them.

    “I can’t tell you how happy I am tonight. There’s nothing like coming back home to play a show” was his first spoken words to the crowd (at about 20 minutes into the show, no less) and it was clear that he was feeling the love and enjoying playing for family, friends and fans alike. The pairing of “I Don’t Trust Myself (With Loving You)” and “Dreaming With a Broken Heart” lead my wife to the observation that he really does put the “Bad Boyfriend Material” warning out there.

    The acoustic portion of the set featured a heartfelt dedication to his parents (who were in attendance) and the second and third covers of the evening in the form of Tom Petty‘s “Free Falling” followed by an absolutely sick 12-bar blues based take on Duffy‘s “Mercy”. Why it is that despite having a fairly decent amount of his own material he chooses to play covers is beyond me, but the crowd certainly ate it up.

    From here Mayer sailed through a pair of early hits lamenting “you can only really play one place where you’re singing “I wanna run through the halls of my high school” and you guys know where that high school is”, leading up to the set closer “Gravity”. This was actually the second time that I got to hear this performed (the first being with the John Mayer Trio) and it still carries the power that it did then (and you can hear for yourself at the end of this post). The encore (which was chosen by the fans via his website) wrapped with his current single “Say” at which point my wife and I decided to trek back to the car.

    If you’ve not experienced John Mayer live I can heartily recommend checking him out when he swings through town.

    John Mayer
    New England Dodge Center, Hartford, CT
    August 23, 2008

    Set List:

    Belief
    Vultures
    Crossroads
    I Don’t Trust Myself (With Loving You)
    Dreaming With a Broken Heart
    Stop This Train
    Daughters
    Free Falling
    Mercy
    No Such Thing
    Why Georgia
    Find Another You
    Stitched Up
    Bigger Than My Body
    Gravity

    In Repair
    Waiting on the World to Change
    Say

    Bonus Download!
    John MayerGravity (MP3)
    [audio:17 Gravity.mp3]

    Download the whole show here (Archive.org)

    Buy Where the Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles: Amazon | iTunes

    Links: Official Site | on Last.fm | on MySpace