This is the All Good Things Must Pass (Especially Vacations) edition.

Shuffle, five, describe.

1. Tommy Flanagan, John Coltrane, Idrees Sulieman & Kenny Burrell - Minor Mishap. A snappy number from a 1957 record called "The Cats". This was a session record, not a formal band - just a one-off gathering. Still, these guys make it sound better than most bands ever could. Happily, Coltrane is succinct here; his solo is in and out in a few bars, instead of wandering around for a few minutes. That's the right amount of Coltrane, for me.
2. Rush - Tears. A very mellow tune, from the backside of "2112". The slow tempo and the Mellotron parts give it a distinct mid-era King Crimson vibe (the quieter parts of "Red", for example). I haven't ever wanted to hear this song.
3. Mudhoney - The Farther I Go. And this, from Mudhoney's first full length record, would be the opposite of mellow: fuzzed-out and pounding, and over in 127 furious seconds. Yum-O.
4. Bob Dylan - One Of Us Must Know. Well, I dunno... Harmonicas grate on me, Dylan's voice - always hit or miss - misses, and the song itself is not his strongest. Pass.
5. Doc & Merle Watson - Hobo Bill's Last Ride. You can always tell a Jimmie Rodgers song - those little bits of yodeling at the end of verses give it away every time. And this is one of the many Jimmie Rodgers songs Doc does. Doc's vocals are sweet as always, and the playing is nice. There's not a lot of technical flash here, but it's a nice tune.

Evs.

Now you.

Random 10. Links optional. Describe the one you like the least.

1. Radiohead - I Will
2. Syd Barrett - She Took A Long Cold Look
3. Stevie Ray Vaughan & Albert King - Pride And Joy. This is, to me, the weakest song in the SRV & King set. While SRV is all over this, King seems a little lost, unsure of what to play during the verses, and tentative in his solo. I assume that's because the rest of the set was (according to Wiki) part of King's live show, while "Pride And Joy" was a SRV song and had been released that year - King was probably not used to playing it.
4. The Beatles - Happiness Is A Warm Gun
5. The Faces - You're So Rude
6. Artie Shaw & Helen Forrest - Deep Purple
7. Dirty Projectors - Cannibal Resource
8. NiN - Down In It
9. Police - Deathwish
10. Madeleine Peyroux & William Galison - Playin

Now you do it.

Shuffle-up ten, list them. Link, if you have the energy.

Pick your favorite of the ten, tell us why we should love it.

1. Nod - 500 Hurts
2. Neutral Milk Hotel - Where You'll Find Me Now
3. Modern Lovers - Girlfriend
4. Talking Heads - Psycho Killer (The Name Of This Band... version. Whistle Test video)
5. Beastie Boys - So What Cha Want
6. Beck - Walls
7. The Black Keys - Too Afraid To Love You
8. Anat Cohen - Washington Square Park.
9. The Cure - One Hundred Years
10. Gillian Welch - Paper Wings. From her/their first album, "Revival". It's a sweet and sad Patsy Cline meets Cowboy Junkies country waltz, with a full band behind Welch's vocals - including an electric guitar doing those classic heavy reverb, tremolo, country whammy-bar-dive train-horn chords. The band, and that 1950's sound sets it apart from most other Welch/Rawlings songs, but it's still a pretty song, done well. Recommended!

One from ten.

Go!

five. shuffle and describe!

1. The Cure - Other Voices. One of those cold, brittle things from Faith. Yum. Interestingly, songwriter Russ Ballard snatched the bass line from this song for use in Frida's "I Know There's Something Going On" (on which Phil Collins played drums).
2. Sonic Youth - Beautiful Plateau. A quick instrumental. Echoes of their really early stuff (ex. Confusion Is Sex), but is post-Goo era, probably. Doesn't do much for me.
3. Broken Social Scene - Swimmers. This song always sounds like it's going to bust out into a huge exaltation of a chorus, but it never does. If this was a New Pornographers' song, it would have the biggest, brassiest, sing-along-iest chorus ever. Instead, this one just repeats the same four bars over and over... Pretty, but, it needs a little something more.
4. Modern Lover - Modern World (alternative version). You don't hear a lot of songs with lyrics like "I Love The USA", these days; the modern world in the 70s was a lot different than the modern world of today, I guess. I do like the "Put down that cigarette and drop out of B.U." line.
5. Van Halen - Bottom's Up. A snappy shuffle from their second record. Damn, Eddie's rhythm guitar sound is just killer.

do eet!

Special Back To School edition.

shuffle. five. describe.

1. Lucinda Williams - Lonely Girls. A slow, sad, sleepy song. Repetitive, and just barely avoids monotony because it sounds exactly like a Monday morning after a long vacation. So, I can, sortof, relate.
2. Robyn Hitchcock - It's All Over Now, Baby Blue. A Dylan cover, from his all-Dylan "Robyn Sings" album. I vastly prefer Robyn's covers to Dylan's originals - Dylan's voice and delivery just kills songs for me; Hitchcock's voice is infinitely better, which paradoxically lets one pay more attention to the words and less attention to the delivery.
3. The Pogues - Jesse James. A good, stompy, sing-along. I could probably do without the gunfight sound effects. And the reverb on that one guitar seems excessive.
4. Flamin Groovies - Yes It's Time. Hard to believe this one was released in '76; it really sounds like like something from '66. Though the same can be said about bands like Harlem, who stick to that sound today.
5. Anita O'Day - Love Me Or Leave Me. Swingin. I can't tell if her voice is gravelly or if she's distorting the mic, but it's a nice effect. As always, it sounds like she's smiling while she's singing it.

Do it.

Special I-forgot-it's-Monday edition...

Ten songs, random, list them.

1. Joy Division - Disorder
2. Yo La Tengo - Superstar-Watcher
3. Robyn Hitchcock - Executioner
4. El Chapo de Sinaloa - Para Que Regreses
5. Robyn Hitchcock - Full Moon In My Soul (live)
6. Beatles - Every Little Thing
7. We Were Promised Jetpacks - This Is My House, This Is My Home
8. The Kinks - Good Luck Charm (BBC)
9. Gillian Welch - Elvis Presley Blues
10. Rolling Stones - Lady Jane

It's bird week!

It's Monday, like it or not.

Start your device. Randomize.

Describe the first five songs.

1. Emerson String Quartet - Beethoven String Quartet #16 in F, Op 135. Welly welly well, me lewdies. What does the iPod vareet for us this sleepy-weepy Monday? No pop-disk, this time, o no no no. Today, it drops a little of the old Ludwig Van to start the week real horrorshow like. Righty right.
2. David Rawlings Machine - I Pity The Poor Immigrant (recorded by me, live at the Cats Cradle). As with most Dylan songs, I like it better when someone else plays it.
   
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3. Roy Haynes Quartet - Moon Ray. A nice bit of early 60's jazz. It has a slightly melancholy, lyrical, introspective, meandering melody - very Bill Evans-ish - but Haynes' drumming keeps it all sharp. Good stuff.
4. Faces - Three Button Hand Me Down. Which is essentially "Some Kind Of Wonderful" with new lyrics, and an extended outro. But, at least they chose a good song to rip off!
5. Charles Mingus - Boogie Stop Shuffle. Well alright, it's a jazz morning. This here's a quick and snappy number. It's got a super-catchy melody that sounds like it would be perfect as the theme to a 60's super-hero show.

OK? Now you do it.

Start thine musick shuffling device. Describe unto us the first five songs which play!

1. ZZ Top - Have You Heard. Some Monday mornings, I start my iPod but forget to hit Shuffle. And when that happens, the song is always A.C. Newman's "Miracle Drug" (first song, off the first album, by the first artist). I did that today. And if iTunes' band name sorting algorithm put numbers before letters instead of after, this one would be the last song in my music collection (last song, last album, last artist). But, it doesn't sort that way; 10 ft Ganja Plant comes after ZZ Top. So... cool story, bro.
2. Ramones - Cretin Hop. A completely typical fast, dumb, three-chord Ramones song. I like it much more than some of the other stuff on the album - the stuff the Ramones are justifiably not known for.
3. CSN - Pre-Road Downs. On an album with so many great songs, this one doesn't always grab my attention. But on its own, on a sleepy Monday AM, it holds up a little better. And "be sure to hide the roaches" seems subversive, even today.
4. Vetiver - Everyday. I saw these guys open for The Shins, many years ago. They didn't do much for me at the time, but I've grown to like them. It's that neo- psychedelic folky chamber-pop that bands like Rouge Wave and The Shins used to do. Not a bad little song. Neat idea for the video.
5. U2 - Two Hearts Beat As One. Back when War came out, this was my favorite U2 song. I dig Clayton's bass line, and the Edge's spiky and minimally-used guitar is always a good time.

Take it away!

Shuffle your songs. Describe the first five that come up, so that we may all learn of them.

1. Sea And Cake - Jacking The Ball. First song, first album, once a Citibank commercial, and first song of the week for me. A great song, too. Those breezy African-inspired intertwining guitar/bass lines, Prekop's and Prewitt's easygoing vocals, McEntire's spiky drumming, ah.. Well done, iPod.
2. Calexico - Cruel. A decent song. It sounds a bit like Live, until the horns come in and give it that little touch of Mexico that distinguishes all Calexico songs. Like the ending. iPod loves some Calexico.
3. Death Cab For Cutie - Coney Island. "Everything was closed at Coney Island. But I could not help from smiling." Of course those are the lyrics. Bittersweet, hopeless melancholy - it's the Death Cab way! A nice little tune, though.
4. Nod - Summer Sausage. This is one of my favorite Nod songs, but I can't find it anywhere on the web to share with you all. So, you'll just have to go buy the record - though it's pretty much impossible to find. Sigh.
5. The Shins - The Past And Pending. Another of those great creepy minor key Shins songs. Acoustic guitar and trombone (? French Horn?), with a touch of clean electric guitar for accent after a while. I really miss the old Shins' sound.

See?
Now you do it.

Today's randomly-selected list of music is brought to you by bed-hogging cats, dry air and Glenlivet 21. Moar sleep plz?

1. Benny Goodman Trio - Stompin At The Savoy. A pleasant clarinet jazz number. There's not much stomping in the trio version (which I couldn't find on YouTube), it's more of a nice stroll. But, I like it anyway.
2. Doc & Merle Watson - Mississippi Heavy Water Blues. I suppose this was written before "heavy water" meant water where the hydrogen has been replaced with deuterium - the hydrogen isotope with a neutron and a proton in the nucleus, instead of the typical lone proton. The poor farmer in the lyrics probably doesn't have much need for a neutron moderator. Sounds more like he needs a boat.
3. The Shins - Weird Divide. From back when The Shins had that slightly creepy, lo-fi, vibe. Lots of reverb. Lots of empty space. Acoustic guitars. Nice.
4. Robyn Hitchcock - Queen Elvis II. This is the slow atmospheric version from Eye. Two electric guitars with heavy reverb and tremolo, plus Robyn singing. It's a nice version. Still don't know WTF the words are about.
5. Q-Tip - Good Thang. There's a real band, with interplay and solos and backup singers, all that good stuff. This is a big change from his usual MO of rapping over a clever construction of groovy samples. And he pulls it off - sounds both like a funky R&B tune and a Q-Tip rap - because he's a genius.

Show us what you got.