Shuffle five. Describe. Survive.
- Hector - Last Night. Hector is one my old bands - Rochester NY, early 90s. We had a lot of good tunes, but this isn't one. Actually, the song isn't bad, I just really hated playing it. I never came up with anything that I really liked, so it was always a chore. Sounds like I wasn't even in tune for this. Blah.
- Beck - Volcano. A super-mellow, slightly-melancholy tune from Modern Guilt. Just kinda shuffles along. Good song for an overcast Monday AM.
- The Kinks - Moments. Don't know if I've ever heard this one before. But, wow - this ballad just drips with early 70's. At times it sounds like The Beatles, Clapton and Raspberries - and of course with Ray Davies singing, it always sound like The Kinks. Duh.
- Steve Miller Band - The Window. Possibly my least favorite track from Fly Like An Eagle. I especially hate the keyboard sound in the intro.
- Oxford Collapse - Please Visit Your National Parks. On the other hand, this might be my favorite Oxford Collapse song. Their noisy, grating, hooky, pop-song, Archers Of Loaf thing is going full-throttle here. Shame they broke up.
Comply.
Wow, how had I never heard the Oxford Collapse? Good stuff.
My five coming soon…
they were a good band. a bit hard to find on the web, though.
their first album (Remember The Night Parties), is my fav.
I’ve still got my head stuck in the album poll data — looking forward more than ever to your biennial round-up in a few months, cleek!
Beatles, “I’m Only Sleeping (Rehearsal)” From the second anthology set, all of 41 seconds long, no vocals, but with an intriguing mellow vibe (vibraphone, that is).
Robert Cray Band, “Walk Around Time” I still think Cray is better than the mid-’80s neo-blues fad he more or less got slotted into — however easily he gets tagged with yuppie/buppie labels, he brought a lot of newfangled sophistication to the blues. Here he appears to be suffocating from a relationship so good he needs to get away from it for awhile. It’s a paradox but I think I’m actually familiar with that. http://youtu.be/AvfwU4KRxZc
Aretha Franklin, “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)” Aretha’s 1972 cover of the Delfonics 1970 hit. I prefer the Delfonics version but must admit I have a blind spot for Aretha. This has been going on a long time now. Can’t find the Aretha so here’s the Delfonics: http://youtu.be/9NL1YPVnKDc
X, “When Our Love Passed Out on the Couch” One of the great titles from one of the great bands and one of their great albums (Wild Gift). Somehow I forget how good they were all the time. Thank God for shuffle. http://youtu.be/V9vkbJPYkJs
Bjork, “Heirloom” Vespertine is my favorite album by Bjork because it so often feels so tender — some of the tracks, such as “It’s Not Up to You” or “Hidden Place,” really pack a wallop for me. I think this is probably not top tier on the album, but it’s pretty good. http://youtu.be/MkKT-MJub0w
“Robert Cray Band,”
by coincidence, a BB & Cray duet (“Playing With My Friends” ?) just popped up on my iPod – i didn’t even know i had such a thing on there.
always liked his voice.
Bloody hell it’s windy out there today.
1. Depeche Mode – Everything Counts
Great early-DM song with an infectious keyboard hook and some sort of sampled 80s horns going on in the background. I like the vocal variations too. Sounds like it’s about selling your soul to an evil record company. Promising start.
2. The Righteous Brothers – You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling
A bona-fide classic. What more can I say? Still tugs at my heart strings and doesn’t seem to have turned into cheese. I’ll be humming this all evening.
(puts pizza in oven, 200C for 10m.)
3. The Clash – Gates Of The West
Cracking B-side found on the ‘Super Black Market Clash’ compilation. Great tune, shitty production. Welcome to 1978.
(iTunes has bloody hung on me. Marvellous.)
4. Radiohead – Lotus Flower
Potentially the best tune from ‘The King Of Limbs’ – the one with that video that went a bit viral – Thom Yorke dancing like a dad. This song has been doing the rounds for a year or two and they nailed it. It’s lush.
5. Electronic – Get The Message
This has come up before but it’s too good to pass over. Bernard Sumner from New Order on vocals and Johnny Marr playing a 12-string. And it’s the best thing they did under the ‘Electronic’ moniker in my opinion. You’ll love it.
Stupidly busy few weeks coming up at work. Business trip to Holland at some point soon too… which should be interesting. Plus Mrs. C has started Christmas shopping so the house looks like an Amazon warehouse.
<a href = "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWWcx3vUSww"Shock and Awe by Neil Young from Living with War Yes, they still make protest songs.
Maggie by Cracker from Greenland. An updated Maggie Mae? Not one of their bigger hit albums, but Cracker almost always worth a listen.
The Coffee Song by Frank Sinatra (Complete Reprise recordings disc 1) A great song for a rainy Seattle day.
Ballet Hetero by The Loud Family from The Tape of Only Linda. I’ve always liked Loud Family, but never been a foaming at the mouth zealot like most of their fans. That head/body thing we were discussing over the weekend? They lean more head that I generally care for, but I like ’em anyway.
Tripe Face Boogie by Little Feat from Waiting for Columbus Appropriate album for today, and it was honest to gopod included by itunes dj, not me.
Cold and rainy, like a Norwegian October. And it is Autumn vacation at school so I have the week off! Today I did…nothing.
1. Sinead O’Connor – Troy
I really like this song from probably her best album, the first one. Her voice is magnificent here and fits well with the strings. If only she stuck with what she was doing on her first couple of records I would have been a bigger fan of her.
2. The Vapors – Turning Japanese
Sort of a novelty song and a one hit wonder, but actually a really good example of the new wave that was going at the turn of the 80’s. There were a bunch of bands that had this sound at that time but this one really has an infectious melody even if it is a rather stupid song.
3. The Sea & Cake – Interiors
How odd, that I just got this in the wake of the music poll and it shows up on a random five. Nice song. It’s got a bit of a Floyd quality to it but also sounds like something else I can’t put my finger on at the moment. First time I have listened to it and now it suddenly changes, picks up the beat and gets really good. This end part could just go on forever as far as I am concerned. Really glad I got these guys.
4. Dinosaur Jr. – Over Your Shoulder
The last song on Without a Sound and it is a pretty good one. Kinda slow feeling even though it isn’t really, something they did well in this period. I actually liked their “hit” era, not as well as the early stuff or the most recent stuff, but liked it more than a lot of fans do. I just like listening to Mascis play guitar.
5. Death Cab for Cutie – No Sunlight
One of my favorite songs by them. Fast, strong and infectious. When they first started getting noticed I thought, “stupid name and I am not hopping on this emo bandwagon” and I ignored them for a while. But then I discovered the Postal Service when I loved and so listened to a Death Cab album and was surprised at how much I liked them.
This list fueled but Belgian chocolate ice cream and Carlsberg beer.
“The Sea & Cake – Interiors”
“It’s got a bit of a Floyd quality to it but also sounds like something else I can’t put my finger on at the moment.”
late period Steely Dan. a little Gaucho vibe ? sleek, slightly jazzy, unhurried. i’m a big Dan fan, so that’s not an insult :)
Turning Japanese is about masturbating.
I know. Too much information.
Tonight’s shuffle opens with one of the longest tracks in my collection and closes with one of the shortest.
Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians, “Pit of Souls: part I-IV”. This is about as self-indulgent as it is possible for a long trippy progressive instrumental piece to be, i.e.: highly self-indulgent. Around 7 minutes in I am tempted to press fast-forward, but glad I don’t as there is a nice bit of melody around 7:30 and something almost approaching a rockin beat for the last couple of minutes.
Grant Lee Hitchcock, “I Feel Beautiful”. This is on the other hand, not at all self-indulgent; it is straightforward and lovely. Grant Lee is one of my favorite non-Egyptian backup vocalists for Robyn.
Rhett Miller, “Hover”. This is a pretty pleasant song. It sounds like something I could picture a friend writing.
Carolina Chocolate Drops, “Your Baby Ain’t Sweet Like Mine”. Dig the banjo and the jugs and the kazoo.
20-second clip of Redd Foxx saying, “It’s been nice being with you, I hope you had some fun out of this — if anyone here in the audience has been offended by anything I might have said or done during the course of my trying to entertain you, I want you to know sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, I don’t give a shit.”
Bonus track is an awesome Jimmy Rodgers song, “All Around the Watertank” performed by Old & In the Way.