The Friday Five: August 3, 2012

1. Stone Coal White – “Free”
2. Otis Taylor – “Simple Mind”
3. Pugwash – “To the Warmth of You”
4. The Fifth Avenue Band – “Nice Folks”
5. The Delfonics – “For the Love I Give You”

For the record, #6 was Particle Man.

Liar, Liar — Debbie Harry
Ivan Meets GI Joe– Jason Ringenberg (from The Sandinista Project.)
The Charging Sky — Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins
Calling All Girls– Rick Springfield
Keep Me From Blowing Away– Linda Rondstadt (Heart Like a Wheel is about as close to perfect as an album can be, I think.)

1. (2:58) “Otis” by Jay-Z & Kanye West feat. Otis Redding [2011] from ‘Watch The Throne’ [Deluxe Edition](Explicit) I have never understood the big deal surrounding Kanye West or Jay-Z, and even the Otis Redding samples is just Ok.

2. (3:23) “Radio” by Automaticos. I did not know that the iTunes randomizer included videos as well as songs, so this is the video, no the song on my playlist. Automáticos is one of the many side projects of Victimas del Doctor Cerebro’s lead singer Abulón (“Abalone” in Spanish, obviously, not his real name). More than a guarter century of non stop rocking has made Abulón one of the few really bona fide rock stars in Mexico. Even if he is not as actually famous as others, he has the attitude down. Usually, his singles (like this one) tend to be catchy pop songs, while the rest of his live set s and albums are full of rockers.

3. (3:07) “Otra Cosa” by Javier Estrada. Amorphous latin bass. Too dark to actually dance to. A mix of dubstep with prehispanic motives. Weird.

4. (4:21) “Cómo puedes vivir contigo mismo?” by Alex Anwandter. Awesome single from the former lead singer of Chilean pop rock band Teleradio Donoso. Techno pop with a distinctive disco character the way it should be done: bouncy and melodious, but a little tongue in cheek (think more Javiera Mena and less La Casa Azúl). So he cannot reach those falsetto notes the tunes demands, and the mix is a little too sharp for my tastes, but this is still one of my favorites tracks of the last couple of months or so.

5. (3:27) “Gusanitos de maíz” by The Pablos (2011) from Nos Gusta La Música 2.7 (a Spanish indie rock compilation). Unpretentious and humorous rock pop from Madrid. There seem to be many bands called “The Pablos”, but this is the Castilian one. you can get their full album (for free, if you want) at their bandcamp: http://thepablosmadrid.bandcamp.com/album/pablismo-2011.

I got sucked into watching Almost Famous for the umpteenth time last night, so naturally my Friday Five is going right back to the early 70’s.
1. “Genetic Method” by the Band from A Musical History. This originally appeared on the Band’s 1972 classic live Album Rock of Ages. This one’s over seven and a half minutes of Garth Hudson’s organ wizard. Hudson turned 75 yesterday, so a belated tip of the hat.
2. “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” by Marvin Gaye, originally on 1971’s What’s Going On, this one from the Anthology. Just a fantastic album. If it’s not in your collection, well, you’re collection’s sorely lacking
3. “Django” by Buckingham/Nicks from their self-titled 1973 album. It’s never been officially released on CD but you can find decent sounding bootlegs all over ebay pretty cheap. I wish Lindsey & Stevie would just go on ahead and get an official version out because it’s a good record. This track’s a brief jazzy (naturally) acoustic guitar piece
4. “Does This Bus Stop at 82d Street” by Bruce Springsteen from 1973’s Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. “Man, the dope’s that there’s still hope”
5. “How I Got Over” by Aretha Franklin, originally on her 1972 double LP Amazing Grace this one from the Queen of Soul box set. Aretha showing off her gospel roots. This record sold more than two million copies, and is her best-selling album to date.
Hope you hear something great this weekend!

Loading up the iPod before leaving for vaycay. The last couple years, before we leave, I wipe the thing clean and reload it with a ton of favorites. All sorts of stuff — cheesy, cool, whatever. The overarching theme is “Songs I Wouldn’t Mind Hearing in a Bar.” I set it on shuffle and don’t take it off the whole week. It has served me well.

Let’s see what the shuffle gods bring …

ELO, “All Over the World” (Xanadu soundtrack). Now we are here, in Xanadu.

Crowded House, “Better Be Home Soon” (Temple of Low Men). This is the late-evening/final-beer song.

Wilco, “You Never Know” [Wilco (The Album)]. Brighten things up a bit. Love the snippet of “My Sweet Lord” guitars they sneak in there.

Bruce Springsteen, “For You” (Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ). A summer shuffle staple.

Def Leppard, “Bringin’ on the Heartache” (High ‘N’ Dry). Hey, some Def Lep, on the 25th anniversary of Hysteria’s release! Bought Hysteria the day it came out, then later drove down to York to see my first concert — Eddie Money. Sorta wish Eddie Money had come up on this shuffle; there are a few of his tracks loaded up on the ‘Pod.

There’s some Amy Petty on there, too. Hi, Amy!

My #6 was Bowie’s “Let’s Dance.”

Intending to maintain Internet silence for a week. We’ll see how that goes. All the best, y’all.

“Black Magic,” the first segment of Portugal. The Man‘s album-length piece It’s Complicated Being a Wizard. Almost prog-rock, this album, though musically it’s pretty minimalist; it works best in its full form, where the creaky, noisy keyboards morph through a variety of textures in a way that seems almost, but not quite, to imply a narrative.

“Loomer,” My Bloody Valentine. I don’t buy the hype that Loveless is the Most Important Album ever (or even of the 1990s), but you can certainly appreciate the impact it had on the sound and feel of music that followed. For one thing, I’m sure it provoked thousands of listeners to return their vinyl to the record store, believing it was warped, only for the snotty clerks to tell them it was supposed to sound that way.

“Camarilla,” School Of Seven Bells. There’s something about identical twins singing in harmony. Although, that being said, the recent Ghostory doesn’t suffer audibly from Claudia Deheza’s departure. maybe it’s more the idea of identical twins singing in harmony.

“You’re Alone,” Shakespear’s Sister. A friend of mine turned me on to Songs from the Red Room, and it’s good — dance-y, yes, but with a lot more RAWK texture than I expected. This actually reminds me a little of the Bevis Frond.

“Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing,” Tackhead. An interesting failure, this group — basically the old Sugar Hill Records rhythm section, with Bernard Fowler on vocals. A lot of the interesting hard-club-slah-industrial elements they’d shown in their earlier work with Adrian Sherwood and Gary Clail had been smoothed out by the time they made Strange Things, leaving them as, basically, a slightly-more-edgy version of Shalamar.

First, a disclaimer: I have The Ultimate Barry Manilow in the CD Changer in the car. Both my wife and I like him, so you’re not alone.

Okay, onto the 5ive:

1) Gil Scott-Heron – We Almost Lost Detroit
One of the finest songs he ever did, period

2) Pink – So What
Hmm. Interesting start to this five today.

3) The Band – Tears of Rage
And I just watched The Last Waltz again the other night. I do love The Band.

4) The Doobie Brothers – Listen to the Music
…I got nothin’…

5) Jump ‘N The Saddle – The Curly Shuffle
Yes, last week, I had one of my Dr. Demento’s collections in here, and this week, another. Still, to end the week with The Curly Shuffle? Can’t beat it!

See you on the other side, brother! Knock a few back for me.

Heh heh heh

1. “Good Fortune” – Joe Henry – Short Man’s Room. Bought it blind, on the strength of his guest backing band. Liked, never loved, but kept paying attention. And very glad to have done so.

2. “The Ecstasy of Gold” – Ennio Morricone – The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Soundtrack. Great piano riff. Completely, wholly stolen by Matchbox Twenty for the instrumental coda to “You Won’t Be Mine” from Mad Season.

3. “Tighten Up” – Archie Bell & The Drells – Tighten Up. They not only sing, but the dance as good as they walk!

4. “Everybody’s Baby” – Company of Wolves – Company of Wolves. You know, this is a nice little ballad. This was a nice little record. Whatever happened to these guys? They could have been, well … not big, but bigger.

5. “Trunk Fulla Amps” – Self – Gizmodery. Now, these dudes SHOULD have been huge. Great riffs, great lyrics, great attitude. And this song alone soundchecks ELO, Freddie Mercury, Glenn Danzig and Lenny Kravitz. Muthaf*cka.

I second that emotion. And loving that Xanadu soundtrack – I wonder if any of those tracks are going to be re-recorded on Lynne’s new album…

Aw, shucks, ma’am. [blush] Soon as I write and record something as good as “Spinning Plates,” “Through Grass,” or “Yellow Bird,” I’ll take you up on that (translation: I will NEVER take you up on that). :^)

Late night Friday Five time! Kickin’ back with a stack of compilations and a nice drink (OK, it’s chocolate milk and I know you’re gonna say somethin’ Parr, but…well, any way I suggest I wanted something with sugar in it is going to sound wrong. Let’s just move on to the songs.

1. Loggins & Messina, “Danny’s Song”: one of many songs I know to hear but can’t immediately recall the title (Smokey Robinson’s “Just to See Her” is a similar example, as I learned on a shuffle earlier this week). Call Loggins the king of cheesy soundtracks and yacht rock if you will, but this song did me in tonight. From the heart.

2. Robert Johnson, “Walkin’ Blues”: Some days I feel like I own Robert Johnson’s works (twice, no less – both the original box set and the Centennial Recordings set released a year or two ago) just for historical purposes. Then, I hear that high-strung guitar figure he would start songs with, and I put the textbooks down. This was one of those latter times.

3. Marvin Gaye, “What’s Going On (Single Version)”: you never hear this single mix on radio, at least not in my lifetime. But the remix, pushing those double-tracked vocals more toward center and bringing the heartbreaking strings further center, is a good’un. And then…a false fade!

4. Barry White, “Honey Please, Can’t Ya See (Alternate)”: from Universal’s recent box set of BW rarities. It’s alright, but a good deal shorter than the album take.

5. The Jackson 5, “ABC (Alternate Vocal)”: from Motown’s compilation of J5 rarities released the holiday after MJ died. My brother and I get into fights about which of the first J5 singles are best – he says “I Want You Back,” I vacillate between all of ‘em with emphasis on “ABC” – but it’d be easier to side with him if this vocal had been the original master take. The instrumental track is the same, but the melody is just not there. “Na-na-na” vocals and an interesting, alternate bridge can’t make this as superb as the original.

Thank you for the solidarity.

Gil Scott-Heron, into P!nk, into The Band? Man, and I thought my shuffle was suffering from multiple personalities!

Drink your Ovaltine, Sir Duque!

Also, I Love “Danny’s Song.”

… oh, and more Marvin? Damn!

Also, I’m with your brother. “I Want You Back” is hands down the winner. That bass line! Come on!

More Joe Henry? Goddammit, I love you people!

Holy shit, two Jerry Reed tracks in the comments? I repeat, I love you people!

I’ll throw more love in the “Danny’s Song” direction – I never tire of it, it’s such a heartfelt, sweet, sentimental tune. And I’ll also add a vote for “I Want You Back” as the greatest J5 track. (I am intrigued by this alternate vocal “ABC”. I’ll have to look that up.)
I’ll have to get my deluxe What’s Going On disc out and give that single mix another listen. I LOVE the Rhythm & Stings mix: the beauty of that orchestration has brought tears to my eyes – no exaggeration.

I need to seek that out – and learn more about this guy. Turns out, all four of the tracks in my iPod are covers (including Seven Nation Army).

OK i won’t judge you, but Barry Manilow is the AntiElvis.
and if he were alive today there is no doub in my mind that
if a video of “I Write the Songs” came on he would take out
his trusty 38 caliber revolver and blow the TV screen to
smithereens. Just saying’!