The Friday Five

Friday Five : |ˈfrÄ«dā – fÄ«v| : On the sixth day of every week, I hit the shuffle button in iTunes and 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 the media player of your choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments.

The Five:

“Believe What You’re Saying” by Sugar (from File Under: Easy Listening, 1994)

Ready for a shock? I (initially) did not understand what everyone saw in HÁ¼sker DÁ¼. I came to Bob Mould’s work through Sugar’s debut, Copper Blue, a record that I literally wore out, twice! (For our younger readers, we used to purchase our music on these things call cassettes. Repeated play of said media would eventually start to deteriorate, and eventually ‘wear out.’) The follow up, File Under: Easy Listening, was one of the first CD’s that I went out of my way to purchase in a “Special Edition” format; it came in a binder with individual files cards for each tune on the album. It was irrevocably geeky, and I loved it. Oh, and the HÁ¼sker DÁ¼ thing… it wasn’t until a few years later that I broke down and bought a copy of Candy Apple Grey and finally understood what the fuss was.

“Foxy Lady” by The Jimi Hendrix Experience (from Live at Winterland, 1987)

This performance is a bit of a mess. Recorded October 11, 1968, it swirls with a chaotic—no doubt drug induced—fever that borders on careening completely out of control. I guess that is what the draw was, though. Watching Hendrix try to reign in the fire that was lit when his fingertips hit the fretboard, and not just completely loose control. Make no mistake, when the solo kicks in the band tightens up and drives home the message like nobody’s business.

“Remember the Time / Bad (Immortal version)” by Michael Jackson (from Immortal (disc 2), 2011)

I own this because it’s Michael. I think I have listened to it exactly once. I am certain that in conjunction with the Cirque du Soleil performances it’s amazing. On it’s own, it’s not really worth repeat listens.

“Making Time” by The Creation (from Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts From the British Empire and Beyond, 1964-1969 (disc 1: Volume 1), 2001)

I love this Nuggets set for the fact that it is a never-ending source of new acts to go and fall in love with.

“Why You Treat Me So Bad (feat. Grand Puba)” by Shaggy (from Boombastic, 1995)

Did Puba really just say “everyday is seems your maxi on the pad”? Damn.

What’s on your shuffle today?

About the Author

Michael Parr

Husband, Father, Writer, Musical Voyeur, Pop Culture Glutton, Gourmet in Training. I'm the tall guy behind all these short guys. You can find me on the Twitter.

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