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The Friday Five: July 6, 2012

Michael Parr July 6, 2012 19

The Friday Five

Friday Five : |ˈfrīdā – fīv| : 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:

Ok, playlist time! I’ve still got a bit of patriotic hangover from the other day, so let’s see what “Life,” “Liberty,” and “Happiness” nets us.

“Life Is Sweet” by The Chemical Brothers (from, Exit Planet Dust, 1995)

Now this is how you kick off a Friday Five! Mix equal parts breakbeat and snotty vocals and wrap it up in an groove scientifically designed to get some asses wigglin’ and you’ve got “Life Is Sweet.” I make no bones about my affinity for ’90s electronica, and The Chemical Brothers are in the top five reasons for that.

“Pop Life” by Prince & The Revolution (from Septembre, 1992)

Recorded on September 9, 1986 at the Parade Tour Finale in Yokohama, Japan, Septembre is one of my favorite Prince bootlegs.

“It’s My Life (extended mix)” by Talk Talk (from The Original 80s Remix Box Set: Massive Eighties Hits Extended and Remixed, 2007)

Boy, we are sure hearing a lot about “life.” Where’s “Liberty,” and “Happiness”? As much as I love “It’s My Life,” this mix gets stale about halfway through.

“Happiness” by Stephen SondheimPassion (1994 original Broadway cast), 1994)

Dammit, I’m sorry I asked. I went through a short, ill-advised phase of purchasing Broadway cast recordings in the early ’90s. Ill-advised, as I would often purchase them sight unseen. Sondheim’s Passion wants so badly to be an intense affair, but often just trips over itself.

“Liberty” by Desktop (from Desktop, 2009)

Desktop is Keith Thompson and Zach Curd. Desktop is the shit. They have only released trio of EPs, but each is better than the previous. Listen to Desktop.

What’s on your shuffle today?

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About the author: Michael Parr View all posts by
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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  • http://www.clangandclatter.com/ Phil

    Doh! I guess I should have read the rules before doing my Five today, huh?

    Joe Satriani – “Gnaahh” (Is There Love in Space?, 2004)
    I really like the funkiness of this Satriani tune, but for some reason the sections at around 1:20 and 2:10 don’t seem to fit the mood to me.

    Stone Temple Pilots – “Too Cool Queenie” (Shangri-La Dee Da, 2001)
    I know it became really popular for awhile to hate on STP—and Scott Weiland in particular—but I have always had a soft spot for them and their poppier material. This album was much better than I had any reason to expect considering all the drama surrounding the band at the time, but it was nowhere near as good as earlier albums.

    Hüsker Dü – “Data Control” (Live at Mabuhay Gardens, San Francisco, July 1981)
    Final track of a bootleg of a fast and furious blitzkrieg of a show that I picked up someplace. Brutal.

    Gin Blossoms – “Lost Horizons” (New Miserable Experience, 1992)
    Another band that it became fashionable to bash, but again, I always really kind of liked them. This particular song is a nice enough little pop ditty.

    The Jimi Hendrix Experience – “The Wind Cries Mary” (Are You Experienced?, 1967)
    I recognize that Jimi was a genius and an innovator, and I know the ramifications of speaking ill of him, but for some reason I have never been much of a fan of his songwriting, and I have a hard time when it comes to casually listening to his music. Usually I can only take Hendrix in small doses.

  • dwalsh76

    1. This Land Is Your Land – Elizabeth Mitchell.

    From her upcoming tribute to Woody Guthrie, Little Seed.

    2. Orphan – MyNameIsJohnMichael

    Jeff Giles won’t shut up about him and neither will I. This is a great song, that is still available for free from his website.

    3. When The Other Foot Drops, Uncle – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings

    Woah. I can’t remember the last time itunes was this good to me.

    4. I Am – Suggs

    The lead singer of Madness with solo track, that sounds a lot like Madness, from The Avengers Soundtrack. Not the new one, the one from 1998 with Uma Thurman.

    5. The Remedy – Abandoned Pool

    This was the bass player from The Eels who went and started his own band, with a super hot bass player. Another early 2000′s one hit wonder.

    I don’t remember the last time itunes gave me 5 tolerable songs, but I’ll take it today.

  • http://www.clangandclatter.com/ Phil

    And my Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness playlist yields this:

    Led Zeppelin – “For Your Life” (Presence, 1976)
    Metallica – “That Was Just Your Life” (Death Magnetic, 2008)
    Queen – “Love of My Life” (Live Killers, 1979)
    Eureka Machines – “The Story of My Life” (Do or Die, 2008)
    Queensrÿche – “Get a Life” (Hear in the Now Frontier, 1997)

    Looks like a lot of life and not much liberty or happiness. Hmm?!

  • Rock_dawg

    As usual, I shuffle all day at work so here’s what’s come up since I finished reading:

    “Anyone Who Had A Heart” – Then There Were Two, s/t
    Then There Were Two are a duo consisting of a soprano singer accompanied only by bass guitar that I heard on Tom Petty’s Burried Treasure show on XM when he played their cover of “Don’t Fade On Me”. It’s a nice sound – she has a lovely voice and the bassist comes up with some great ways to fill the space – but listening to the album straight through it gets a little fatiguing and is best enjoyed in the shuffle on a track by track basis. Meanwhile, this is probably my favourite Bacharach song. Shelby Lynne’s version is my favourite and this version sounds a lot like it.
    “Little Lies” – Ari Hest, The Green Room Sessions
    Another mellow cover tune that I discovered on XM Radio before all the playlists became narrow and boring and the special programs and live shows seemed to dry up and disappear. But I digress…
    “Wheels” – Foo Fighters, single
    I’ve been a big Foo’s fan for a long time, but they can certainly phone it in from time to time. “Wheels” sounds like Foo Fighters 101 and is interchangeable with quite a few of their hits.
    “Wait A Little While” – Kenny Loggins, The Essential Kenny Loggins
    I grew up with this guys music a regular presence in my home, from my Mom’s copy of Loggins & Messina’s Sittin’ In up to my 45 of Nobody’s Fool from Caddyshack II. After that I pretty much lost track and interest, but he remains one of my childhood touchstones and someone who’s music I come back to regularly.
    “Drift Away” – Dobie Gray, AM Gold: 1973
    Thanks for your continued contributions to my library, Popdose!

  • tangstrom

    Okay, I’ll bite, using your criteria:

    1. “Be My Life’s Companion” – The Mills Brothers (All Time Greatest Hits). I like the Mills Brothers, but this song doesn’t do much for me.

    2. “Beautiful Life” – Fisher (The Lovely Years). One of my wife’s tracks, instantly recognizable as the commercial music to “John and Kate Plus 8″ promos. God I hated that show.

    3. “Double Life” – The Cars (Candy-O). Not my favorite Cars track, but perhaps one of the most important to me. When you’re thirteen and hear lines like, “Lift me from the wondermaze/Alienation is the craze/And it’s all gonna happen to you/And you think it’s a phase,” it’s like “Whoa. Someone else gets it, too.”

    4. “Life is Better than Death” – Martin Mull (Near Perfect/Perfect). A perfect summation of life’s philosophy from the brilliant painter.

    5. “The Pressure of Life Takes Weight Off the Body” – Fun Boy Three (Waiting). I love this album. Just not this song.

    I guess no nods to liberty or happiness from the iTunes gods today.

  • http://twitter.com/IrishJava Dennis Corrigan

    I went with a theme, too, only mine was around summer/sun/heat/hot/beach etc, you know the time of year when either the living is easy or you have a ball-busting boss making you work late. You can see the whole playlist here (Summer Heat)

    1. “Hot ‘Lanta” by the Allman Brothers Band” from At Fillmore East. A rousing American jam to start it off

    2. “The Sun is Burning” by Simon & Garfunkel from Wednesday Morning, 3AM. Yes, it is! This form S&G’s folky debut that didn’t exactly sell well until someone put an electric backing track to “Sounds of Silence”

    3. “That Lucky Old Sun” by Brian Wilson from “That Lucky Old Sun”. Brian covers a standard on the title track to his 2008 homage to Southern California

    4. “Beachcombing” by Real Estate from their self-titled full-length debut. I love this band – perfect summery hang out music. The latest in the fine New Jersey tradition of You La Tengo and the Feelies

    5. “Hot Sex” by A Tribe Called Quest from The Anthology. Hello! I still need to see that movie about them

    Hope you stay cool this weekend and hear something great!

    SInce I can’t figure out how to actually embed a link, here’s the raw URL to the playlist:

    spotify:user:irishjava:playlist:2dtYiVjI9ccaHlagouAZUy

  • Rock_dawg

    I’ll side with you on Jimi. He did some amazing work, created a new way to look at the electric guitar and wrote some of the prettiest rock ballads ever IMHO (Wind Cries Mary and Angel, which is kind of a rewrite, really). His impact is undeniable.
    But about a year ago I picked up a bundle containing his three core albums and a couple of the recent posthumous collections and wasn’t blown away. There are a couple of hidden gems that classic rock radio hasn’t done to death in there, but there was a whole lot of “meh” in there too. Since that purchase, I don’t find myself going back to them very often and when I do, it’s usually just Are You Experienced.

  • http://twitter.com/popblerd Popblerd.com

    Dennis…you NEED to see that movie.

  • http://www.popdose.com/ Michael Parr

    I don’t know, liberty and happiness seem to take a back seat to life most of the time.

  • http://www.popdose.com/ Michael Parr

    Giles teased me by playing me the entire MyNameIsJohnMichael record when I visited him last summer. I still can’t wait to hear it again.

  • Keith Creighton

    … a Prince bootleg that I’ve never heard… AND it’s from my favorite era…. heart racing… brow sweating…. OK Google, don’t let me down…..

  • jhallCORE

    1) Cee Lo Green — “F— You” (The Lady Killer, 2010).
    2) Paul Simon — “Loves Me Like A Rock” (Concert In The Park, 1991).
    3) Mary Chapin Carpenter — “Almost Home” (Party Doll & Other Favorites, 1999).
    4) Prince — “Another Lonely Christmas” (The Hits/The B-Sides, 1993).
    5) Richard Thompson (w/Teddy Thompson) — “Persuasion” (Action Packed: The Best Of The Capitol Years, 2001).

    Enjoy the weekend.

  • Keith Creighton

    Just drove into the office – here was my 5:

    MORTEN ABEL “Anotherloverholenyourhead” from Shockadelica (Norwegian Artists Tribute To Prince). I have bought a lot of shitty Prince tribute CDs over the years and this 5-disc set is the only worthwhile one. 90% of the tracks are wild reinventions and celebrations – especially this festive, bluesy track.

    DIRE STRAITS “Private Investigations” from American Tour 1985 (Soundboard). I keep thinking this track is going somewhere, like into “Love Over Gold” or “Romeo & Juliet” or Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive” – but alas, it just drifts.

    Dr. ANDREW WEIL “Garden Isle” from a free Amazon new age/yoga sampler I downloaded for my wife. I am the best husband ever.

    FLORENCE & THE MACHINE “Kiss With A Fist” – not really into this band, but I LOVE this track – it’s like a lost Iggy Pop or Joan Jett song.

    LADY GAGA “Dirty Ice Cream” (Unreleased). I never “got” Gaga. And then I saw her first SNL performance (second song, the wild medley) and have been hooked ever since. As good as her catalog is, her deep cache of unreleased songs is even better – once this track gets its formal due it will be a worldwide #1 smash.

  • http://jackfear.blogspot.com Jack Feerick

    “Life” gets me, among other things, This Bastard’s Life, a rippin’ little punk-pop number by the Swingin’ Utters, which seems like (a) a good place to start, and (b) a suitable title for my memoirs.

    “Liberty” yields me the spoken-word oddity Fliberty-Jib, by the incomparable Ken Nordine, from one of his WordJazz collections. No one ever sounded quite like Ken, and he’s got the one-of-a-kind mind to match.

    I also got the mighty power-pop of Statue of Liberty, by XTC, to set the house a’rockin’.

    (We’ll skip “pursuit,” which only brings up a not-terribly-inspired cue from the Star Wars score, although “pursuance” does bring up the penultimate movement of Coltrane’s A Love Supreme.)

    “Happiness” brings up Happiness Is…, a track by Tibetan-in-exile singer Yungchen Lhamo, with lovely sympathetic ambient-pop backing assembled by the late Franco-Algerian producer Hector Zazou…

    …and a novelty song called As the Porcupine Pines for its Pork, by Billy Jones and Ernest Hare, a.k.a. The Happiness Boys, from an Edison cylinder released in 1925, which is pretty much what you’d expect.

    You know. The usual assortment.

  • nathan_az

    Life, Liberty, Happiness:

    The Byrds – “The Christian Life” (Sweetheart of the Rodeo, 1968) Hey! A Louvin Brothers cover. Nice.

    Lee Dorsey – “Get Out of My Life Woman” (Ride Your Pony, 1966) Lyrics on this one are by Allen Toussant. Classic Crescent City funk that’s been sampled by everyone and their woman over the years.

    Madness – “We Are London” (The Liberty of Norton Folgate, 2009) “You can make it your own Hell or Heaven, Live as you please…” Amen.

    U2 – “Happiness is a Warm Gun [Gun Mix]” (B-side from Last Night on Earth single, 1997) I still enjoy U2′s much maligned Pop, but this Beatles cover is not their finest 4:47. Going to leave it at that.

    Jay Z feat. Mariah Carey – “Things That U Do” (Vol. 3…Life and Times of S. Carter, 1999) To me, the most noteworthy aspect of this track is that Jay mentions his time as the sidekick of Jaz (“Hawaiian Sophie”).

  • http://jackfear.blogspot.com Jack Feerick

    There should totally be a Suggs solo album with the title Suggs To Be Me.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jay.blerd Jay Blerd

    As I’m rebuilding my library, I only have “life” songs right now, but hey..it’s good enough to play!

    1) Gotta Find A Lover by Roy Ayers (from “Lifeline”): Been listening to a good amount of Roy lately. His music is perfect for the summer. This song just sounds sticky and humid in the best possible way.

    2) Higher Love by Steve Winwood (from “Back In The High Life”): Braaaaang me a higher love! Chaka’s support vocals really bring this song to life.

    3) One Day In Your Life by Michael Jackson: Definitely sappy in a Carpenters kinda way, but the purity of Michael’s voice cuts through all of the orchestration.

    4) Running Away by Roy Ayers (from “Lifeline”): Sure, I’ll take more Roy Ayers! I love the way that they’re singing off beat here. The song still works!

    5) Mary Jane (All Night Long) by Mary J. Blige (from “My Life”): Pretty sure I’m gonna get tickets to see her and D’Angelo later this summer. Can you imagine how good that show’s gonna be!

    Have a great weekend!

  • http://www.discoskonfort.com/artists/drxl/ drxl

    Only two songs on my hard drive contain the words “life”, “happiness” or ‘liberty”, but both are great:

    1. JJ : “Beautiful Life” from JJ No. 4
    2. K.Trap: “Life = Trap”

    I tried five random songs with the words in the title in my playlist that I have not been able to recover from my damaged disk, but they all contained the world “life” so I removed it and this is what I got:

    1. A Breath Clad In Happiness by Envy from Recitation. Yes, Japanese post-hardcore! Brutal, energetic and meditative.
    2. Liberty by Desktop 2009 Desktop [12 Inch]. What a coincidence!
    3. Liberty by Danger Beach 2010 Milky Way
    4. Happiness by Fescal 2006 A foggy day in the Park
    5. Happiness by Ian Kelly 2011 Canadian Blast @ SXSW 2012

  • http://www.popdose.com jefito

    The band is selling a new EP on their site — it includes songs that (to my knowledge, anyway) aren’t going to be on the record.