The Friday Five: May 30, 2014

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:

“Somebody to Love (live)” by Queen & George Michael (from The Platinum Collection (disc 3: Greatest Hits III), 2000)

There was a small part of me that—at the time this was recorded—George Michael could have taken up where Freddie Mercury left off. His voice is so very well suited to the material, and his presence was every bit as “larger than life,” that it seemed to be a perfect fit. With some twenty-odd years of perspective I understand why this would never work, but it doesn’t take away from this exemplary performance from the The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness.

“2morrow” by Prince (from Crystal Ball (disc 1), 1999)

Recorded during the run up to Emancipation and included in the vault-mining Crystal Ball package, “2morrow” is a bit of a non-starter. It liberally samples “The Most Beautiful Girl In The World” and sounds more like a b-side remix than a new composition.

“Behold a Lady” by OutKast (from Speakerboxxx / The Love Below (disc 2: The Love Below), 2003)

The lesser cuts on Speakerboxxx / The Love Below are always tough to get through. With the majority of the tunes being of the stronger caliber, it makes the tossers a bit more pronounced; “Behold a Lady” is definitely in the “lesser” category.

“Mrs. Wilson” by The Bees (from Starry Gazey Pie, 2004)

The Bees, the precursor to The Silver Seas, is as much a Daniel Tashian solo record as anything. “Mrs. Wilson” is a perfectly pleasant little pop song.

“Since I Lost Your Girl” by The Monitors (from The Complete Motown Singles, Volume 6: 1966 (disc 32), 2006)

Ah, Motown … you always keep me guessing.

What’s on your shuffle today?