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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:

“Hearts Should Have Turned to Stone” by Elton John & Leon Russell (from The Union, 2010)

Is this record 5 years old already? It’s been awhile since I’ve listened to this record in its entirety, but every time a song from it does surface I’m immediately reminded what a dolt I am for not making the time to do so.

“Here Comes Trouble” by Scatterbrain (from Here Comes Trouble, 1990)

Thrash (and most forms of Heavy Metal) takes itself entirely too seriously. What with all the posturing, misogyny, and angst; it’s long been a reflection of the period in a man’s life that he embodies all of these traits. Scatterbrain came along like the Alfred E. Newman of the bunch and posed, “Why so serious?” It’s likely that if you had a passing interest in heavy music in the early ’90s you are familiar with their “hits,” “Don’t Call Me Dude,” or “Down With the Ship (Slight Return).”

“The Well-Tempered Albi (Stripped)” by Uncle Skeleton (from The Well-Tempered Albi, 2012)

This one is odd. Like “fun-house mirror” odd. It’s also 44-seconds long, which means it has taken me more time to write this than the song itself played.

“Rebirth of the Flesh” by Prince (from Crystal Ball (disc 1), 1986)

I know that some of you are looking at that “8” and thinking, “shouldn’t that be a “9”,” are partially correct. Prince officially released an album titled Crystal Ball in 1998, but the original Crystal Ball grew out of the ashes of Dream Factory—what would have been his follow-up to Parade, with The Revolution—was to be released in 1986, featuring tracks that went on to be known as Sign “☮” the Times. Confused yet? A live/rehearsal version of this cut eventually ended up being released during the NPG Music Club days.

“Exit” by U2 (from The Joshua Tree, 1987)

This tune enters like a train building steam on a mountainside. The dynamics actually make for (almost) difficult listening, but the payoff is in the crescendo.

Man, we’re all over the place today, huh?

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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