The Friday Five: January 9, 2015

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:

“Toy Box” by Shelia E. (from Romance 1600, 1985)

Prince wouldn’t adopt the Camille the guise for another year (or so) but there are definitely hints buried in this track. Listen to the super-compressed guitar that flits in and around the melody and you’ll hear it—not to mention the very Camille-like vocals on the outro.

“Tokyo” by The Brothers Johnson (from Out of Control 1984)

This is a vinyl rip as I’m pretty sure that this record never saw a CD release ¹. By 1984 The Brothers Johnson should have been a household name by the virtue of their involvement with Michael Jackson’s Thriller alone, but it wasn’t to be. “Tokyo” is  jazz-inflected funk instrumental, with Louis doing much of the heavy lifting with his bass, while George holds done a shamisen inspired guitar lick.

“I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)” by Jay-Z (from The Dynasty:Roc La Familla, 2000)

Hov might not have been the first to floss on the conspicuous consumption tip—hell, it’s built into Hip-Hop’s DNA—but he definitely took it from an attainable level to one that the average person couldn’t fathom, let alone afford.

“Warsaw” by Rancid (from Life Won’t Wait, 1998)

One minute and thirty-one seconds and they still manage squeeze in two verses, two choruses, and a Goddamned guitar solo!

“Bad Bone” by The Frames (from The Coast, 2006)

Before Once, before The Swell Season, there were The Frames. The Coast is the last record the band recorded before all that and actually features “Falling Slowly,” (albeit in a very different format) and “When Your Mind’s Made Up,” which went on to be featured in the movie.

I had to go and find The Frames version of “Falling Slowly” and share it with you all. You’ll note that MarkÁ©ta is there, playing the piano with the band.

For the record, this took me down a rabbit hole that I’m just coming up from, nearly and hour later. Happy Friday, y’all!

¹ I stand corrected, it was issued on CD in the UK.

What’s on your shuffle today?