The Friday Five: June 5, 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:

“Abe’s Blues” by Joe Jackson (from Tucker: The Man and His Dream, 1988)

A lovely little musical interlude to ease us into June 2015’s first Friday Five. Joe Jackson’s playing has always had a cinematic lean; which makes it little surprise that he was tapped to score Francis Ford Coppola’s period piece. There is a Joplin-esque quality to the tune, making it instantly familiar.

“The Ghost Inside” by Broken Bells (from Broken Bells, 2010)

The turn of the first decade of the new millennium certainly churned out a crap ton of same-sounding pop music, huh? Make no mistake, I enjoyed the hell out of this record. The pairing of Danger Mouse and The Shin’s James Mercer makes a helluva lot of sense on paper, and even more sense in practice. The issue is that this tune sounds like it belongs in every car commercial to come out in the last five years. (This from the guy who hasn’t had cable television in years, but is still subjected to enough commercials to know this.)

“Stormy Monday / Have You Ever Loved a Woman? / No Rollin’ Blues” by Van Morrison (from A Night in San Francisco (disc 1), 1994)

This errs just on the side of the schmaltzy Vegas lounge act; that is until Jimmy Witherspoon jumps up and slays “Have You Ever Loved a Woman,” which slams into “No Rollin’ Blues.”

“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band / The End” by Paul McCartney (from Good Evening New York City (disc 2), 2009)

This should be more accurately tagged as “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise) / The End.” That said, it’s a hell of a way to end a show, don’t you think? Naa na na na na na na…

“If I Had a Hammer” by Trini Lopez (from AM Gold: 1963, 1991)

The revolution will be swingin’! Originally written and performed by the legendary Pete Seeger, this version probably has more in common with “Why do Fools Fall in Love” than the original, but the message is the message is the message, ya dig?

What’s on your shuffle today?