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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:

Oh, hey, I didn’t see you guys standing there. “Where have you been,” you ask? I know, it’s been over a month since I last posted a Friday Five. Thanks to the incomparable Peter Lubin (seriously, if you guys don’t know who he is, just ask Google) for filling in for a few of the weeks in the middle. As for me, I was busy on new daddy duty, as my wife and I welcomed our second son to this world in early August. I apologize for the lack of communication, and will do my best to keep the Friday Five regular from here on out. With that said, onto The Five…

“America’s Sweethearts” by Fall Out Boy (from Believers Never Die – Greatest Hits, 2009)

Have I gone on about how much I enjoy pre-paused Fall Out Boy? Before they decided to re-write the same damn stadium anthem a dozen different ways they actually managed to produce some of the more nuanced and excellent pop-rock of the aughts.

“Standing on My Own Again” by Graham Coxon (from Top of the Pops 2006, 2008)

The other half of Blur, Mr. Coxon’s got that disaffected, poppy, punky, mid-aughts formula rock right down to a toe-tapping science.

“Blue (Donna’s 4-Track Demo)” by Elastica (from Buy-Product 2: Brief Encounters, 1996)

What this track does is exposes the real draw (outside of Justine Frischmann, that is) of Elastica was the amazing harmonies that she and Donna Matthews belted out.

“No Anchovies, Please” by The J. Geils Band (from Love Stinks, 1980)

The b-side to “Love Stinks” is a tune called “No Anchovies, Please”… let that sit with you for a moment. This has to be the oddest little interlude to ever grace a pop rock record in 1980.

“Where Sour Turns Sweet” by Genesis (from Archive 1967-75 (disc 4), 1998)

I forget how much I enjoy those first couple of Genesis records. Considering my affinity for the foppish twee pop of the day, it’s a wonder that I don’t spend more time with one of the great-granddaddys of the style.

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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