The Onion has a weekly feature called "Random Rules" where they have a celebrity comment on the first half dozen or so tracks that come up when they shuffle their iPod. I figured it might be fun to do that on WF. So here's the first few that came up for me: Senior Service - Elvis Costello Costello is really prolific, but that also means a lot of his songs can sound the same. This is from "Armed Forces," which is his third record. Good song on a great record. Never Let Go - Tom Waits From the new "Orphans" 3-CD set that just came out. This song is from the second disc, which is made up pretty much entirely of ballads. Wouldn't sound out of place on any of his early records. Great stuff to listen to when you're drunk and depressed. One Of These Days - Pink Floyd "Meddle" is the most underrated Floyd album out there, no question. From 1971, a few years before Dark Side. Starts with a bass riff that goes for about two minutes, then some keyboardy stuff, then proceeds to KICK ASS for three minutes. Pretty much all instrumental. You Were Made For Me - Sam Cooke A play I worked on used a lot of Sam Cooke music, so I picked up his greatest hits. I like a lot of the songs, but I wouldn't consider myself a huge fan. This one is ok, but I prefer "I'll Come Running" and "Sixteen." Blue Monday - Fats Domino This is from the "Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues" 5-CD set. Not related to the New Order song, at least not as far as I know. Prison Food - Ben Folds I like piano rock. Folds is kind of a more smartass Billy Joel. Get Rhythm - Johnny Cash I dig this, but it sounds almost exactly like "Hey Porter." Am I weird if I prefer the newer, Rick Rubin songs than the older boom-chicka-boom stuff? Russian Lullaby - John Coltrane Jazz is something I only just started getting into. Coltrane has a lot of really weird, wonky stuff, but this is just classic jazz. From the "Soultrane" album.
Thelma - Paul Simon, The Anthology Nice little number, reasonably inoffensive. Not one of his best but very much along the lines of the 'Still Crazy...' kind of sound. Frank’s Wild Years – Tom Waits, Swordfishtrombones One of Tom’s speaking tracks and as usual very very funny. Only about a minute long but this is the story of Frank, his life and his wife’s dog… Faster - The Manic Street Preachers, Holy Bible Ah, back when the Manics cared about rocking as opposed to spouting off about Primo Levi. Great rock song from a great rocking album. Preludes and Fugues 22 - JS Bach Love these, very relaxing to listen to but equally very special. Up in the Sky - Oasis, Defintely Maybe Similar to the Manics, this is Oasis when they were good. A rocking little number from an album chock full of them. Love me Do -The Beatles, Nuff said. I'm a passive fan of The Beatles, I tend not to seek them out too much but that is probably just overexposure. This is, obviously, one of the early more 60s rock/pop ones. V good. El Cuarto de Tula - Buena Vista Social Club, Buena Vista Social Club I love this album but bizarrely I've never got round to seeing the film. This is a nice little number with a lot going on. Great album. Knowhere – David Gray, A New Day at Midnight This isn’t as good an album as White Ladder but it’s still good. This is a decent track from it a standard piece of Gray piano/guitar based angst. -------------------------------------------------------------- This doesn’t really count but the next thing that came on was Alistair Cooke’s Letter from America from February 1971. It’s called ‘Judgement Days a-comin’ and is about an LA evangelist Amy McPherson. Funny. Anyway… -------------------------------------------------------------- Pride in the Name of Love – U2, Rattle and Hum Superb. A band at the peak of their powers. A great live album and I’ve always loved their version of this song here. ‘For the Rev Martin Luther King… SING!’
Shit This'll learn me for having crap on my pod Mike's done 8 and Phil 9, so I'll jump in with the first 8 on shuffle. Daybreak - The Stone Roses: The Second Coming The quintessential 'difficult second album' Still some great tracks on it but Squire had started his decent into massive charlie addiction, and the cracks were really opening up and one of the best bands of the 90's imploded spectacularly. Today Was A Good Day - Ice Cube: Predator Never was a huge Cube, or NWA fan, but the laid back hook and lyrics are quite refreshing. El Mundo Pequeno - Ian Brown: Music Of The Spheres How many times do you get to listen to an ex con Mancunian, sing in Spanish? Easily - RHCP: Californication Used to be my favourite band, but newer stuff just doesn't click with me like their older material. Peaked, soundwise with One Hot Minute IMO. Subterrenean Homesick Blues - RHCP: THe Uplift Mofo Party Plan Ahhh, this is more like it! Not as good as the original, but I'll forgive them that The 80's never left. Get It Together - The Go! Team: Thunder, Lightning, Strike One of the few songs that can uplift me in seconds. Perfect piece of bubblegumpop noise that breaks me out in a grin and leaves me humming it all day. Five-0 - James: Laid Hauntingly beautiful lyrics that really show the power of Booths voice. Great, great song that reminds me of younger times. This is Hardcore - Pulp: Hits Never a huge Pulp fan but Jarvis Cocker is such a huge pervert and deviant, he nearly rivals Prince. Great build up and you can easily imagine the lyrics being sung while he peruses the Readers Wives section of Razzle.
You guys really think I know all the songs on there?! Anyway, this came up: The Ballad of Bill Hubbard - Roger Waters. From AMUSED TO DEATH, arguably his best solo album. Wouldn't it be good - Nik Kershaw. From GTA: VICE CITY Soundtrack. Never listened to that CD, only got it because the soundtrack to SA is so good. The song is 80s synthie stuff, what can I say. Innocent - Mike Oldfield. From EARTH MOVING, a good but not remarkable pop album. It's one of the better songs on it. Perfect Strangers - Deep Purple. From PERFECT STRANGERS. I don't like Purple very much but that song really rocks. And the grass won't pay no mind - Neil Diamond, from HOT AUGUST NIGHT. A live CD by Neil I have never listened to ... yet. Gentle on my mind - Frank Sinatra. Fraaaaaaaaankie *swoon* I'm very glad none of my weirder goth stuff came up. Good thing I sorted it out just last week and put the spring collection on it
Nothing highbrow here or, indeed, commentry-wise from me 'Love Is In The Air', John Paul Young - I like this song as it's happy and bubbly. Always gets me skipping around in a good mood. 'Corona', Calexico - the false starts get annoying, but it reminds me no end of a good friend. It's a cover of the the Minutemen version, and IMHO better. 'Victoria', The Kinks - It's one of my favourite Kinks songs, and I find it amusing. 'Last Train to London', ELO - it's easy on the ears, easy to sing and easy to like 'A Little Less Conversation' Elvis vs JXL - I love Elvis, and I like this version as you can dance to it and generally make an arse out of yourself. I don't particularly like the repeating, electronicy piece in the middle but that's life. 'Spiders (Kidsmoke)', Wilco - It takes over 10 minutes from beginning to end, but it's fabulous. I love everything about it, from the lyrics to the beat to the guitar riffs. And most of all, I love Jeff Tweedy and all his experiments and fecked-up thoughts.
Luckily nothing too embarrasing came up. Stripped - Depeche Mode I find their songs sexy Crazy - Seal I saw him in concert when I was about 17 and fell in love. Le Freak - Chic 70's disco. What can I say. It's Like That - Run D.M.C v Jason Nevins I just like it. Not a fan of Run D.M.C, just this song. Do I move You - Nina Simone. Sublime Voice. Living For The City - Stevie Wonder Before he became cheesy. Runaground - James Takes me back. Times Like These - Foo Fighters Not a fan - but this one's excellent.
Right now my iPod has all of the songs in my collection from 1983. Here goes: 1. Fight Fire with Fire -- Kansas (Drastic Measures album) -- The band was on its last legs by this point. They had some success after parting ways with Steve Walsh, but by this time they were moving toward becoming a Christian band. They broke up for a few years after this album and tour. This song is the highlight of the album. 2. I Got Loaded -- Robert Cray Band (Bad Influence album) -- Great blues album on a small label. Nice uptempo tune. Cray doesn't have the rough edge of many other bluesmen, but is enjoyable to listen to. "Phone Booth" is the classic song on this album. 3. The Trooper -- Iron Maiden (Piece of Mind album) -- I didn't like Maiden much when they first came out, but they have really grown on me over the years. Great tune from probably their best album. 4. Drivin' Fool -- Blackfoot (Siogo album) -- Blackfoot was a good "opening act" type band but they didn't really take the next step. "Teenage Idol" from this album got some play on MTV but the album didn't sell very well and they broke up after doing another album a year later. Main man Ricky Medlocke now plays guitar with Lynrd Skynrd. Good band that didn't quite make it. 5. Other Arms -- Robert Plant (The Principle of Moments album) -- Second solo album from Plant. "Big Log" and "In The Mood" were the main hits but this song got some airplay as well. Pretty good uptempo song. 6. Christie Lee -- Billy Joel (An Innocent Man album) -- One of the few songs from this album that wasn't a hit single. This one is about then-girlfriend / soon-to-be-wife Christie Brinkley. Uptempo piano / sax song. 7. Pride and Joy -- Stevie Ray Vaughan (Texas Flood album) -- Good blues guitar player who died before his time. Texas Flood was a smoking album that took the blues world by storm when it came out in '83. 8. Pretty Beat Up -- Rolling Stones (Undercover album) -- Album cut written around a Ronnie Wood riff (Ronnie got one of his few songwriting credits). An underrated Stones album that was a disappointment in the sales department. By this time Jagger was preparing for his solo career and the band wasn't getting along very well. Only one top-40 single from this album (Undercover of the Night). 9. Dirty Dog -- ZZ Top (Eliminator album) -- the album that really rocketed ZZ Top into the stratosphere of fame. The videos were huge (Gimmie All Your Lovin', Sharp Dressed Man, Legs, TV Dinners). One band I wish I would have seen live when they were in their prime. 10. I'm Gonna Make You Mine -- Michael Schenker Group (Built to Destroy album) -- Michael Schenker started off playing guitar with brother Rudolph in the Scorpions in the early seventies. UFO played a few dates with the Scorps, saw how good Michael was, and stole him (he was still a teenager at the time). Right about when UFO was finally going to hit it big, Schenker left. He rejoined the Scorpions and played on the Lovedrive album, then formed his own band. They made some good albums and had some success in Europe and Japan, but didn't make it in America. They broke up after this album and tour. I saw them during this tour (they opened for Ted Nugent) and they were great. Too bad they didn't really make it. This was supposed to be the "hit" from this album. I think it was a minor hit in Britain, but that's about it.
Delta Goodrem - Longer (Innocent Eyes) Can't remember having listened to this before. Probably have though. Ah well, her first album before she had cancer (so yeah, this is the one with "Lost Without You"). Kinda nice to listen to. Manzanita - Arranca (Miami Vice OST) This sucks balls. Some kind of Cuban music or something. I really only like the "Who Are You" song and one other, I think, from that soundtrack. Eh. Cake - The Distance (Fashion Nugget) Meh. Dixie Chicks - Sometimes I Cry (Odds'n'Ends) This is a special album IMHO. Don't think it's on any of the real albums. Again, a pretty "meh" song but great band. Dixie Chicks - Don't Waste Your Heart (Fly) Again, the Dixie Chicks. Comes from only having about 1200 songs in your playlist, I guess. Again, not a great song but a little better than the one up there. The Beautiful Girls - On A Clear Day (Morning Sun) IIRC, this is an Australian band. Kinda cool. Cool song too. Kinda slow. Faith Hill - I Can't Do That Anymore (It Matters to Me) Eh. I like Faith Hill but this song isn't anything special. All Saints - All Hooked Up (Saints & Sinners) Ah well, good album, okay song. Beethoven - Symphonie Nr.4 B-dur op.60 - III; Allegro vivace (9 Symphonien - Karajan - Disc 1 of 6) I love Beethoven. 'Nuff said. John Hartford - Indian War Whoop (Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? OST) Still haven't seen that movie. Better not tell my mate or he's gonna kill me IMHO. Anyway - never listened to this song before and it's okay, even kinda good. Also - this isn't really representative of what I normally listen to (ZERO trance, for example, Robbie Williams didn't make it in either even though he should have considering the total number of songs and the number that were by him, no German bands).
^ yeah, yeah, yeah. So let's recap: Delta Goodrem, All Saints and The Dixie Chicks (twice!) Hand in your man card at the door son.
One of the nice things about living in America is we've got enough bad music that we don't get other people's bad music. American pop music is so pervasive that it ends up everywhere.
