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Michael Bennett writes

iPod/MP3 Shuffle — Happy Birthday Jonathan Harris Edition

What’s the iPod/MP3 Shuffle? It’s just a way to get people to share music and foster some discussion. I started doing this on my Facebook page a while back and it’s been great seeing friends exchange comments on each others lists. Every Friday, I get out my 120 GB iPod (which has about 24,000 songs now), hit shuffle and write about the first 10 songs that come up. Sometimes the 10 songs are kind of conventional, sometimes there’s a lot of obscure stuff. So check mine out and please add your own shuffle or discuss other people’s shuffles!

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Hey everyone! Let’s a wish a happy birthday to the late Jonathan Harris, the actor who portrayed the diabolical, and downright creepy, Dr. Smith on the cheesy ’60s sci-fi “classic” Lost In Space. In his honor, go grab your iPod/iTunes/MP3 player, hit shuffle and share the first ten tunes that come up.

  1. Supergrass — The Return Of… (Diamond Hoo Ha): These ’90s Britpop standard bearers still make good music, but they never seemed to hit the next level.  The first two albums were wonderful, and from there, they’ve blundered around, never making a stinker, but not really hitting a home run either.  I think that frontman Gaz Coombes has plenty of musical ideas, but can’t always imbue them with much meaning.  That being said, he had a way to make a melody simultaneously peppy and melancholy, which works well on this mid-tempo track from an album that came out last year.
  2. Bruce Woolley & The Camera Club — Goodbye to Yesterday – Reprise (English Garden): Woolley was a Bowie inspired new wave dude, who co-wrote “Video Killed the Radio Star” and had a band that included future one-hit wonder Thomas Dolby.  His music was a bit of synth-pop and a bit of angular guitar rock.  It’s too bad he never made a follow up to this album, as it is quite good.  This isn’t really a prime track, being a variation on an earlier cut on the album.  This sounds like something in the vein of early Ultravox mixed with early XTC, though the chord progression is actually standard blues-rock fare.
  3. The Smugglers — Invitation Only (In The Hall Of Fame): “Most of the time I think you’re an idiot/most of the time I think you suck.“  This Vancouver band is a personal favorite of mine.  They are a mix of punk (more on the glammy side, a la The Dickies), old fashioned rock and roll and garage rock with a smart ass streak a mile wide.  Their first full length pulled together tracks from a variety of singles and other releases, but it plays like a consistent album.  This is a mid-tempo rocker with a strong hook in the chorus.
  4. Al Green — Love and Happiness (Greatest Hits): What more can you say about this?  Not as overplayed as some of Reverend Al’s classics, but just as good.  Willie Mitchell and the Hi Records studio cats lock into that sexy groove and Green’s voice rides all over it.  The genius of Al Green is how he always held just a little back, never getting into full soul shouting mode, making his music so tantalizing.
  5. The Pretty Things — The Letter (Parachute): This is from The Pretties’ 1970 concept album, the follow up to the psych-rock classic S.F. Sorrow (arguably the first rock opera).  Rolling Stone actually named this the best album of 1970.  And I’ve owned it for years, and I still can’t get into it like I get into Sorrow.  Which isn’t to say it’s bad, but it’s so much lower key.  This track is typical of this mellow approach.  It’s an appealing acoustic ditty, but it doesn’t hang around long enough to really resonate.  Still, it’s too bad this album didn’t break, as the band’s career would have turned out a whole lot differently.
  6. Duke Ellington — The Minor Goes Muggin‘  (The Centennial Edition — Highlights From 1927-1973): I am slowly but surely trying to learn more about jazz, and one of the best places to start is with the Duke.  I don’t know what I can really say about this awesome big band swing number, other than it has what so many Ellington songs have — a great compositional structure that is accessible and appealing, but then played by musicians who are really trying to push things.  These numbers were, of course, recorded live, and the excitement just jumps out of the speakers.  Seeing any of Ellington’s bands in the ’30s or ’40s must have been one of the most incredible experiences anyone could have.
  7. Paul Kelly & The Coloured Girls — Somebody’s Forgetting Somebody (Gossip): Kelly is true troubadour.  This singer-songwriter mixes rock, folk, country and blues with aplomb.  After his first few records, I lost the thread, but I’m not surprised that he’s still out there, fighting the good fight.  This country tinged lament is from his debut, which is an excellent album.
  8. Sector 27 — Total Recall (Sector 27 Complete): When the Tom Robinson Band dissolved, Tom formed Sector 27.  The band was a little less trad rock than TRB, with a slight post-punk influence, and a number of songs that integrated some reggae and ska elements.  This added a certain tense atmosphere to his songs, which became less sloganeering while remaining very socially aware.  Sadly, this didn’t take off, so the band only made one excellent album.  This isn’t one of the best cuts on the album, but it mixes some pulsing bass and moody verses with an oddly jaunty chorus. 
  9. Stevie Wonder — Love’s In Need Of Love Today (Songs In The Key Of Life): Songs In The Key Of Life was the culmination of one of the most amazing creative runs in pop music history.  That Stevie never came close to this artistic peak isn’t a knock on him.  Very few artists have come close to something this amazing.  This is the first song on the album.  The main melody of the song is typical Stevie, but the arrangement, the massed wordless backing vocals, and the passion of Stevie’s passionate performance elevate this song to the heights.  On most albums, this would be the easy highlight.  There are at least four or five songs that are markedly better than this one, two of them on the same album side.
  10. The Four Tops — Bernadette (The Singles): One of the things that sucks about oldies radio is that it often reduces great artists to two or three songs that get played and played to death.  That’s certainly true for The Four Tops.  This was a hit for them, but, for whatever reason, it hasn’t had the same staying power as songs like “Reach Out (I’ll Be There)”.  This is a classic Holland-Dozier-Holland song, in the tradition of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” and “Nowhere to Run”.  It crackles with urgency, and no one could possibly convey that urgency better than the amazing Levi Stubbs. 

Posted on November 6, 2009 • Permalink • 5 Comments

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Michael Gibson, on Nov 6, 06:00 AM, wrote:

Ugh, I stayed out until 3 AM last night, so I am desperately hoping this shuffle kicks some energy into my sleep deprived, ass dragging day…

1) The Faint – Dropkick The Punks (Wet From Birth)
2) Be Your Own Pet – Zombie Graveyard Party (Get Awkward)
3) Fracture – Martha (V/A – Direction compilation)… Read More
4) The Hold Steady – You Can Make Him Like You (Boys and Girls In America)
5) Windmill – Newsflash (Puddle City Racing Lights)
6) Bad Religion – You Are The Government (Suffer)
7) Venitian Snares – Vache (Cavalcade of Glee and Dadaist Happy Hardcore Pom Poms)
8) Metroschifter – Third Party (4)
9) The Get Up Kids – 10 Minutes (Live @ the Granada Theater)
10) RItes of Spring – Theme (End on End)

Fuck yes.

Tony Breed, on Nov 6, 07:41 AM, wrote:

Thomas Dolby may have been a one-hit wonder, but he did in fact create a lot of great music. “She Blinded Me with Science” suffers from being too novelty-ish. I prefer “Windpower” and “Europa and the Pirate Twins”.

Here’s my mix for the week:

Take Care – Nyota Ndogo / World 2003 (If you like world music, you might like this series, which includes a wide selection of music from around the world. It’s truly “world” music, because it doesn’t exclude American pop/rock. Too often “world music” seems to assume the US is not a part of the “world”.)
Adlai Stevenson – Sufjan Stevens / The Avalanche
Le Garage – The Futureheads / The Futureheads
Sing For Me – The Fiery Furnaces / EP
Home for Christmas – Diamond Jim Greene / I Wanna Be Kate: The Songs of Kate Bush (Love this comp, hate hate HATE this song. I always skip it.)
Lean on Me – El Diablo / From a “best of Irish Indie Rock” comp someone made for Shawn
Anybody Wanna Take Me Home – Ryan Adams / Rock N Roll (I’m not much of a Ryan Adams fan, but my husband likes him.)
Berimbau – Astrud Gilberto / Astrud Gilberto – Verve Jazz Masters 9 (I love this song. No one does cheerful melancholy like Astrud Gilberto.)
Revolution 1993 – Jamiroquai / Emergency On Planet Earth
Steve’s Last Night in Town – Ben Folds Five / Whatever and Ever Amen (Featuring the Klezmatics. Awesome.)

Billy Kalb, on Nov 6, 12:36 PM, wrote:

1. Sufjan Stevens — Chicago (Illinois): I probably listened to this record two or three times a day every day the summer it came out. It’s funny that it’s become such a big song, but not surprising, because Illinois was and is a staggering pop achievement. For better or worse, it became the new twee face of indie this decade, but not without reason.

2. The Clash — Remote Control (The Clash): I bought London Calling at age 15 and, disappointed that it wasn’t the “punk rock” I expected, shelved it for this one instead. I’ve since wised up and come to love both records for their own reasons. The Clash’s debut is just such a perfect punk primer, and the years have not diminished its power one bit.

3. Tortoise — The Equator (TNT): Probably my favorite record from these guys. I hadn’t spent a lot of time with instrumental music before I heard Tortoise, but their weird, sprawling, electro-jazz-post-rock helped me realize that sometimes words just get in the way of a good groove.

4. Big Star — Nature Boy (Third/Sister Lovers): A strange, sparse, sad piano ballad from Big Star’s swan song of an album. Was anybody else making music like this in 1974?

5. Reparata & the Delrons — I’m Nobody’s Baby Now (One Kiss Can Lead to Another): Rhino’s absolutely essential four-disc compilation of ‘60s girl group sounds is packed with gems like this one. I have no idea who this group was or what became of them, but that doesn’t take away the thrill of hearing their song.

6. Andrew Bird — MX Missiles (…And the Mysterious Production of Eggs): So my iPod’s tremendously indie-friendly streak continues. Bird is a rare talent and Chicago is lucky to have him; you kind of have to be proud of a guy who can turn out clever, quirky pop songs with this kind of consistency.

7. D’Angelo — Devil’s Pie (Voodoo): Ahh, there we go. “Untitled (How Does it Feel)” was the big hit from this stellar 2000 neo-soul album, but I’ll always remember D’Angelo playing this slinky jam on the MTV Movie Awards. “Turn that garbage off,” my dad warned 14-year-old me at the time. I asked him why; his response? “It’s about sex!”

8. Matmos — Solo Buttons for Joe Meek (The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of the Beast): It starts like the chopped-up score to a ‘60s spy thriller, finishes in ominous orchestral swells. Matmos are some weird dudes.

9. Mars — Helen Fordsdale (No New York): Squealing, shuddering, verging on non-musical — and produced by Brian Eno. If you haven’t heard this definitive comp of New York’s late-‘70s No Wave scene, you’re missing out.

10. Wilco — Side with the Seeds (Sky Blue Sky): I want to like Wilco these days, I really do. I count Summerteeth and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot among my all-time favorites, and Being There ain’t bad either. I’m enjoying this track on its own, but deep down I know that Sky Blue Sky just makes me really bored. And that hurts. Jeff Tweedy, if you’re out there reading this, can you make things dangerous again?

Ed Bornstein, on Nov 8, 11:23 AM, wrote:

I just moved here, and CHIRP is cooooooool. i bet this will be pretty diverse. for better or worse, here goes:
1) Jay-Z – Lyrical Exercise (The Blueprint) I just love this man’s flow and voice. And he almost always comes correct with pretty serious beats, Blueprint 3 is up for serious debate however.
2) Thelonious Monk – ‘Round Midnight (‘Round Midnight and Other Jazz Classics) It’s those sloppy yet precise fingers…timeless.
3) The Police – Omegaman (Ghost in The Machine) I really appreciate how the hook of a song from and album that went 3x platinum is still kind of dissonant. STEWART COPELAND!!!!! i rip him off all the time on the drums.
4) B.B. King – Introduction (live) (Live in Cook County Jail) This is the greatest intro to a record i’ve ever heard, the head lady introduces and thanks the judge and warden of the prison, the crowd of inmates boos very loudly as B.B.‘s band is doing an easy 8 bar blues in the background. It’s a very good documentation of the sound of the room and the time period.
5) Blueprint – Before Freedom (The Weightroom) I got into Bluprint from seeing him open for Atmosphere my freshman year of college. He stole the show, and I later acquired this mixtape. It’s all over the place! this song is pretty much a sample fest.
6) The Brown Note – Everybody (S/T) a two man band I’m in. fun party jams. guest starring Adam Hummell on trumpet and backing vocals. (OF COURSE I HAVE MY OWN JAMS ON MY COMPUTER!!! no shame)
7) The Bad Plus- O.G. (Original Gentleman) (Suspicious Activity?) sweet jazz trio, got famous for doing jazzed out covers of famous rock and roll songs like Heart of Glass and Smells Like Teen Spirit. This tracks is a low down smooth clunker of a jam.
8) Cody Chesnutt – War Between The Sexes (The Headphone Masterpeice Vol. 1) I heard Chesnutt made these records on a four track. He sang on The Root’s break into the mainstream hit ‘The Seed 2.0’. He’s so sassy!
9) Sunburned Hand of the Man – Leaving the Nest (Jaybird) My friend Daren Ho exposed me to this band, they were pretty fun live.
10) The Blossoms – Needle in a Haystack (1960’s girl band comp) a little lady doo-wop for my sunday!

thanks, i’ll be back! this is fun!

DJ Bylamplight, on Nov 9, 01:58 PM, wrote:

The oracle has spoken:

1. Tortoise — crowd (from a live bootleg of a show in Atlanta; I think this is actually crowd sounds, heh)
2. Georges Vert — Jovan Freak (Rune Lindbaek Nomaden Mix)
3. Squarepusher — Planetarium – Original Mix
4. Zumbis do Espaço — Diabos mutantes
5. Parliament — The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg
6. Hollows — Shrines
7. Nasa — Nattens Drömmar
8. Beige — Yakumo Dippel
9. Lykke Li — Breaking It Up
10. The Jackson 5 — Monologue

the Hollows tune is a really pleasant outro to their debut album, which I personally think is packed with golden smash hits start to finish. I may be biased since I work for the record label that put it out, Addenda :)

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