January 23, 2014

Random ten playlist




Today's random ten playlist from iTunes...I've no idea in which order they'll appear for you, so here we go...
  • "Desperado" by The Eagles (3 stars out of 5 on iTunes) - Oh, God, how I hate the Eagles. I get that they're historically possible and sold tons of records, but I just get ridiculous, California, late 1970's excess whenever I hear them. I get the feuds and the drugs and the money and the booze and the ridiculous reunion tour with tickets costing hundreds of dollars and being one of the first tours to take full advantage of VIP tickets for fifty- and sixty-year-old fans who have moved on to Bentleys instead of VW vans. "Desperado" is barely passable to me. Of their entire output, I only really like "Seven Bridges Road" and "Hotel California"...maybe "Heartache Tonight". Other than that, I can pretty much pass 'em all by.
  • "Judy's Turn to Cry" by Lesley Gore (3/5) - It's not a bad song, and I have a soft spot for what I refer to my students as 'white people oldies' because when I generically call music 'oldies,' a vast section of them think I mean 1970's and early 1980's r&b.
  • "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone" by Elvis Presley (3/5) - This one's from the Sun Sessions CD, and it's from my favorite era of Elvis. Yeah, I jokingly love the fat-Elvis phase, but I really love his early, gospel-, bluegrass-twinged rock and roll.
  • "Games" by Ryan Adams & The Cardinals (4/5) - It's been a little sad to be without any new Ryan Adams in two and a half years (longer if you discount that release which had been recorded five years earlier.) After years of three albums - including this one, Jacksonville City Nights, it's been like a bit of withdrawal for me.
  • "We Only Come Out at Night" by The Smashing Pumpkins (4/5) - I think the Pumpkins hit their artistic high water mark on Mellon Collie, and I particularly like this weirdly both melodic and dissonant track.
  • "The Late Greats (live)" by Wilco (4/5) - Easy five-star track in its original album version and even on Kicking Television, but this recording's a little heavy on audience noise. If I have to suggest a few tracks for somebody to start on Wilco, this is certainly in the first ten or so. It's a great rock song about all the best bands.
  • "I Was Made for You" by Rivers Cuomo - This one's from Alone: The Home Recordings, a collection of demos and unfinished songs that Cuomo released two volumes of. There aren'te finished gems here, but there are a number of really interesting songs that either never got developed or did and ended up in different forms. Good stuff from a prolific writer.
  • "Hope Your Happy" by Blackroc (3/5) - The idea of Blackroc is an odd one to me: a combination of the Black Keys and numerous rappers, but it works. Not every track's a hit, but many of them hit solidly. Good stuff, though there are better tunes on the album than this one for me.
  • "Ripple" by Jimmie Dale Gilmore (4/5) - I love JDG's voice, but he's certainly a unique sound out of the Texas Panhandle. He's twangy and rangy and a great songwriter - though this is a cover - and he's a heck of a lot of fun...mark it a zero, Smokey .
  • "Sugar Magnolia" by Grateful Dead (3/5) - Meh...yeah, it's pretty enough, but it just never gets anywhere for me.

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