This meme went around Facebook earlier this week:
It seemed like fun and since I've been madly burning a bunch of cds this week I thought I'd see what would happen. Of the 1798 items in my playlist, these were the first 15. I guarantee no one will know all of them!
Mom Song - Stew - Passing Strange
I was introduced to Passing Strange by my friend Michael Gillis, who fell in love with this show after being kicked off the Phantom of the Opera tour (and his subsequent touring in Europe). Stew created this rock-musical which may or may not be autobiographical about the quest for authenticity. It's full of yearning lyrics and rocking songs. Spike Lee filmed its final three performances and made a documentary.
This is one of my favourite tracks, the song that moves the action from South Central LA to Europe. It features a lovely duet between the Narrator and the Mother. Short and very, very sweet.
Caravan - Erich Kunzel - The Big Band Hit Parade
This song is actually mislabelled, thanks to whoever did the album entry to CDDB/freedb. However, this track is why I bought the album. It's a wonderfully lush version of the Duke Ellington song featuring most of the Tonight Show orchestra (Johnny's band) mixed in with the Cincinnati Pops Big Band Orchestra. This whole album features new arrangements of jazz standards and is probably my fave big band album.
Crystal Ball (live) - Styx - Styxworld Live 2001
As much as I love Styx, and as much as they kick ass live, this album sucks. It doesn't in any way capture the energy of their show. However, it does have the Styx version of A Criminal Mind to recommend it. I do really love this song but would rather listen to the album version I have.
Cry Wolf - a-ha - How Can I Sleep With Your Voice In My Head (Live)
Great live album from one of my all-time fave bands. This song appears on one of my fave albums, Scoundrel Days but I find this song itself lacking and I usually skip it. It is a great live version though.
Miss Me Blind - Culture Club - Best of Culture Club
I've always liked the music. This was my sister's fave band as a girl and my cousin Joanne had a major thing for the drummer Jon Moss. Can't blame her - the guy oozed sexiness on stage. This is not one of my fave CC songs but it has a cool beat and is fun to sing after a few drinks.
Tonight - The Whitlams - Little Cloud
This is my first time listening to it! I've waited many years to acquire the album (as my Australian pipeline dried up), listening to the singles and snippets wherever I could find them. Much thanks to Ben Noble for being the one to make it happen. Frontman/songwriter Tim Freedman wrote most of these songs while he was living his dream of living in NYC, the rest upon his return. The album is two discs: the first one (Little Cloud) are feelings on return to Sydney, the second one (The Apple's Eye) about hanging around NY. This album marked a bit of a departure in sound as this was the band's first time working with producer J. Walker.
I had to listen to the song a few times before I could comment. I love it! It has my favourite incarnation of the band - a lush arrangement, Tim's trademark brilliant lyrics and a lovely mellow feel to it. I may not be able to stop!
No Aprhodisiac (live incomplete)- The Whitlams - ?
Obvious Whitlams is in the air today. This is one of the many versions of this song I own. This song was my gateway drug into the band. It's a beautiful ballad that has a kick-ass outro that was originally written for a song called Horny Blonde Forty by a band called Machine Gun Fellatio (no, I'm not making this up). They're longtime friends of Tim Freedman and he asked to borrow the lines.
The funny thing about this track is that it's incomplete. It's less than 2 minutes while the song runs around 4. It sounds like it's broadcast live from a studio and they're messing around with the arrangement and have a female vocalist playing around. That would probably date it around the release of Fall for You. I'm not sure why I have it, except that there was a period in my life when I was collecting everything Whitlams related. Now the live NYE version in front of the Opera House? It kicks major ass.
Little Darling (I Need You) - Doobie Brothers - Listen to the Music: The Very Best of the Doobie Brothers
This is my go-to album for train rides. I usually just loop Long Train Running but every once and while I'll listen to the whole thing. This was during the Michael McDonald/early-synthesizer phase and it's catchy enough. Just not one of my faves.
Anything Can Happen - Glen Dias with the Polarity Bears - tip of the iceberg
My first must-go-to-as-many-gigs-as-possible band, when they were in residence at C'est What in the early 90s and can be best described as eclectic. (When I took my brother Anthony to see them he turned to me at the end of the night and said, "We are so different".) The band was Noah Zacharin, Geoff Bennett, and Glen. Years later, when Glen had moved to Stratford, he got a grant to record an album of their best tracks. This is a cover of a Bruce Cockburn song, a comedy love song Glen does as a duet with Caitriona Murphy. It's a lot of fun. Unfortunately this file is damaged. I'll have to re-burn the cd.
Three - Jonathan Wilson - Explorations
The requisite meditation track. I don't listen to it often but this album is a lovely one. This track is over 10 minutes long and features a piano with a basic drum beat. About 4 minutes in the music starts shifting and changing. It's light without being New Agey and it's very soothing.
Sweet Pandemonium - The Fixx - Happy Landings and Lost Tracks
I love this band. A few years ago I lent out my favourite of their albums, Elemental, but it's never been returned and I can't find it anywhere. This song was written to be a bonus track. A couple of years after the release of Elemental, they packed early demos and bonus tracks onto this album. This track has never impressed me much. It has the trademark political lyrics but I'm not a fan of the arrangement or the tempo.
Blur - Britney Spears - Circus
I love a lot of the stuff on Circus but this is not one of them. I usually skip this song. Not that it's a bad song, it just doesn't really connect with me. I love Britney's dance stuff. Don't hate me.
Take Your Time (Do It Right) Pt 1 - The SOS Band - The Disco Years vol 5
I just burned all my disco stuff this afternoon. Not one of my go-to disco tracks. Another one I'll skip over.
Star Turtle 1 - Harry Connick Jr - Star Turtle
This was his funk concept album and I really love it. This is the opening track, a simple, sweet guitar melody to start which turns into a funky groove about a minute in. Dialogue over this sets up the concept we follow through to the end. It then changes into classic New Orleans jazz as the journey continues.
Analogue - a-ha - Analogue
Analogue may be my least favourite of the a-ha albums but I like this track. Morten Harket's voice is heavenly, the lyrics are typical life-affirming, the arrangement solid. But if I'm listening to this album I just keep cycling the first two tracks, Celice and Don't Do Me Any Favours.
First rule - be honest! Don't keep shuffling forward for "cooler" songs. This is a 'getting to know you' exercise. Once you've been tagged...
(1) Turn on your MP3 player or music player on your computer.
(2) Go to SHUFFLE mode.
(3) Write down the first 15 songs that come up - title and artist. NO editing/cheating, please.
It seemed like fun and since I've been madly burning a bunch of cds this week I thought I'd see what would happen. Of the 1798 items in my playlist, these were the first 15. I guarantee no one will know all of them!
Mom Song - Stew - Passing Strange
I was introduced to Passing Strange by my friend Michael Gillis, who fell in love with this show after being kicked off the Phantom of the Opera tour (and his subsequent touring in Europe). Stew created this rock-musical which may or may not be autobiographical about the quest for authenticity. It's full of yearning lyrics and rocking songs. Spike Lee filmed its final three performances and made a documentary.
This is one of my favourite tracks, the song that moves the action from South Central LA to Europe. It features a lovely duet between the Narrator and the Mother. Short and very, very sweet.
Caravan - Erich Kunzel - The Big Band Hit Parade
This song is actually mislabelled, thanks to whoever did the album entry to CDDB/freedb. However, this track is why I bought the album. It's a wonderfully lush version of the Duke Ellington song featuring most of the Tonight Show orchestra (Johnny's band) mixed in with the Cincinnati Pops Big Band Orchestra. This whole album features new arrangements of jazz standards and is probably my fave big band album.
Crystal Ball (live) - Styx - Styxworld Live 2001
As much as I love Styx, and as much as they kick ass live, this album sucks. It doesn't in any way capture the energy of their show. However, it does have the Styx version of A Criminal Mind to recommend it. I do really love this song but would rather listen to the album version I have.
Cry Wolf - a-ha - How Can I Sleep With Your Voice In My Head (Live)
Great live album from one of my all-time fave bands. This song appears on one of my fave albums, Scoundrel Days but I find this song itself lacking and I usually skip it. It is a great live version though.
Miss Me Blind - Culture Club - Best of Culture Club
I've always liked the music. This was my sister's fave band as a girl and my cousin Joanne had a major thing for the drummer Jon Moss. Can't blame her - the guy oozed sexiness on stage. This is not one of my fave CC songs but it has a cool beat and is fun to sing after a few drinks.
Tonight - The Whitlams - Little Cloud
This is my first time listening to it! I've waited many years to acquire the album (as my Australian pipeline dried up), listening to the singles and snippets wherever I could find them. Much thanks to Ben Noble for being the one to make it happen. Frontman/songwriter Tim Freedman wrote most of these songs while he was living his dream of living in NYC, the rest upon his return. The album is two discs: the first one (Little Cloud) are feelings on return to Sydney, the second one (The Apple's Eye) about hanging around NY. This album marked a bit of a departure in sound as this was the band's first time working with producer J. Walker.
I had to listen to the song a few times before I could comment. I love it! It has my favourite incarnation of the band - a lush arrangement, Tim's trademark brilliant lyrics and a lovely mellow feel to it. I may not be able to stop!
No Aprhodisiac (live incomplete)- The Whitlams - ?
Obvious Whitlams is in the air today. This is one of the many versions of this song I own. This song was my gateway drug into the band. It's a beautiful ballad that has a kick-ass outro that was originally written for a song called Horny Blonde Forty by a band called Machine Gun Fellatio (no, I'm not making this up). They're longtime friends of Tim Freedman and he asked to borrow the lines.
The funny thing about this track is that it's incomplete. It's less than 2 minutes while the song runs around 4. It sounds like it's broadcast live from a studio and they're messing around with the arrangement and have a female vocalist playing around. That would probably date it around the release of Fall for You. I'm not sure why I have it, except that there was a period in my life when I was collecting everything Whitlams related. Now the live NYE version in front of the Opera House? It kicks major ass.
Little Darling (I Need You) - Doobie Brothers - Listen to the Music: The Very Best of the Doobie Brothers
This is my go-to album for train rides. I usually just loop Long Train Running but every once and while I'll listen to the whole thing. This was during the Michael McDonald/early-synthesizer phase and it's catchy enough. Just not one of my faves.
Anything Can Happen - Glen Dias with the Polarity Bears - tip of the iceberg
My first must-go-to-as-many-gigs-as-possible band, when they were in residence at C'est What in the early 90s and can be best described as eclectic. (When I took my brother Anthony to see them he turned to me at the end of the night and said, "We are so different".) The band was Noah Zacharin, Geoff Bennett, and Glen. Years later, when Glen had moved to Stratford, he got a grant to record an album of their best tracks. This is a cover of a Bruce Cockburn song, a comedy love song Glen does as a duet with Caitriona Murphy. It's a lot of fun. Unfortunately this file is damaged. I'll have to re-burn the cd.
Three - Jonathan Wilson - Explorations
The requisite meditation track. I don't listen to it often but this album is a lovely one. This track is over 10 minutes long and features a piano with a basic drum beat. About 4 minutes in the music starts shifting and changing. It's light without being New Agey and it's very soothing.
Sweet Pandemonium - The Fixx - Happy Landings and Lost Tracks
I love this band. A few years ago I lent out my favourite of their albums, Elemental, but it's never been returned and I can't find it anywhere. This song was written to be a bonus track. A couple of years after the release of Elemental, they packed early demos and bonus tracks onto this album. This track has never impressed me much. It has the trademark political lyrics but I'm not a fan of the arrangement or the tempo.
Blur - Britney Spears - Circus
I love a lot of the stuff on Circus but this is not one of them. I usually skip this song. Not that it's a bad song, it just doesn't really connect with me. I love Britney's dance stuff. Don't hate me.
Take Your Time (Do It Right) Pt 1 - The SOS Band - The Disco Years vol 5
I just burned all my disco stuff this afternoon. Not one of my go-to disco tracks. Another one I'll skip over.
Star Turtle 1 - Harry Connick Jr - Star Turtle
This was his funk concept album and I really love it. This is the opening track, a simple, sweet guitar melody to start which turns into a funky groove about a minute in. Dialogue over this sets up the concept we follow through to the end. It then changes into classic New Orleans jazz as the journey continues.
Analogue - a-ha - Analogue
Analogue may be my least favourite of the a-ha albums but I like this track. Morten Harket's voice is heavenly, the lyrics are typical life-affirming, the arrangement solid. But if I'm listening to this album I just keep cycling the first two tracks, Celice and Don't Do Me Any Favours.
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