Due to triptophan related forgetfulness, we are only now presenting this week's Friday Random Ten. I hope its absence didn't ruin your holiday.As penance, I'd like to give you a little gift I've been saving for just such an occasion. Joyce, legend has it, is an album of love songs recorded by the frizzy-headed hausfrau pictured so seductively on the cover. This is a rare album for so many reasons; in many of the Midwestern states, the erotic cover has led to the album's complete banning. Sad, really.
Time for the Random Ten. You know the drill, so let's do this thing:
1. Arcade Fire, "Haiti" -- Absolutely gorgeous indie pop from the best thing to come out of Montreal since Rocket Richard. I saw them perform at Summer Stage this year, and this song was one of the highlights. 9/10
2. A Tribe Called Quest, "Electric Relaxation (Propellerheads Remix)" -- My favorite part of the original song is the bass line they sample from Ronnie Foster's "Mystic Brew" in the background, so I didn't think I'd like this smoothed-out Propellerheads remix of the vocals. The original's still better, but this is a nice change of pace. 8/10
3. Johnny Cash, "Five Feet High and Rising" -- Nice Columbia-era Cash, a song that's sampled on De La Soul's debut album. Malibu Stacy and I just saw Walk the Line yesterday, and I have to say we were both pretty damn impressed. Check it out, for a good film and a nice trip through Cash's career. 7/10
4. The Go! Team, "Get It Together" -- Nicely sunny electronica from the UK. This is what it would've sounded like if Moby had done the theme song for the Teletubbies. 9/10
5. Soundgarden, "Black Hole Sun" -- A great song off their best album. (Thrillhous may disagree.) Chris Cornell never sounded creepier, and the video sure didn't help erase any of the bad vibes. 9/10
6. Land of the Loops, "Multi-Family Garage Sale (Bargin-Bin Mix)" -- Mellow sample-heavy electronica that always makes me think of Stereolab on Quaaludes. Somehow, it works. 10/10
7. Esquivel, "Mini Skirt" -- Esquivel is the king of Bachelor Music, that late '50s genre that somehow managed to make the xylophone sound sexist. This song's so deep in bacheloridia that it even has wolf whistles and a chorus saying "Groo-vy!" So bad it's good. 8/10
8. The Amps, "Dedicated" -- A nice little strutter from Kim Deal's post-Breeders, pre-Pixies 2.0 band. She can do very little wrong in my book, and I actually think this is some of her better stuff. 8/10
9. Raymond Wong, "Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained" -- This is the title theme to Kung Fu Hustle, which I finally saw recently thanks to the kind people at Netflix. Excellent movie, with a fantastic soundtrack. If you've seen the movie, this is the song that the Ax Gang sequence is set to. 6/10
10. Paul Stanley, "Strutter '78" -- Not sure why this is credited just to Paul -- and not to Gene, Ace and Peter as well -- since this is from KISS's Double Platinum collection. Maybe only Paul was willing to put in the time to do the remix work. Guess that's why he's the Star. 7/10
Alright, that's a generous 8.1 average. I guess on the gluttony holiday, a little generosity with the portions never hurt.
Please drop your own Random Ten -- Friday, Saturday, or otherwise -- in the comments.
5 comments:
That album should be called "Can I Borrow A Feeling"
5. Soundgarden, "Black Hole Sun" -- A great song off their best album. (Thrillhous may disagree.)
Well, I'll jump out in front and disagree for him. You can make a case for "Superunknown" being the most front-to-back listenable, but no song on that album can touch the good stuff off, say, "Badmotorfinger." I guess it all depends on what you want out of your Soundgarden—I want a little "Jesus Christ Pose" more than I want the radio-friendly stuff...
I go back and forth on what Soundgarden's best album was. I'm pretty partial to Down on the Upside.
Okay, I'm at home with my full complement of music, so let's see what happens.
1) Running out of Time - Ozzy. First time I've heard it. It's off his real recent stuff, which is pretty formulaic, but nobody runs a formula like Ozzy. I'll give it 7/10.
2) Excerpts from "The Six Wives of Henry the 8th" - Yes. This is the keyboard solo of Rick Wakeman on Yessongs. You've got to be pretty dorky to like this stuff. I'm pretty dorky. 9/10
3) Freewill - Rush. Money! 10/10
4) Dazed and Confused - Zepp. This particular cut is on one of their BBC sessions albums. Not much different from the regular version, but really really cool. 10/10
5) Flutter Girl - Chris Cornell. Whoa, Otto has Soundgard at no. 5, and I have their singer at no. 5. Freaky. Pretty good song off a pretty good album. 8/10
6) November Coming Fire - Samhain. Glenn Danzig's group after Misfits and before Danzig. Punky metally delicious! Sounds like it was recorded in Glenn's weightlifting room. 9/10
7) Somethin' Else - Zepp. Another BBC sessions song. It's a cover, but I don't recognize the names of the authors (Sharon Sheeley and Bob Cochran - little help here?), but it's a fun little 50s/60s kinda rockabilly tune. 6/10
8) Infinite Space - ELPantload. One of the six instrumentals on Tarkus. Good tune, but it's just not doin' it for me today. 6/10
9) Reflection - Tool. Weird, even for Tool. I think you have to be sniffing toxic chemicals to enjoy this one. 4/10
10) Wasp/NIB - Sabbath. What a super duper great way to finish! Get jiggy, Tommy Iommi! (Wait, his name might not be Tommy. Whatever.) 10/10
That album should be called "Can I Borrow A Feeling"
Zing! She probably is a pretty big wheel at the cracker factory.
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