My Three Songs - from the halfpod

When I got my ipod a few years ago I thought it wouldn't take much time to fill it to the maximum 7,500 songs. I'm pretty compulsive. Well, I've only just hit 3,750, 2-1/2 years later. I almost always set my entire music collection on shuffle and let the ipod do its thing, and I still marvel at what seems to be artificial intelligence. I've got about 400 Dylan songs on my ipod, yet on shuffle I'll hear Bob growling High Water after a Howlin' Wolf tune, followed by the Black Keys. A perfect trio. How does it do it? Allow me to share a few tunes from this week:

When I plugged the 3,750 song ipod in Monday morning for the shuffle, the first track to pop up was Hell is Chrome, probably my favorite Wilco song. It's a hypnotic dirge that reminds me of the Band, complete with the beautiful harmonies of the kind that Richard Manuel and Robbie Robertson used to hit. And I love the screaming guitar break in the middle.


Wilco - Hell Is Chrome




The album that pushed me over the halfway point this week was Boxer, by the National. Lots of buzz over this album, and rightly so. The music evokes Bryan Ferry, The The and Joy Division, brooding, reflective, and engrossing with each repeated listen. The track that immediately caught my ear is Apartment Story, one of the more up tempo tracks on the disc. There's something about the vocals and lyrics that is just magnetic. This one will most definitely make my best-of 2007 list.


The National - Apartment Story

Third, a Forgotten Record from the 80's. I've started digitizing my old vinyl, and I pulled out a 12-inch single by the Hoodoo Gurus, a song called Bittersweet from their album Mars Needs Guitars. It's a perfect pop-rock gem, and I remember going nuts over this song for a few weeks in 1985 (or 86?). The Gurus were overshadowed by their Aussie brethren INXS and Midnight Oil, but this is a great song that you will hum the rest of the day. These guys are still at it, and currently on tour.


Hoodoo Gurus - Bittersweet

Ok, time to start on songs 3,751 to 7,500.

My Three Songs #2 - 'Tis the Season

Holiday music can get pretty cheesy, and generally I'm not a big fan, but you've just got to love the three songs included here. You may not be familar with these versions, so enjoy 'em, and happy holidays.

Baby It's Cold Outside - Dean Martin

Everybody loves Dean Martin sometimes. Whether it's Matt Helm, the celebrity roast host, or the swingin' martini sippin' hipster, Dino's the man. Lots of great holiday tunes from the Rat Pack.
Buy Dino


Frosty the Snowman - Fats Domino

Fats keeps rolling along, despite having his home and many of his possessions and musical mementos wiped out by Katrina. I can't imagine a better fit for this classic tune than Fats Domino.

Buy Fats





Merry Christmas, Baby - Charles Brown

The first time I heard this song, it was a live version by Springsteeen. Elvis' version is just a little too tame for me. Here's a nice bluesy take on the song from 1961. Brown had a much bigger hit with Please Come Home For Christmas.

Buy Charles Brown

My Three Songs #1

WXRT in Chicago does a quaint little thing called My Three Songs, where listeners write in with suggestions for groupings of three songs with a common thread or some type of clever connection. I thought it would be fun to do my own versions. After all, as compulsive as I am about music, I have playlists long and short always running through my head. Don’t we all? Of course, my songs will gravitate towards material that you probably won’t hear on FM radio. The images here are related, but as tempted as I was to include Green-Eyed Lady by Sugarloaf, it’s just too obvious.

#1 – Guinevere, by David Crosby and Graham Nash, recorded live on October 10, 1971. A beautiful version of this CSN track from their debut album, albeit missing the third voice of Stephen Stills. Taken from an informal acoustic performance, this song is an overlooked gem, with classic rock FM programming always going for the more well known songs from the debut album and Déjà Vu. Two voices that were meant to sing together.

#2 – Temptation by New Order. I was in college when Blue Monday took over the Earth. The song was simply inescapable. I always preferred the more guitar driven tracks on that album (Power, Corruption & Lies) like Age Of Consent. I really liked Temptation, an earlier work that owes more to the Joy Division sound they evolved from than the synth-pop they would become.

#3 – Green Is The Colour by Pink Floyd, recorded live, unknown date and venue, but probably from 1970. It’s refreshing to me that a fair number of teenage kids today seem to be listening to classic rock like Floyd, Zeppelin and the Who. They’re raised on what they’re fed by iTunes and FM though, and probably have never explored early Floyd music. This track comes from perhaps the most obscure Floyd album, a soundtrack to a film called More, a ‘French hippie film’, according to my sources. Released in 1969, the album hit the top ten in Britain, despite being a weird collection of acoustic songs and instrumental mood music. What’s fascinating about this early work is that you can hear little bits of musical ideas that would fully blossom in their 1970s masterpieces.

Enjoy.

Buy Crosby-Nash

Buy New Order

Buy Pink Floyd