Category: Music

And now I’m back with a post-operative Friday Random Ten and something for me to remember: Cimbing trees + Excessive workouts + Furniture moving = hernia repair surgery.

It’s been jazz and painkillers since Wednesday. I’m getting off the codeine, but jazz is a lasting addiction…

1. “Betcha By Golly Wow” – Grant Green – Live at the Lighthouse
2. “One Note Samba” – Charlie Byrd Trio with Ken Peplowski – The Bossa Nova Years
3. “Rain, Rain Go Away” – Vince Guaraldi – Oh, Good Grief!
4. “Walkin'” – Miles Davis – Miles in Tokyo (Live)
5. “Fifty Years” – Bill Frisell – Blues Dream
6. “You Are the World” – Donald Byrd – Stepping Into Tomorrow
7. “Passionelle” – Acoustic Alchemy – Positive Thinking
8. “Sanctuary” – Mahavishnu Orchestra – Birds of Fire
9. “The Thumb” – Wes Montgomery – Tequila
10. “Years of Yearning” – EST – Strange Place for Snow

In honor of Texas Independence Day, a random* ten fifteen of music by Texans or about Texas.

1. “Texas” – Chris Rea – The Road to Hell
2. “What Would Willie Do?” – Bruce Robison – KGSR Broadcasts Vol. 10 
3. “Me and Paul” – Willie Nelson** – Essential Willie Nelson
4. “I Turn My Camera On” – Spoon** – Gimme Fiction
5. “Texas Shuffle” – Count Basie – Complete Decca Recordings
6. “Strawberry” – Butthole Surfers – Independent Worm Saloon
7. “MacAllister Street” – Bug – K-Nack Homegroan Vol. 1
8. “On the Run’s Where I’m From” – American Analog Set** – The Fun of Watching Fireworks
9. “If I Had a Boat” – Lyle Lovett** – KGSR Broadcasts Vol. 7
10. “The Wasp (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)” – The Doors – LA Woman
11. “One Big Love” – Patty Griffin** – Flaming Red
12. “What up, G?” – Retarded Elf** – K-Nack Homegroan Vol. 1
13. “Rocky Mountain Blues” – Lightnin’ Hopkins – Blues Kingpins
14. “Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother” – Jerry Jeff Walker** – Great Gonzos
15. “Big Sky” – Reverend Horton Heat** – Liquor in the Front

*semi-random because I started it on Chris Rea, and skipped over a few Willie tunes for variety’s sake.

**acts I’ve caught live

This one is surrounded by the kind of country music that makes country cool. It’s hard to not like a song in which Kristofferson enjoys his breakfast beer so much he “has one more for dessert.”

1. “Sunday Morning Coming Down” – Kris Kristofferson – KGSR Broadcasts Vol. 14
2. “Space Is Gonna Do Me Good” – Frank Black – Teenager of the Year
3. “Walkin'” – Miles Davis – Miles in Berlin (Live)
4. “Takin’ the ‘A’ Train” – Jimmy McGriff – The Worm
5. “Rhythm in Blue Suite: Love in 5” – Danilo Perez – Central Avenue
6. “Grab ‘Hole A Dis” – Charles Earland – Funk Fantastique
7. “The Man Comes Around” – Johnny Cash – American IV
8. “Wishful Thinking” – Wilco – A Ghost is Born
9. “Sloop John B” – Dick Dale – Dick Dale & His Del-Tones
10. “Private Conversations” – Lyle Lovett – The Road to Ensendada

Throw Earland and McGriff in there, and this is one weird little set. Of course, Cash can hang with anyone anywhere.

Damn American IV was a fine record.

This actually played on Thursday night, and I typed it up to get ahead knowing that I might not get to post on Friday, but when I actually had time, the CO detector started going off, and the fire department kept coming because the alarm company kept calling them.

Finally, a ladder company came to join the two engine companies, neither of which had a CO detector. Of course, the ladder company’s CO detector didn’t work, but since we were all still alive, we decided that it was a malfunction.

Anyways, since I typed this on Thursday, and am posting it on Saturday, I think that still averages out to become a Friday Random Ten, and an interesting one at that…

1. “These Important Years” – Hüsker Dü – Warehouse: Songs and Stories
2. “Vai Vai” – Thunderball & Thievery Corporation* – The Outernational Sound
3. “five-five-FIVE” – Frank Zappa – Shut Up ‘N Play Yer Guitar
4. “Chagrin Falls” – The Tragically Hip* – Phantom Power
5. “Trouble & Luck” – Spring Heel Jack – Disappeared
6. “Drivin’ on 9” – The Breeders* – Last Splash
7. “Toxic Dart” – Jaga Jazzist – Animal Chin EP
8. “Wow and Flutter” – Stereolab – ABC Music/Radio 1 Sessions
9. “Airport” – Tricolor – Mirth + Feckless
10. “20 Minutes of Disco Glory (Simon’s Come – Unity Mix)” – DJ Garth & ETI – Groove Soundtrack

* Artists I’ve seen live

An interesting and unexpected, though not entirely American nor analog, set…

1. “Devilette” – Donald Byrd – Talkin’ Verve
2. “Berserker” – The Sleepwalkers* – Clocks and Calendars
3. “(Used to Be A) Cha Cha” – Jaco Pastorius – Jaco Pastorius
4. “Lester” – Spring Heel Jack – Disappeared
5. “Immaculate Heart 1” – The American Analog Set* – Set Free
6. “Celestial Terrestrial Commuters” – Mahavishnu Orchestra – Birds of Fire
7. “Bottle of Smoke” – The Pogues – If I Should Fall from Grace with God
8. “Elevator Up” – Fountains of Wayne – Out-of-State Plates
9. “Spear for Moondog, Part 1” – Jimmy McGriff* – Electric Funk
10. “All Along the Watchtower” – Bob Dylan* – Essential Bob Dylan

* artists I’ve seen live

And so, the most recent ten, the last track of which had me unplugging the ‘pod and going for the actual CD.

1. “Trouble” – Bugge Wesseltoft – New Conceptions of Jazz
2. “Melinda” – Stan Getz – The Artistry of Stan Getz
3. “Duet Solo Dancers” – Charles Mingus – The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
4. “Doctor’s Orders” – Sonic Youth – Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star
5. “Rainbow Babe” – Luna – Rendezvous
6. “The Black Five” – Roy Ayers Ubiquity – Mystic Voyage
7. “Summertime Rolls” – Jane’s Addiction – Nothing’s Shocking
8. “Until We Have Enough” – Spent – A Seat Beneath the Chairs
9. “I Walk the Line” – Johnny Cash – 16 Biggest Hits
10. “A Perfect Lie” – Jerry Harrison – Casual Gods

I’ve always loved Jerry Harrison’s funky Casual Gods album. It’s so underrated, but I think when the Talking Heads broke up, the world was expecting something more, well, more like the Heads. Instead we got a cool little album that wasn’t at all ironic or even very hip. It was – gasp! – kind of sincere. It’s a shame that Harrison hasn’t done more solo work.

Today we start off with The Mermen whose song titles are generally some of the best ever. Jim Thomas’ guitar playing is pretty awesome as well. We discovered them on the trip that was the subject of last week’s Old Photo Friday because the guy we stayed with in Albuquerque had hosted them just a few days earlier. He talked them up so big I had to buy A Glorious Lethal Euphoria, which stayed in my CD player for quite a while.

I once saw their sound described as Sonic Youth meets Hendrix in a psychedelic surf band. We finally caught them at the long gone Electric Lounge in Austin where I bought the CD that gives us the first track, which at twelve minutes is the most shreddin’ surf jam I’ve ever heard. It even segues into “Paint It Black” for a few incredible minutes.

Here’s the ten…

1. “The Whales Are Coming and Boy Are They Pissed” – The Mermen – Live at the Haunted House
2. “Here” – Pavement – Slanted & Enchanted
3. “Missing” – Everything But The Girl – Amplified Heart
4. “Cum On Feel the Noize” – Bran Van 3000 – Glee
5. “Relative Ways” – …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – Source Tags & Codes
6. “Babylon” – David Gray – White Ladder
7. “Plateau” – Nirvana – MTV Unplugged in New York
8. “The Boy in the Bubble” – Paul Simon – Graceland
9. “Night Train” – Bruce Cockburn – Anything Anytime Anywhere – Singles 1979-2001
10. “Leif Erikson” – Interpol – Turn on the Bright Lights

The rest of the set is pretty pop. Bran Van’s Quiet Riot cover is wonderfully subversive and still every bit the party song it was meant to be. “Boy in the Bubble” reminds me how great Graceland is and why it’s still in my top albums of the ’80s list.

A fun little mix. Two YLT tracks from the same album. One of them, “Paul is Dead” perhaps should have come after having a ball in “Gigantic.” (You can read that sentence however you like.)

1. “Guyana Punch” – The Judys – Washarama
2. “Wili (Part 2)” – Miles Davis – Dark Magus
3. “Just” – Radiohead – The Bends
4. “Blue Line Swinger” – Yo La Tengo – Electr-O-Pura
5. “Paul is Dead” – Yo La Tengo – Electr-O-Pura
6. “7 Minutes” – Circle Square – Queer As Folk: The Fourth Season Soundtrack
7. “Gigantic” – Pixies – Death to the Pixies (Live)
8. “Up ‘Gainst the Wall” – John Coltrane – Impressions
9. “Blind Man, Blind Man” – Herbie Hancock – My Point of View
10. “Xpander” – Sasha – Xpander EP

“Guyana Punch,” a snappy tune about Jim Jones (“Here come the airplanes, please form a straight line”) makes me wonder whatever became of Houston’s The Judys whose shows were some of my favorites to see live.