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Do the Shuffle

Posted at 12:02 PM on January 11, 2008 by Tony Lopez (11 Comments)

Everybody wants to be somebody's somethin'.


"All My Life," Steve Earle
A song from 2000's Transcendental Blues. Steve Earle is one of my heroes. There aren't many artists who have the testicular fortitude to write a song in the voice of John Walker Lindh, the so-called “American Taliban” (“John Walker’s Blues”) or bust a lusty move on the Secretary of State (“Condi, Condi”). Robert Chalmers profiled Earle last summer in the British newspaper, The Independent, with the provocative headline “Is Steve Earle America’s Greatest Living Songwriter?” I don’t know if he’s the greatest. He’s certainly the bravest. Here he is as Waylon on the greatest TV drama in the history of TV dramas, The Wire.

“Trying to Explain,” Matt Elliott
First operating under the name The Third Eye Foundation, Matt Elliott is a musician who has relied heavily on sampled sounds and drum and bass rhythms to create his atmospheric sound. This is an instrumental interlude from his 2005 album Drinking Songs, put out on the Ici Dailleurs imprint.

“We Don’t Need,” Daby Toure
This lovely tune is from Stereo Spirit, which made my year-end list of stand-out albums from foreign born artists. Toure (no relation to Ali Farka and Vieux Farka) is Mauritanian. The album showcases his love for Western style song-writing while still maintaining that West African lilt that I love so well.

“Priests Knees,” Destroyer
Just what is a “west-coast maximalist” anyway? The usually media-shy Dan Bejar did this surprisingly revealing interview for Exclaim! during the run-up to the release of Destroyer’s Rubies. I love his quirky pop sensibility and I admit, whenever a New Pornographers album comes out, I listen to his songs first. Two parts Bowie, one part Al Stewart? I don’t know if Bejar is into doing covers but “Year of the Cat,” Destroyer-style, absolutely needs to happen. Look for a new Destroyer album this spring.

“Just As I Am,” The “5” Royales
One of the early R&B and doo-wop groups, this quintet were huge hitmakers. The thing was, though, they made hits for other people. James Brown, Aretha Franklin, the Shirelles, and the Mamas & the Papas all recorded tremendously popular versions of the band’s songs. Lowman Pauling, the main songwriter and lead guitarist, also inspired a generation of blues-rock guitarists with his fiery guitar work.

Comments (11)

I agree w/ you on the Steve Earle, there Tone. He's got guts. Plus he's not afraid to try new things musically.

Let's spin the Wheel of Misfortune and see what comes up for moi:

Prince -Automatic
Genre-defining drum beat...Although he could have edited it down a little bit. It seems to me that 1999 was probably the first album to be made up of 12" dance singles.

Emmylou Harris - Blackhawk
From "Wrecking Ball"... Written by Daniel Lanois. I discovered Emmylou through this album.

REM - 1,000,000
From the "Chronic Town" EP. Another genre-defining sound. The jangly guitar power pop that would soon take over the world.

King Crimson - Elephant Talk
from "Discipline" the first album of the '80's incarnation of KC. Surprisingly funky for such a disciplined bunch of players.

Flight of the Conchords - Albi (The Racist Dragon)
"In the marmalade forest, between the make believe trees, in a cottage cheese cottage, lives Albi, the racist dragon."

A great take on children's songs with a happy ending.

Posted by Frick | January 11, 2008 12:45 PM

A-U-T-omatic! Love it!
And the Crimson is awesome.
I'm waiting for the time, Frick, when the same song pops up for both of us. It's inevitable!
My wife and I just started watching "Flight of the Conchords." Judging from just the first episode, I was not disappointed.

Posted by Tony Lopez | January 11, 2008 12:52 PM

FOTC is awesome Tone. Can't wait til you get to the Hip-Hoppopotamus Vs. the Rhyme-Nocerous song. You'll love it!


Posted by Frick | January 11, 2008 1:22 PM

Alright Tony, here goes.

Cowboy Junkies - Come Calling (Her Song)
Weathered and sad off Lay it Down. Whew, that's just so sad. Why's it so sad without some blues redemption or a companionly nod? There must be a bad-news bar somewhere with nothing but Cowboy Junkies on the jukebox.

The Tornados - Bustin' Surfboards
Via the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, sadly. I have much better slices of surf music because I really dig it, but wouldn't you know this would come up and publicly bite me. Anyway, the wave sounds crack me up and if it took Pulp Fiction to get the bend back on the music map, so be it.

Madonna - Get Together
Oh, come on. And I really don't need any ribbing about this. *clicking the forward button*

Pick up the Pieces - Average White Band
Herrrrrrrrrrre we go. Everyone knows these Scots can Eurofunk out. Race you to the roller rink. *clapping* Pick! Upthepieces!

Highway (Killing Me) - Foghat
Honestly, the pod does have some post-2000 music. Anyway, this is just plain... yeah. Yeah. Can I get a "whew" for '72?

Automatic! Whoooooooo Frick! I'm playing RIGHT it now. "that'sautomatictoo!" One of my faves off that awesome album, right after DMSR.

Posted by Julia Schrenkler | January 11, 2008 3:25 PM

Welcome aboard, Julia! Hey, I'm in no position to judge, when High School Musical made an appearance on last week's Shuffle.
I'm just lucky I haven't been embarrassed more frequently.

I think I just jinxed myself...

Posted by Tony Lopez | January 11, 2008 3:32 PM

You know you just did, Tony. You just did. Can't wait for the next lineup!

Posted by Julia Schrenkler | January 11, 2008 3:45 PM

Well... I will say this... Last week's shuffle, the next song after the last one would have been "Achy Breaky Heart".. thank goodness I stopped at 5 tunes. I don't know why I have it, I just do. I thought it would be funny to have it. Maybe I was wrong...

I wonder when "Mmmbop" is going to rear it's ugly head on a shuffle again...

and Woooooo Foghat!!! Way to go Julia.. I saw Foghat and Blue Oyster Cult on the same bill in the 80's.

Posted by Frick | January 11, 2008 5:08 PM

"So Watcha Want" The Beastie Boys... A great song from their second best album. I love the fact that they got away with saying mother!@#$%^ in the video without MTV catching it. ZZ Top similarly got away with saying Sh!t in the video for "Legs". Local band Mystery Palace does a great cover of "Legs" by the way. Check out their Myspace page if'n you want a listen.

"Shuffle It All" Izzy Stradlin & The JuJu Hounds... From Izzy's album after he left G n' R. He was always way too cool for that band. Clearly wrote the best riffs on "Appetite" This is actually a pretty great album. The JuJu Hounds consisted of the lead guitar player from The Georgia Satellites, the drummer from The Cruzados (another underrated band) and The Plugz and the bass player from power-poppers, The Broken Homes.

"Drivin' Me Wild" Common ft. Lilly Allen... I really love this song. quite infectious. but I have to say the verse where he name checks the celebrity couples makes me cringe.

"On The Right Track Now" Dump... Another perfectly simple and beautiful song from A Plea For Tenderness. Dump is the side project of James McNew from Yo La Tengo. This album is probably in my top 20 of all time favorites.

"Wonderful" Adam Ant... His "comeback" single from '95. Actually, I think a really good song. Nothing like his early stuff. which I totally love. this sounds more like later era INXS.. but probably better. an apology song. could've been a lot worse..

.


Posted by Wells T. | January 11, 2008 9:49 PM

Hey! Now that I have an iPod I can play!

Archie Bronson Group "Cherry Lips"
Echo & They Bunnymen "With A Hip"
Eels "Old Sh*t, New Sh*t"
Dean & Britta "Words You Used To Say"
Goldfrapp "Beautiful"

Posted by Auntie | January 11, 2008 11:52 PM

[Stage whisper] Pssst, Frick... You were wrong...

Posted by Auntie | January 11, 2008 11:53 PM

Hey Wells T. long time no see! That may be my favorite Beasties joint...

Auntie, we've been waiting for you...!

Posted by Tony Lopez | January 12, 2008 11:44 AM

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