Friday Random Ten

Tara Key "Jack of Hearts" Bourbon County
Elvis Costello "All This Useless Beauty" All This Useless Beauty
The Halo Benders "Bombshelter Pt. 1" Don't Tell Me Now
Hem "A-Hunting We Will Go" Eveningland
Spoon "Vittorio E" Kill the Moonlight
Built to Spill "Sidewalk" Keep It Like a Secret
Syd Straw ""Future 40s (String of Pearls)" Surprise
The Replacements "Alex Chilton" Just Say Sire: The Sire Records Story
Talking Heads "Air" The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads
Bright Eyes "Make War" Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground

bonus
Richard & Linda Thompson "Did She Jump" Shoot Out the Lights

After a few straying, mean weeks, iTunes returns to my door, plaintive, carrying chocolates and flowers. Lots of good in a lot of different flavors.

Friday Random Ten

Modest Mouse "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes" The Moon & Antarctica
Red Dirt Rangers "Idabel Blues" Vol. 1--Full Tank
Emmylou Harris "Cup of Kindness" Stumble into Grace
Laurie Anderson "Tightrope" Bright Red / Tightrope
Leo Kottke "Three/Quarter North" One Guitar, No Vocals
Esquivel "Lazy Bones" Space Age Bachelor Pad Music
Pavement "Brink of the Clouds" Wowee Zowee--Sordid Sentinels Edition
Elvis Costello & The Attractions "Busy Bodies" Armed Forces
Kate Bush "Deeper Understanding" The Sensual World
Big Star "Baby Strange" (live) Keep an Eye on the Sky

bonus
Jon Langford "Buy It Now" Gold Brick

Methinks iTunes is hating on me of late. Pretty blah. Do like that Big Star T-Rex cover, and the box set is so wonderful it's good to see it in the list. That's a lovely, sneaky cynical song by Jon Boy to go out on, too.

Friday Random Ten

Alan Feinberg "Clap yo' Hands" Fascinatin' Rhythm
Rilo Kiley "I Never" More Adventurous
Shriekback "Nemesis" Oil & Gold
Alison Krauss & Union Station "The Boy Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn" New Favorite
Crooked Fingers "Run, Lieutenant, Run" Forfeit/Fortune
Muzsikas "Bonchidai Lassu Magyar" The Bartok Album
Crooked Fingers "Devil's Train" Bring on the Snakes
Astor Piazzolla "Adios Nonico" Un Siecle de Tango Volume 2
Chavez "Top Pocket Man" Ride the Fader
Stereolab "Monster Sacre" Emperor Tomato Ketchup

bonus
The Arcade Fire "Ocean of Noise" Neon Bible

22,852 songs and that's the best you can do, iTunes? And as much as I like Eric Bachmann, he could be much better represented if he's going to hog 2 spots. Barry Andrews and the gang are probably top dog this week. (FWIW, it took to cut 13 to get to a total total fave, Superchunk's "Driveway to Driveway.")

Friday Random Ten

The Mountain Goats "New Star Song" Beautiful Rat Sunset
Destroyer "My Favourite Year" Trouble in Dreams
Space Negros "The End of Transition" Dig Archaeology
Terry Radigan "When I Get Around" Vanguard 50 Years Sampler
Moby "Slipping Away" Hotel
Lucinda Williams "Side of the Road" [live] Passionate Kisses [ep]
Television Personalities "Closer to God" Closer to God
Simian Mobile Disco "I Got This Down (Invisible Conga People Remix)" Wichita Free Sampler Summer 2008
Marshall Crenshaw "Mary Anne" Marshall Crenshaw
Johnny Adams "Release Me" Big Ol' Box of New Orleans

bonus
Tom Tom Club "L'Elephant" Tom Tom Club

Well a bit of the all-over there. Still, a classic Crenshaw chestnut, one of Lucinda's under-rated ones, and much other fun. And tonight it's Ahab Music Live!--Langhorne Slim at a local coffee shop! Really.

Friday Random Ten

The Magnetic Fields "Fido, Your Leash Is Too Long" 69 Love Songs
Elvis Costello "The Other Side of Summer" Mighty Like a Rose
Guided by Voices "They're Not Witches" Alien Lanes
Brian Eno "Back Clack" The Drop
Tony Lucca "Welcome to the Bay" Sin City Social Club Volume 3
Sonic Youth "The Sprawl" Daydream Nation
Archers of Loaf "Let the Loser Melt" Seconds Before the Crash
Neil Young "When You Dance I Can Really Love" Live Rust
Leo Kottke "Peckerwood" One Guitar, No Vocals
Roxy Music "Out of the Blue" Country Life

bonus
New Musik "On Islands" From A to B

QOTD: "If I have an aneurysm tonight, it's out of gratitude." Not a bad list this week, if nothing too obvious.

Friday Random Ten

The Golden Palominos "Wings" Pure
The Magnetic Fields "The Way You Say Good-Night" 69 Love Songs
Peter Blegvad "Shirt & Comb" King Strut & Other Stories
ABBA "Knowing Me, Knowing You" The Best Of (The Millennium Collection)
Tom Verlaine "Sleepwalkin'" Warm and Cool
Channel Light Vessel "Little Luminaries" Automatic
Marshall Crenshaw "Never Coming Down" Jaggedland
David Sylvian & Robert Fripp "Jean the Birdman" The First Day
The Du-Tells "We're Still Here" Wish You Were Here: Love Songs for New York
The Gothic Archies "This Abyss" The Tragic Treasury: Songs from a Series of Unfortunate Events

bonus
3 Mustaphas 3 "Anapse to Tsigaro" Heart of Uncle

Inspirational verse: "You've got a devastating point of view/and everything you say is true." Obscure "super" group: Bill Nelson, Roger Eno, Kate St. John. Great guitarists in odder settings. A 9/11 song into Lemony Snickett. And some fake ethnic music to take us home.

Friday Random Ten

Carla Thomas "I Kinnda Think He Does" The Complete Stax/Volt Singles 1959-1968
Ensemble Romulo Larrea and Veronica Larc "Casapueblo" Collection Un Siecle de Tango--Astor Piazzolla
Nouvelle Vague "I Melt with You" Nouvelle Vague
David Byrne "The Revolution" Look into the Eyeball
Peter Blegvad "You & Me" Just Woke Up
Peter Gabriel "Here Comes the Flood" Shaking the Tree: 16 Golden Greats
Penguin Cafe Orchestra "Vega" Concert Program
R.E.M. "King of Birds" Document
Steve Earle "Six Days on the Road" Ain't Ever Satisfied: The Steve Earle Collection
Radiohead "(Nice Dream)" The Bends

bonus
Talking Heads "Blind" Sand in the Vaseline

Solid enough if not a killer, heavy on a bunch of famous folks as much as folks I like get famous. Anybody know if the "Here Comes the Flood" from Robert Fripp's Exposure is available digitally? I've got it on cassette only, of all things.

Friday Random Ten

The Smiths "Shakespeare's Sister" The Sound of the Smiths
Sue Garner "Something Else" To Run More Smoothly
Billy Bragg "Raglan Road" Worker's Playtime
Maddox Brothers & Rose "Fried Potatoes" On the Air: The 1940s
Billy Bragg "Wishing the Days Away" Talking to the Taxman about Poetry
That Dog "Every Time I Try" Retreat from the Sun
Talking Heads "Love --> Building on Fire" The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads
No Man Is Roger Miller "Voluptuous Airplanes" Win! Instantly!
XTC "My Brown Guitar" Wasp Star (Apple Venus, Pt. 2)
The Magnetic Fields "Nothing Matters When We're Dancing" 69 Love Songs

bonus
Seam "The Wild Cat" The Problem with Me

I'll take it--starts with the name of a much more famous blog and ends with a cut from a band I loved loved loved back in '93-'94 with some juicy nuggets in between (like one of my favorite early T-Heads). Is kind of odd it can hit on Bragg twice and not get past the ok though.

Friday Random Ten

ABBA "Dancing Queen" The Best of (The Millennial Collection)
The B-52's "52 Girls" Time Capsule: Songs for a Future Generation
David Byrne & Selena "God's Child" Blue in the Face
Rockpile "Pet You and Hold You" Seconds of Pleasure
Glenn Gould "Toccata in D major, BWV 912 -- Vivace" Bach Toccatas, Vol. 1, BWV 910-916
Lucinda Williams "Blue" Live @ the Fillmore
Guided by Voices "Bomb in the Bee-Hive" Mag Earwhig!
Beirut "Prenzlauerberg" Gulag Orkestar
Tears for Fears "Change" The Hurting
Steve Earle "Hillbilly Highway" Ain't Never Satisfied: The Steve Earle Collection

bonus
Kasey Chambers "Paper Aeroplane" Wayward Angel

Started off like iTunes wanted to dance party, but then things faded to Bach and "Blue."

Friday Random Ten (Saturday Edition)

The Mar-Keys "Grab This Thing (Part 1)" The Complete Stax/Volt Singles
The Mekons "We're Just Outside London" Pussy King of the Pirates
The Handsome Family "Beautiful William" Last Days of Wonder
Chavez "Unreal Is Here" What's Up Matador?
Wilco "I Thought I Held You" A.M.
Talking Heads "Animals" The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads
Allison Krauss & Union Station "The Lucky One" New Favorite
Tom Russell (with Nanci Griffith) "Outbound Plane" Long Way Around
Tom Waits "Big Black Mariah" Rain Dogs
John Doe & the Sadies "It Just Dawned on Me" Country Club

bonus
Pere Ubu "Worlds in Collision" Worlds in Collision

This one took a bit to warm up, but that's fitting given I did it a day late. Some lovely Americana here. And that Chavez song made me buy the whole album, only to find out I really only like the one song. Damn samplers.

Friday Random Ten

Elvis Costello "You Tripped at Every Step" Brutal Youth
Richard Buckner "Hand @ the Hem" Since
T Bone Burnett "I Can Explain Everything" The Criminal Under My Own Hat
Luna "Romantica" Romantica
Tom Verlaine "The Day on You" Songs and Other Things
Son Volt "Windfall" Trace
The Mekons "Cowboy Boots" I Have Been to Heaven and Back
The Gants "Wonder" Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era
Steve Earle & the Del McCoury Band "the Mountain" The Mountain
Beck "Scarecrow" Guero

bonus
David Lindley & Hani Naser "Mercury Blues" Live in Tokyo

Good list, if only I could hear it. Seems the iPod will pick a giant Shuffle Songs, and will advance from cut to cut, but won't play any music. Uh-oh. And I thought the day would all be easy after having to pick up Mookie's dump in the building lobby as we waited for the elevator to get to my office.

Friday Random Ten

Crooked Fingers "Under Pressure" Reservoir Songs
Portastatic "Cheers and Applause" Be Still Please
Orlando Cachaito "Oracion Lucumi" Cachaito
Loretta Lynn "Family Tree" Van Lear Rose
Los Lobos "Estoy Sentado Aqui" Just Another Band from East L.A.
Brian Eno "Taking Tiger Mountain" Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)
Les Negresses Vertes "C'est Pas la Mer a Boire" Mlah
Les Negresses Vertes "Le Pere Magloire" Mlah
Chris Mars "Outer Limits" Horseshoes and Hand Grenades
Tom Waits "Fannin Street" Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards

bonus
Billy Bragg "Accident Waiting to Happen" Don't Try this at Home

Sorry I'm a bit late this week--actually did the list on Friday morning for a change. Fun little wide-ranging mix. And it really did play two from Mlah back to back. Glad I wanted to point out how fun that album is--French Pogues indeed.

Friday Random Ten

The Music Tapes "Cumulonimbus (Magnetic Tapes for Clouds)" Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes
Elbow "Snooks (Progress Report)" Cast of Thousands
Big Star "What's Going Ahn" Keep an Eye on the Sky
Steve Earle "Some Dreams" Sidetracks
Ollie & the Nightingales "I Got a Sure Thing" The Complete Stax/Volt Singles
Brian Eno "Put a Straw Under Baby" Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)
Roger Dean Young & the Tin Cup "Ravenna" Pilgrim
Heavenly "Atta Girl" P.U.N.K. Girl
Rilo Kiley "Does He Love You?" More Adventurous
10,000 Maniacs "Candy Everybody Wants" Our Time in Eden

bonus
The Decemberists "The Perfect Crime #2" The Crane Wife

Not half bad, from wonderfully depressing Big Star to Eno's fine lullabye to Rilo Kiley getting all un-mellowly dramatic.

Friday Random Ten

East River Pipe "My Life Is Wrong" Shining Hours in a Can
Liz Phair "Crater Lake" Whip-Smart
Cheb Khaled "Hana-Hana" Kutché
PJ Harvey "Who the Fuck?" Uh Huh Her
The Band "Don't Do It" Heaven Must Have Sent You--The Holland Dozier Holland Story
Neil Young "War of Man" Harvest Moon
Belle & Sebastian "Act of the Apostle" The Life Pursuit
Yo La Tengo "By the Time It Gets Dark" Little Honda ep
Sonny Landreth "South of I-10" Big Ol' Box of New Orleans
Coward Brothers "The People's Limousine" Twenty Twenty: The Essential T Bone Burnett

bonus
Nick Lowe "Heart" Basher--The Best of Nick Lowe

Plenty of good stuff, today, from all over, starting with one of the best sad laments of all time. I do have to admit, though, I like the jaunty Rockpile version of "Heart" way better than Nick's lazy reggae.

Friday Random Ten

Pere Ubu "Over My Head" Datapanik in the Year Zero: 1975-1977
Louis Armstrong "Cornet Chop Suey" The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings
Waco Brothers "The Lie" New Deal
The Mekons "Dark Dark Dark" Natural
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah "Is This Love?" Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Talking Heads "A Clean Break (Let's Work)" The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads
XTC "Miniature Sun" Oranges & Lemons
The Fratellis "Henrietta" Costello Music
The Scene Is Now "Room of Wicker" The Oily Years (1983-1993)
Rilo Kiley "Close Call" Under the Blacklight

bonus
Cat Power "Breathless" Jukebox

Hard to beat that Louis Armstrong. That last few seconds of the Rilo Kiley comes close. (A close call?)

Friday Random Ten

Young @ Heart Chorus "Helpless" Mostly Live
Elvis Costello "Friend of the devil" Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2008
Laura Gibson "Shadows on Parade" Beasts of Seasons
Nick Lowe "Nutted by Reality" Jesus of Cool
Jilted John "Jilted John" Zero: A Martin Hannett Story
Penguin Cafe Orchestra "Pythagoras's Trousers" Penguin Cafe Orchestra
Young Fresh Fellows "Go Pilots Go" The Homerun ep
My Morning Jacket "Gideon" Paste Magazine Sampler 18
Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby "The Downside of Being a Fuck Up" Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby
The Bird and the Bee "Fucking Boyfriend" The Bird and the Bee

bonus
Pavement "Starlings of the Slipstream" Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creeders Edition

Sorry, but a limited palette this week, just the songs on the iPhone. Still, I'm not sure you can do a bad cover of "Helpless." And I owe an apology to Jim James, but maybe I'll get to that if I ever wind up writing a review of the great Monster of Folk show last night. Plus a funny toss off from WE & AR, wonderful Inara George, and then still one of my fave Pavements.

Friday Random Ten

Kate Bush "An Architect's Dream" Aerial
Sebadoh "Love to Fight" Harmacy
The Mekons "You Wear It Well" I Have Been to Heaven and Back
Uncle Tupelo "Steal the Crumbs" Anodyne
New Order "In a Lonely Place" Substance
Astor Piazzolla "Chiquilin de Bachin" Un Siecle de Tango Vol. 2
Prince "U Got the Look" The Very Best of Prince
Remy Ongala and Orchestre Super Matimilia "Dodoma" Mambo
Betty Serveert "Tomboy" What's Up Matador?
The Golden Palominos "The Haunting" Drunk with Passion

bonus
Philip Glass and Foday Musa Suso "North Africa--1962" Music from the Screens

World-ranging today, but the Dutch gal takes the tomboy cake, if you ask me.

Friday Random Ten

That Petrol Emotion "Stories of the Street" I'm Your Fan: The Songs of Leonard Cohen
The Handsome Family "My Beautiful Bride" In the Air
The New Century Chamber Orchestra "Largo (Attacca)" Written with the Heart's Blood: Dimitri Shostakovitch
Maria McKee "I'm Not Listening" Life Is Sweet
Joshua Redman "Yesterdays" Timeless Tales (For Changing Times)
Richard & Linda Thompson "Don't Renege on Our Love" Shoot Out the Lights
East River Pipe "Ah, Dictaphone" Poor Fricky
The Replacements "Valentine" Pleased to Meet Me
Rilo Kiley "The Moneymaker" Under the Blacklight
Liz Phair "Canary" Exile in Guyville

bonus
Julie Miller "Last Song" Blue Pony

R&L take the week's cake. And I have to admit a weakness for "Moneymaker," although I should know better.

Friday Random Ten

That Dog "I'm Gonna See You" Retreat from the Sun
Sonic Youth "Eliminator Jr." Daydream Nation
Tommy Keene "Love Is a Dangerous Thing" Sleeping on a Roller Coaster
Brian Woodbury "Get Wise" Time for a Change--Bar/None Sampler #2
Neo Pseudo "Little Red Book" Laughing Symbols No So No
Menahan Street Band "The Traitor" Make the Road by Walking
Richard Buckner "Boys, the Night Will Bury You" Since
David Byrne "Just the Motion" Beat the Retreat: Songs by Richard Thompson
The Hold Steady "Chips Ahoy!" Boys and Girls in America
Youssou N'Dour "Country Boy" Eyes Open

bonus
Tom Waits "The Fall of Troy" Dead Man Walking

I guess I say a bit all over every week, and while this hits world, it avoids jazz, classical, etc. But there are some obscurities, aren't there. Such as a shout out to State College, PA circa 1990.

Friday Random Ten

Yam "Bad as a Bee" More Iowa Less Worcester
Guster "Empire State" Ganging Up on the Sun
Mick Moloney "Reels: Ricky White's Face/The Top of the Stairs" Strings Attached
Peter Gabriel "Blood of Eden" Us
Fred Astaire "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" Steppin' Out: Astaire Sings
Julieta Venegas "Casa Abandonada" KCRW Sounds Eclectic Too
Dizzy Gillespie "One Bass Hit, No. 2" Ken Burns Jazz: Dizzy Gillespie
Johnny Cash "Rowboat" Unearthed V: Best of Cash
Nick Lowe "Marie Provost" Jesus of Cool
Tift Merritt "Bramble Rose" Bramble Rose

bonus
Brian Eno "St. Elmo's Fire" Another Green World

All over and much much good, if mostly old stuff good, from Astaire to Lowe to Eno. And that opening track is the second digitized song I've finally got from the band I was in a few lives ago (key vocal line "I want the other rice pilaf!"). Otherwise, I have said how Another Green World is the first CD I play every time I've had to re-set up my stereo, no?

(26 of 31 in the drive to 2500)