Shuffling Back Into Your Good Graces?

WOO you're back!! Awesome!

Hmm, an iTunes shuffle with the work account. This should be interesting:

1. "Rock The House" by Gorillaz (YES; I like this assignment already) 2. "Bankrobber" by The Clash 3. "A Dream Upon Waking" by Yann Tiersen (Amélie soundtrack) 4. "Bold as Love" by Jimi Hendrix (strictly instrumental-only; I run through about 600 emotions every time I play this.) 5. "Soldier Girl" by The Polyphonic Spree 6. "Crazy In Love" by Beyonce (I could probably run 10 miles with no break if I put this on repeat) 7. "Da Funk" by Daft Punk (my ringtone for about 5 years; this is my jam) 8. "Sound It Off" by Mates of State (not my favorite MoS song, but it wakes me up at least. I discovered Mates of State during one of the worst funks of my life, and they quickly turned it into the happiest summer I've had yet.) 9. "As Far As I Know" by Grace Basement (by far, one of the best STL bands. You may or may not know Russ Olsen, who drew the album cover. Russ is a friend and former roomate of RØB's. So there you go. You and this band are practically family.) 10. *cough* "LambdaLambdaLambdaRap" from *cough cough* Revenge of the Nerds. *cough* (Actually screw it, I'm not ashamed. It stands the rest of time. "So come on out here on the floor/so we can work our bodies like never be-fore/ BREEEEEEEEAAAAK.")

This was fun; thanks for the homework Teach!! I love the show and I'm so glad you're back!!

Yay for a new post! And I love ipod roulette... here's my contribution: 1) "Pollywog in a Bog" by Barenaked Ladies. OK, let me explain... it's from their kids' album "Snacktime" and I have a 3-year-old. At least this is super catchy! 2) "Black Pearl" by Bryan Adams. Reminds me of high school and every bad boy I ever wanted to date. 3) "Beyond the Sea" by Michael Buble. Yes, it's from Finding Nemo, but it's a great re-tread of an already terrific song. 4) "You Wonderful You" by Gene Kelly and Judy Garland from the movie Summer Stock. Judy's weight gain/loss was pretty noticeable during this movie, but her voice still sounds good... for the 10 seconds she's singing. I love me some Gene, though! 5) "Land of 1000 Dances" by Wilson Pickett. Full confession: I am a band geek and this was required music at every football/basketball game I ever played in high school and college. 6) "Hotel California" by the Eagles. My husband loves the Eagles and we've seen them twice in concert. They put on a good show. 7) "Lying in the Bed I've Made" by Aqueduct. Not my favorite off the "Or Give Me Death" album but still an OK tune. 8) "I Want You to Want Me" live version by Cheap Trick. Yeah, baby. 9) "This Magic Moment" by the Drifters. This one was something my dad used to listen to. 10) "Small Wooden Bach'ses" from Mannheim Steamroller's Fresh Aire III. Mannheim does a lot more than just Christmas music and I grew up with this one in my house. Not my favorite, but holds lots of good memories.

OK, Patrick, back to you. Feel free to make fun. And post again sometime soon, why don't you?!?

Dude!!! You're fucking BACK!!! Hahaha - good to see (read) ya again; I've actually been combing through the archives out of withdrawals. Understood that you're actually gettin it done down there in LA, working on an awesome show. . .but it's still good to see ya back. And the shuffleupagus? Fanfuckingtastic. Paging your friend Les Dothis: 1. Walls (Circus) - Tom Petty; seeing as how I've got roughly everything the man ever recorded on my player, it shouldn't surprise me that it starts off this way. Goddamn good song too, love the Lindsey Buckingham harmonies. 2. Cabo Wabo - Van Halen; still one of my fave tunes of theirs. Love that main riff, and the last couple minutes get me pumped every time. 3. Sweet Al George - Brad; is it wrong for me to absolutely ADORE the album Interiors? I don't think so. This is a decent cut from it, but there's better on there for sure. 4. A Long December - Counting Crows; been on a Crows kick as of late, actually. The song "Sullivan Street" from August and Everything After gives me friggin chills. This song is particularly painful right now, as it makes me miss my girl - yes, we're both in Cali, and 600 miles isn't anywhere as bad as being across the country from each other, but late at night when you can't get her out of your mind, it's definitely far enough away to hurt profoundly. 5. Of All The Gin Joints In All The World - Fall Out Boy; no, I'm not a 15 year old girl and yes, I'm straight, but whatever - I dig Fall Out Boy. Pete Wentz seems like kind of a douche but I can't help but play their music really, really loud. Catchy stuff; sue me ("America's Suitehearts" has been kicking my ass recently). 6. Topanga Cowgirl - Mudcrutch; more Petty, goddamn. The 'Crutch CD is hot shit and it's nice to see he's still writing some tasty jams. 7. Stone In Love - Journey; this is actually the re-recorded version (with their new lead singer Arnel Pineda) from their last CD Revelation. Grew up on Journey and will always love 'em. Plus that new dude (who looks about 20 years old and four feet tall, roughly) has got some seriously wailing pipes. 8. Crawl - Kings of Leon; all cause of you, man. Your ranking of Because of the Times as your #1 CD of the year awhile back intrigued me enough to pick it up. . .next thing I know I've got all their releases and can't stop listening to 'em (and BOTT is STILL in my player). Then I get this Only By The Night and I'm screwed. My friends, I'm sure, got exhausted with my inability to shut the hell up about it and how it's my favorite new CD of the last five years or more, etc. But it's true; I absolutely revere the damned thing. Every track, every note, every last bit of it. So thanks, dude. 9. Ruff Stuff - AC/DC; what is there to say? A random album track from one of the boys' late 80's releases STILL completely out-rocks most of the shit that gets released today. 10. Falling Slowly - Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova; a simply beautiful tune. Showed the movie Once (that this comes from) to my girl months ago and it immediately became one of "our" movies. Hell, better that than The Notebook, I guess. Regardless, there's no way to hear this now and not think of the best thing that ever happened to me. Anyway. Sorry to end this on such a sappy note, but here we are. Welcome back, Pat, and congratulations on everything, as well as good luck with all your future endeavors and all that shit. Haha. . .now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a late night phone call to make -

I stared at this post for half a day before Stephanie finally broke the comment silence, and prompted me to oblige you, as I always have before. I'm not going to follow the rules strictly, though, nor will I go out of my way to give you your shuffle-response. Here's an explanation: Usually when listening to the iPod these days, I listen to it on shuffle, but not normal song-shuffle, rather ALBUM-shuffle, which is awesome because I'm very much a student of the philosophy that albums as a whole are more than the sum of their parts, and all that malarkey. So you don't get ten songs, you get ten albums. I love Album Shuffle! You should try it sometime...basically it plays a whole album before shuffling to the next randomized album selection. Pretty slick!

1) They Might Be Giants - JOHN HENRY: The horn section really makes this album in a lot of ways, but the way they marry accordion and guitar is also not to be underestimated, and you can hear that right out of the gate with "Subliminal."

2) Fifty Foot Combo - CAFFEINE: A Belgian garage/indie/surf/mostly instrumental band that a Belgian-American friend got me into while on a trip to Belgium once. She made me a tape and I was hooked. Kind of like a speedier, shreddier Dick Dale or Link Wray; in fact I think they do covers of "Jack The Ripper."

3) The Carrots - COVERS EP: An EP full of covers by Austin, TX's Carrots. A pretty remarkable, not to mention faithful, recreation of girl-groups of the 1960s. On this release they take on the Shangri-Las, Wanda Jackson, Irma Thomas, The Cookies, The Kinks, The Ronettes, The Marvelettes, and The Crystals. They also have some pretty stellar originals, though, and when I saw them in Chicago a little over a year ago, sweet matching stage-wear, too.

4) The Troggs - WILD THING 45: I admit, I put a lot of my 45s into my iTunes, so this counts as an "album" even though it's only two songs. Of course "Wild Thing" (not single-handedly) paved the way for a variety of genres in later years. The B-side, "With A Girl Like You" (not to be confused with the Rutles song of the same name) went to #1 in the UK (which "Wild Thing" did not despite 2 weeks at #1 in the US) is reasonably good as well.

5) Primus - SAILING THE SEAS OF CHEESE: This was my favorite Primus album, which put it high in contention for favorite of all albums, for a long time. It still wails. It is one of my great regrets that I didn't go see them on one of their last tours, when they were doing a regular set and then a straight-through of this album. I did see them at Lollapalooza (2005?) with a gigantic rubber duckie on the stage. I also used the first track, "Seas Of Cheese," as a poem for a compilation of poems we had to make in 10th grade English. Of course I also memorized the super-quickly-sung-spoken lyrics to "Tommy The Cat" (which starts out with a sweet Tom Waits guest spot, no less) back then, and could probably still do it given a practice run-through.

6) Muckafurgason - MUCKAFURGASON: John Lee and Chris Anderson of this band later worked on TV's WONDER SHOWZEN. Probably the best opening band I have ever seen (that I didn't know anything about when going to see them, at least). They opened for They Might Be Giants on a handful of dates during their fall 2001 tour, including St. Louis and Columbia, both of which I attended. They did a lot of sweet instrumental musical chairs, switching up drumming, guitaring, even trumpeting duties. Their songs range from love ballads to Janeane Garofalo to raps about lunch and spelling to pop songs about Atari, the Dictionary, being a part-time rockstar, and being a Liar, and melancholy-but-laugh-out-loud humorous heartbreakers. If you dig enough, you can find a pretty great video of them appearing onstage at the Apollo (and getting booed off), with a pretty funny intro segment with Steve Harvey. I have basically everything these guys ever put out, but unfortunately some of the best songs (which were so good I remember them even though I heard them performed twice and never again) they only did live, including one called "Laundry Day" about a guy who likes a girl, but think she may be crazy because she dresses so weirdly, but hopes maybe it's just laundry day, and one called "Who's Cool Guy?" told from the viewpoint of a jealous boyfriend who sees a missed call from someone identified as "Cool Guy" on his girlfriend's cell phone. Hilarious, and amazing musicians, to boot. I covered their song "Liar" once and you can find an MP3 of it on my website. Also John Lee from this band (and WONDER SHOWZEN) is the subject of the They Might Be Giants song "John Lee Supertaster" - allegedly he really is a supertaster (look it up on WikiPedia). This is probably the greatest band I know that nobody knows about. I would be surprised not to have blathered on about them in the comments to your posts before.

7) Joan Osborne - RELISH: No, you shut up. I thought about just having that be the only description I offered, but did you know: The final track on this album was used in the first episode of THE SOPRANOS, and she covers Captain Beefheart, Bob Dylan, and Sonny Boy Williamson No. 2? She wasn't the Jesus-freak one-hit-wonder she got reduced to because of "One Of Us," which is probably the most pop-like the album gets anyway (it's much more a blues/country/folk affair). I got this for like $2 in the bung bin at Slackers just a few years ago, though. Not bad, for the price.

8) Giant Bear - GIANT BEAR: Some friends-of-a-friend from Memphis, I missed them when they played here in town and then again when I was in Memphis and they played a show that said friend had set up. Still, I tailgated with 'em and drank some beer outta the back of someone's station wagon with these dudes in the parking lot of the Lorraine Motel (which is now the National Civil Rights Museum, well worth a checking-out if you're ever in Memphis). They're largely a country band, this is an excellent album with a pretty great country cover of NIN's "Head Like A Hole" on it.

9) IN A CLASSICAL MOOD - NIGHTS IN VIENNA: A compilation of Viennese-style music, mostly from the Romantic period. Haydn, Johann Strauss, Jr., Kreisler, Beethoven, Von Suppé, Lehar, Mozart, and Richard Strauss. Lots of opera/operetta, lots of really excellent stuff period. IN A CLASSICAL MOOD is a wonderful series of instrumental/operatic/"classical" compilations.

10) Deltron 3030 - DELTRON 3030: Perhaps my favorite (with Lovage's MUSIC TO MAKE LOVE TO YOUR OLD LADY BY, I'd say) of Dan Nakamura AKA Dan The Automator's projects. Futuristic rap at its finest (the "plot" of the album takes place in the year 3030, hence the name). Just a really great hip-hop concept album. Del Tha Funkee Homosapien is an outstanding rapper. The beats and samples on this, courtesy of Dan the Automator and DJ Kid Koala, are pretty wicked. Recommended even for people not terribly interested in hip-hop. This preceded Gorillaz by a few years but was largely the work of the main players thereupon (and therefore does deserve some comparisons drawn between the two). Apparently a second Deltron album is still in the works...

As for your shuffle, Pat, I'd say I agree, as I always have, about Harrison > Lennon in terms of solo careers. Maybe I said this before, but one time a friend accused Harrison and Starr of being little more than mere session players, and I had to give him what for on account of his obvious ignorance. Heck, Harrison taught Lennon to play the guitar, typically was responsible for the best song on whichever albums his songs appeared on, was releasing solo records before the Beatles disbanded, was largely to credit for many of the eastern (and let's be honest, drug-related) influences that made the second half of the Beatles' career so much more interesting than the first, and indeed, as you say, post-Beatles, had a less ham-handed and more enjoyable solo go of it. Heck, he was one of the Traveling Wilburys, for crying out loud.

Also agreed: give me Soundgarden or Nirvana (in that order) over Pearl Jam any day, myself. I found out sometime within the past year or two that Eddie Vedder's real last name is Severson, pretty wild, eh? No relation I'm pretty sure. I think I own VITALOGY on vinyl and little or nothing else of Pearl Jam's discography.

Lastly, saw Meat Puppets live recently and was amazed at how great they still are. Also of note (if I didn't brag about it already), I'm in the new Breeders video ("Fate To Fatal")...you can see it at RollingStone.com or YouTube if you haven't already. Shot here in town on Valentines Day with the local roller derby team.

Hey, good to see you back. I love the Ipod Shuffle too, but I'm just too lazy to play today. I'll enjoy yours and the others lists.

Patrick Walsh is alive! Yay!

Shortcake,

I'm a big Blur fan, but don't know Gorillaz beyond the singles. Should I? I feel like I do know this Russ character, but not well. And both the Revenge of the Nerds movie and rap are amazing. No need for shame.

Kate, Bryan Adams reminds you of the bad boys??? These must have been some pretty white bread bad boys! LOVE #'s 8 and 9, but really gotta question that Steamroller!

AJ,

"Walls" is one of my favorite Petty songs, and probably my favorite late-period Petty song. Why are you in the long distance relationship? Not why like why would you but why like what are the circumstances. Just curious. They're unpleasant. Glad I could turn you on to Kings of Leon, although their latest is my least favorite of theirs (but still awesome!)

Rob,

I've been trying to do this album shuffle and can't make it happen. I turn on "Shuffle - Albums," and nothing. Help! Best They Might Be Giants album? I only have Flood. I prefer "With A Girl Like You" to "Wild Thing," actually. REALLY love Wonder Showzen. Just watched the Breeders video and dug it, love the song (although the EP I thought was just okay). Awesome to see you in it!

Simply put, Pat - not to get into a big rambling discussion of it to bore anyone else any further, man - money woes separated us for a bit. I had to leave the central valley to move down south-way (and not a cool section, either; the high desert, which is more or less The Devil's Asshole, CA) and she had to stay. I've seen her twice for about 5 days each, which kept me alive, so that was obviously good for both of us. There is a recent development that may make it possible for me to come back, get a job, a place for us, and all will be right again. I just realized that I of course rambled anyway, and sorry all. But there be light at the end yet -

I don't know what to tell you about the album shuffle--I don't listen to music in iTunes while at home, typically; I'll put on the original CD/record. I use it on the iPod, though. On mine, when you're on the "play screen" (the screen that shows the artist/artwork/title/album/whatever) you click the middle button a few times (3?) until the "shuffle options" show up, you move the highlight to "album" (rather than "song" or "off") and sally forth. One catch is that multiple albums that have the same title ("Greatest Hits," for example) will play one song at a time, but together, so if (for example) you have a "Greatest Hits" by Pat Benatar, Del Shannon, and The Band, you will hear a song by Pat, a song by Del, and then a song by the Band, all the way through the tracklists for those "Greatest Hits" albums. Anyway, I hope that helps...if not, I'd suggest reading the manual/help file to figure it out!

As for best TMBG album, it is hard because I know so many of them so well and have for so long. All of them, at least all of them from their self-titled first one through THE SPINE (2004) or so, are pretty rich with hot cuts--I'm not as intimately familiar with their kids' albums beyond NO! (2002) or their 2007 release THE ELSE. On a whim I'd say APOLLO 18 (1992) is my favorite (even if that's not really true), because it was the first one I got, and the one that hooked me listening to it in a friend's car (circa 1998). In particular, the second-to-last song on the album, "Fingertips"...well, I'll let Wikipedia describe it for you: "'Fingertips' is a series of twenty-one short tracks ranging in duration from four to sixty-one seconds (although most of them are under fifteen), totaling four minutes and thirty-five seconds. The liner notes, in an apparent reference to these tracks, have the message 'The indexing of this disc is designed to complement the Shuffle Mode of modern CD players.'" That is, even though they're all listed under the umbrella title of "Fingertips," it's actually 21 separate tracks on the CD. Pretty awesome, eh? I wonder if any of those ever showed up in my previous iPod Shuffle comments?

Pat, I finally have an mp3 player so I can participate in the blog! (But I went Zune just so I can have the world to myself if iPods become sentient and start strangling their owners). Anyway, here goes:

(Song - Album - Artist)

On & On & On - Keasbey Nights - Catch 22. good, solid ska-punk tune from a fun album. I loves me some ska.

Vertigo - Up the Bracket - The Libertines. I like this album but there are some songs from it that rub me the wrong way, fortunately this isn't one of them.

God Put a Smile Upon Your Face - A Rush of Blood to the Head - Coldplay. embarrassing. Well, at least it's clear that I'm not faking my list. I bought this album a few years ago to help me get with a girl. It didn't work and it ended very badly. I'd like to say I won't make that mistake again, but hell, I'd buy a Nickelback boxed set if I thought there was a chance it would get me an HJ.

Subruban Myth - Borders & Boundaries - Less Than Jake. really woke me up after the Coldplay song. ska-punk again, no surprise. I have many LTJ CDs, I think I stopped buying them after this one. I like them and all, they just all sound pretty much the same.

It's Natural to Be Afraid - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone - Explosions in the Sky. like this band and this song, very dreamy. Strange how even though it's very long and doesn't have conventional "hooks" it's not boring. But make no mistake, it is long. Very long.

Honestly - Mary, Star of the Sea - Zwan. Is this the single from this album? It's catchy enough - lyrics are a little sappy for my tastes, Corgan definitely has that tendency. Decent song I guess, but not very memorable.

Hell Looks a Lot Like L.A. - Borders & Boundaries - Less Than Jake. Two songs from the same album? Oh well. Pretty much sounds the other LTJ song from this album that came up, which isn't entirely bad, mind you.

Do the Whirlwind - In Case We Die - Architecture in Helsinki. Definitely not my favorite song from this album, that would probably be Tiny Paintings, a twee-pop confection. I think I usually skip over this song, and will probably continue to do so.

Novacane - Odelay - Beck. Jackpot! Great, funky tune from a modern classic.

36-24-36 - Add It Up - Violent Femmes. Gotta love the Violent Femmes, what an odd band. Haven't heard this song in quite a while, thanks shuffle!

Hope life is treating you well. Now it's time to drown myself in shame and listen to the rest of that Coldplay album...

UM it's been almost a month. What a tease! Where are you? I can only give blog-city so much content, my friend.

Gorillaz are amazing. Their self-titled first album is full of fun party jams. But the second album, "Demon Days" is the tits. It's one of the few ALBUM albums that I listen to in a way that would make RØB proud. Listen to it all the way through. You'll be sold, I promise. It's great for a solo road trip, if you ever have to take those.

It's the only album that takes me back to London and makes me remember the city vividly... and I never even listened to the Gorillaz while I lived there!

"Dirty Harry" is the best Gorillaz song (not to be confused with "Clint Eastwood").

Also, I was in that Breeders video too! wOOt