Shuffle Five

It's nice listening to music.

I do, however, need to update the tracks on my phone. The Beatles don't get stale, but there are more than fifty different recorded tracks/mixes of the new album and some are just awful. So I got some cleaning to do.

Here is a little Friday Shuffle, and I skipped anything by me:

The First Cut is the Deepest - Cat Stevens
I'm a little ashamed that the first version of this that I heard was the Sheryl Crowe cut, and when I heard it I thought the lyric work was pretty lame, which it is, but somehow it seems appropriate when Cat does it. It's not a Yusef song, it's a Cat song, and should really remain in the 70's etched in vinyl.

Stupidity Tries - Elliott Smith
My wife and I saw Elliott Smith on his last tour at the Warfield in San Francisco. While we were upstairs getting our vodka cranberries there was a guy at the bar in a yellow shirt and a ten gallon hat. I leaned over to Joann and said in my starkest tone "Gee, I wish I was as cool as that guy." Turns out, the guy was Elliott
's backup player and during the concert he sang vocals, played the cello, bass, piano, harmonica, banjo and drums. To this day I wish I was anywhere near as cool as that guy.

Wait - The Beatles
We all have our own opinions as to what Beatles album we like to share first with the uninitiated. Revolver, and Abbey Road are the popular ones, Sgt. Pepper is my go to, but if you want a newbee to hear a band transition from good to off the hook, there is no album like Rubber Soul.

Enchanting Ghost - Sufjan Stevens
I am a pretty casual Sufjan fan. I don't own everything, but will listen all day given the time. This one is from "The Age of Adz" which has some amazing tracks but the experimentation with midi tracks can go on forever if you're not into that sorta of thing. I never tend to include long instrumentals on my songs because I'm not good enough for jazz, and if its not jazz and its not a movie score, then it doesn't need to be over four minutes. Unless you're stoned. Lookin at you Dave Matthews.

Many the Miles - Sarah Barielles
What I love about Sarah's work is that she is always worth a fifth listen. I mostly wrote this tune off, but sitting at my desk, pretending to be doing anything productive in the last pre-vacation twenty minutes, this little ditty popped up and just grooved. The restraint on the piano lick, the clean back up vocals sliding in like very white, but nevertheless sexy gospel quartet, and I don't know how her producer gets this sound, but you can hear the bass player's fingers slide along the strings as if they miked his hands as much as his amp. Listen with a good pair of head phones and its like a kiss on the nape of your neck.

Have a good weekend y'all. I'm gonna get me a hat.


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