Shuffling part 4

I was going to do up a different type of blog entry tonight, but I had a very long and rather stressful week. The shuffling type of blog can actually be rather relaxing, so here it is. Instant therapy. (After the fact, I gathered some YouTube links for some of these. Just trying to spread the therapy.)

Get It – Paul McCartney (with Carl Perkins) on Tug Of War
Quirky songs have always appealed to me. If a song sounds like no other on a particular album, more often than not it will be a track that stands out for me. This is just such a track. Love it. I wonder, did John ever perform with Carl Perkins? Is he the only Beatle who didn’t?

Asia no Junshin – Puffy on AmiYumi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVGf1935AL0
(Boy, looking at this video, they were young here.)
An early classic by Puffy. This duo has so many styles. For this track, think Jeff Lynne and late 70s ELO and you would not be far off at all! It has the same kind of driving rhythm guitar plus keyboards with synthesized back up vocals and even orchestral touches.

Come Dance With Me – Frank Sinatra on Classic Sinatra
The classic swingin’ cat. Frank was at his best when doing swing numbers. This music always reminds me of my parents’ records they would play while I was growing up. My dad especially was a big Sinatra fan. In fact, I now have his old collection of Sinatra albums, which are in beautiful shape—he took meticulous care of his records. He gave them to me because he just doesn’t listen to them anymore. (He’s now in the CD age.) I’m going to have to play those more often.

My Baby’s In Love With Eddie Vedder – Weird Al Yankovic on Running With Scissors
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrF1H3ra65A
(Funny, the only decent version of this song I could find on YouTube is played on anime. See below.)
This is one of my favorite Weird Al tunes. No, it’s not done in a grunge style. It’s a zydeco song. Why zydeco? I have no idea, but it makes me laugh that much more. (I’m trying to type more, but I can’t stop laughing at the lyrics.)

Can You Take Me Back – The Beatles on The Alternate White Album
This is one song that was dealt with perfectly in its release. As an entire song, or actually unfinished song, it’s just not that good. But as an absolutely haunting segment tacked to the end of Cry Baby Cry it’s sheer magic.

Good Morning Good Morning – The Beatles on Sgt. Pepper
I can honestly say that the first time I ever listened to Sgt. Pepper, this was my favorite song on the album. I know it’s one of the least liked by many, but I was always drawn to it. There’s something about the effects, the totally unique horns, the “welcome to my rather boring day” lyrics, the odd measures, the sound of the lead guitar, etc., etc. I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite song on the album any more, but it still has a warm spot in my heart.

Some Like It Hot – Oojami on Boom Shinga Ling
Absolutely fun music. Wild dance music with Arabic and Celtic influences. Yes, I said Arabic and Celtic. Very cool. I would definitely recommend this album—and the great thing is, because they are Brits, it’s widely available. I’ve even seen it at my local Borders books in their recently shrunken World Music section. Their World Music section used to take up three entire aisles in a complete corner of the store, but now its down to a 4-ft. section of one side of one aisle. It sadly went from one of the coolest CD stores in town to a ho-hum run-of-the-mill might-as-well-be-Walmart collections overnight.

Reminiscent Lilac – Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra on Wild Peace
This one is almost like a ska ballad. It actually kind of has a Burt Bacharach feel to it. Most of their songs are instrumentals, but this one has Japanese lyrics. Not my favorite by them, but Bacharach-san isn’t exactly bad either. It really should be on 8-track though.

Niagara – Noodles on Slow Coaster
For some reason, my random play mode has been picking songs off this particular Noodles album a lot lately. I listen to this album much less than other albums by them. Maybe my iPod is trying to even things out some, looking out for the disaffected, going all Mother Theresa on me.

Write One For Me – Ringo Starr on Ringo Rama
This album might be my favorite Ringo album, well maybe not better than Ringo, but definitely my favorite of his more recent albums. The cool thing about this particular song is that Ringo’s voice it not at all outclassed by Willie Nelson’s, even given Willie’s unique and good voice. Rather, the two vocals compliment each other very well. Good job Ringo.

Goose-Step Momma – The Rutles on The Rutles (CD bonus track)
Their early Cavern stuff. I love it!!!!! Neil Innes is a genius. “You’ve got nothing to eins, swei, drei, feir!” Genius.

Sono Wake o – Asian Kung-Fu Generation on Mirai no Kakera
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-EVswsXKBc
This is one of my favorite AKFG tracks. Many of their songs can be a bit over the top with the screaming and such, but on this one the vocals are controlled beautifully. Usually if I say I listen to AKFG, people assume I watch anime, since that’s how most were introduced to them. But I don’t watch anime at all, at least not the running series (Miyazaki movies are another story entirely—I love those). Rather, I found out about AKFG the old fashioned way—by web searching and downloading mp3s.

Sunday In The Park – Puffy on Splurge
More Puffy! Let’s see…how do I describe the style of this one? These girls are all over the map. I don’t even know. Sometimes describing their music is a lot like describing a complex wine by someone who has had nothing but chocolate milk all their lives. Hints of cinnamon, daisies, and granite? What?!! Anywho, I picked up this album for way cheap, I think $3.98 or something like that, on Amazon.com a while back with only having heard one or two songs off of it. I was very pleasantly surprised to find a lot of nostalgic tracks on it like Motown, disco, and classic rock inspired songs.

I Saw Her Standing There (live) – The Beatles on Swedish Radio Show
More Beatles! I love this Swedish show. The boys had such an incredible energy during these numbers. Very few of their live performances that I’ve heard can really match it. And it comes across so clearly what a tight band they were then. That’s tight with two capital Ts. TighT!

Bye! My Boy! (backing track) – The Brilliant Green on the single
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5RsJFyMWvs (PV for the song with lyrics.)
Next to what’s-her-name and her band, the Brilliant Green are my second favorite Japanese band. Easily. Their style is very British Invasion inspired and their sound is much more immediate. Their singles almost always include an A-side, a B-side, and a backing track or karaoke version of the A-side song. If I could speak Japanese, I’d be singing along with this now. I’m working on it.

That’s enough for now. Hey, what do you notice was not represented in the list this time? No song from The Essential Arabia! You know, I heard a song from that album this morning while it was on shuffle and I thought, “Uh-oh, could it be the cycle was broken?” Apparently it was. (Now watch, part 5 will probably include 10 songs from that collection.)