Shuffling part 5

Part 5 time.

Wild World (live) by Jimmy Cliff
Jimmy Cliff is probably my favorite reggae artist. It’s mostly because he incorporates so many different styles into his version of reggae. That argument that all reggae songs sound alike that I often hear go right out the window with Jimmy Cliff. This is a nice smooth yet hopping version of Cat Steven’s song.

Sufferin’ In The Land by Jimmy Cliff
It’s Jimmy Cliff night! A classic tune by him. Traditional reggae, nope. This one has a distinctive early 70s R&B influenced rock’n’roll sound to it. The flute solo gives it a sound akin to the band War. But it retains one of those important reggae aspects: socially conscious lyrics.

Siasi by O-Shen off the Putumayo South Pacific collection
Probably my favorite tune off this great collection. O-Shen is a son of white missionaries who grew up in New Guinea and now makes his home in Hawaii. He’s a major force in the Jawaiian music movement in Hawaii (that’s a combination of Jamacian groove and traditional Hawaiian sounds). He actually has two versions of this song that I’ve heard. The one available on YouTube is much more hip-hop in its sound. I much prefer this one with the prominent ukulele and wonderful Hawaiian style harmonies.

Self-centered Message by Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra off Arkestra
Reggae, Jawaiian, now ska. The iPod’s in an island mood so far today. This song is not straight up ska though; it’s actually rather rhythm and blues like. Remember the movie The Commitments? That’s what it’s reminding me of right now. This is a song that screams for a dance routine for the band.

Call Me Back Again by Paul McCartney and Wings off Wingspan
This song goes quite nicely after the last one. Very nice transition, Mr. iPod. Now looking at the list, it’s starting to seem like rhythm and blues night. I could get into this. I love when Paulie just lets go and really gets into a song like this one. He conveys that longing feeling so well with his vocals in this song. And the backup vocals are so nice. Linda added quite a bit to Wings in my opinion.

Crooked Teeth by Death Cab For Cutie off Plans
This is actually one of Digmom’s albums that I put on my iPod. I don’t think I’ve heard this song before, and to tell you the truth I really can’t name another Death Cab For Cutie song off the top of my head. But this is pretty good. I’m going to have to sit down and listen to this album sometime.

Unconditional Love (live) by Shiina Ringo from an instore event
This is a nice little cover of a song originally by Cyndi Lauper, although Ringo pretty much follows Susanna Hoff’s remake of it. This dates to her debut year in 1998 when to promote herself she played live in certain record stores. It worked. Through this personal approach, she quickly gained a following and her debut album which followed sold very well.

A Gentle Dissolve by Thievery Corporation off The Cosmic Game
Music to groove to. Call it lo-fi, trip-hop, whatever, I see it as the modern-day equivalent of Indian ragas in the 60s. Not that ragas aren’t great now, they are a classic and timeless art form after all, but if you’re going to just sit back and mellow, lo-fi and trip hop is a wonderful way to do it.

Unconditional Love (the studio version) by Shiina Ringo off the Kabuki-chou no Joou single
Random? I think Mr. iPod knows what exactly what he wants to play tonight. I have to admit, when the live version was just playing, I was sort of wishing it was this studio version which has nice string accompaniment throughout. I always smile at her accent in this one “unconditt-shunal love”.

Tie-Dye by Every Little Thing off Many Pieces
Very nice Japanese pop, not bubble gum pop though. They sort of have a sound akin to American and British pop from the early 90s. They don’t seem like a band I would necessarily search out since they play a lot of pop ballads, but I stumbled across one of their recent albums (Crispy Park) and was hooked by the up-tempo songs and sweet vocals.

24 Horas by Café Tacuba of Re
Café Tacuba is a totally unique and wonderful band from Mexico. They have a wide musical range from punk to jazz to traditional campesino to rap to rock to pop. I highly recommend them, and I highly recommend this double album. And as is common when an artist or band produces their masterpiece, it is compared to the Beatles—in this case critics called it their White Album.

Monochrome by Every Little Thing off Time to Destination
Oh Mr. iPod, you certainly have an agenda. This is early ELT when they were a trio (they are now a duo) and the main songwriter was the keyboardist who later left the band to focus on producing. This early stuff has more of a synth-pop sound to it than the guitar based pop of recent years. I tend to listen more to their recent albums, but Mr. iPod loves their early stuff.

Ai no Shirushi (Captain Funk’s Puffy de Samba mix) by Puffy off PRMX
My girls here have released two full albums of remixes by guest DJs of many of their most popular songs. And the result is absolutely fun. In fact, for some of the songs I actually prefer the remix versions to the originals. This one has a Carnival flair going on, complete with booming drums and drum major’s whistle.

I Live For You by George Harrison off All Things Must Pass (2000 release)
Simply divine. What more can be said? This is one of those pause-what-your-doing, ease-back-and-just-listen songs. It’s songs like this that make me think some musicians were just guided by a higher power.

Frank’s 2000” TV by Weird Al Yankovic off Alapalooza
Oh, Weird Al is always good for a giggle (yeah, there’s the giggling again). “Now I can watch the Simpsons from 30 blocks away!” His lyrics are great, but his band is just wonderful too. I don’t think he would have had such staying power without them.

Polaris by Zero 7 off Simple Things
A bit more lo-fi. I really like Zero 7, although their songs that I’m especially drawn to are those sung by Sophie Barker and/or Sia Fuller. I guess they are a core of a couple guys with several different contributing vocalists. This particular song is an instrumental, but overall this is my favorite album by them, as it has a generous dose of Sophie and Sia.

You Want Her Too by Elvis Costello and Paul McCartney off The McCartney/McManus Collaboration
I think these two compliment each other well, even if some of the songs on this bootleg (such as this one) are a bit rough. I don’t think Paul could ever produce harmonies as good as he did with John, but these with Elvis are rather nice.

Maybe We Could Go Back To Then by The Brilliant Green off Terra 2001
Beatles fans take note: I recommend this album to all of you. It is chockie full with wonderful British invasion influenced rock with female lead vocals (and only about a quarter of the songs are sung in Japanese). The singer, Kawase Tomoko, has a smooth, sweet voice that meshes nicely with the guitar based music. Yes, I said chockie full!

Real Love by Regina Spektor off Instant Karma
This is one of the true treats off that collection of covers. What a lovely voice she has. And the simple piano accompaniment just works so well. The way she says the word “doin’” brings a smile to my face.

Woman by John Lennon off the Unplugged bootleg
Is this a demo or a home recording done for Yoko? I’m sure someone here can enlighten me. It’s a cute little version of the song. I still remember buying this single in the spring of 1981. That was the year I first started collecting Beatles records.

Why Did She Go? by Fool’s Garden off Go And Ask Peggy For The Principal Thing
This is one of my favorite bands these days. I’ve been listening to them a lot. Thanks GG for posting a video of theirs (Lemon Tree) on BeatleLinks! That’s when I discovered them. They’re very Beatlesque.

The great songs are continuing, but this is getting way long! Time to stop. (I’ve noticed my prediction of tons of Arabic music did not come true. Maybe next time….)