10 songs on my iTunes shuffle
OK basically I just hit shuffle and I thought I would write about the first ten songs that came up, so buckle your seat belts and enjoy the ride!
An extra track tacked onto the “Here It Comes Again” CD single in 1992, this is a minor, slightly country-tinged composition that like some of the other songs from this period ( it was recorded during the sessions for the Burning Questions album, but didn’t make the final cut), actually justify the often erroneous comparisons to ELVIS COSTELLO that Parker has garnered over the course of his over thirty-year career.
From last year’s awesome Singles and Sessions release on Kill Rock Stars, this track was originally a B-side. Its pleas for individuality and self-expression clash with the taut, minimalist, post-punk, but perhaps this conflict makes the song work.
From Suffer, the first of their string of three absolutely incredible albums (the amazing No Control and Against the Grain followed it, respectively), you get pessimism, outrage and righteousness over socialization’s effect on people’s psyches, attitudes and behaviors all in minute and thirty-five seconds and complete with an ultra-catchy chorus and the typical Bad Religion melodic stomp of that time period.
A fine, BEATLES-esque slice of power-pop typical of Shake Some Action, the landmark 1976 album that this comes from. It was written by guitarist CYRIL JORDAN and the then newly-hired, golden-throated singer CHRIS WILSON. The Flamin’ Groovies were always out-of-step with the times, but as shown here, their music has held up quite well.
The last song on the absolutely incredible split 7” with MAN IS THE BASTARD, this song (like the rest of Crossed Out’s output) was included on their now out-of-print discography CD. This is extreme hardcore (many would say “power violence” or even “grindcore”) at its finest, a twenty-two second blast of fury that’s akin to INFEST (one of the pioneers of this genre) being played by BIG BLACK in terms of its preciseness.
From the Boy Child ‘67-’70 compilation, a record that compiles Scott’s self-penned songs from his first four solo albums (i.e. the ones considered classics), this song originally came from Scott 2 (as is apparent by the title, his second solo album).
While not one of the best songs on their self-titled debut, this is still a nice slice of Brit-pop. It’s easy in this day and age to overlook how good this album is when it’s been worshipped for years in the UK and lauded as one of the best albums of all-time there. However, in the U.S. at the time, this was just considered a great “college rock” album, so the dichotomy is interesting. With that said, it’s held up remarkably well over the years.
This country-tinged number (from disc 1 of the great 3-CD anthology Prisoners of Love, but originally released on 1986’s New Wave Hot Dogs and later on 1990’s Fakebook) feels like IRA KAPLAN’s attempt to write a song that could’ve been included on THE BYRDS’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo, a GRAM PARSONS solo album or perhaps an early ‘70s ROLLING STONES album. And guess what? Like virtually every style Yo La Tengo has attempted, it works. It’s achingly beautiful and catchy to boot.
For years, the only Thin Lizzy album I owned was Jailbreak. While I love that album, I didn’t discover this song until I recently acquired their awesome Dedication complication. Listening to this hard-rock blast from their 1975 album Fighting, one can hear not only why the late PHIL LYNOTT is such a respected figure but also why Thin Lizzy’s music often transcended simple characterization in the hard-rock sphere. One of the few hard-rock bands liked by punks and new wavers (he once filled in for BRUCE THOMAS during an ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS gig in the late ‘70s), it’s no wonder their influence is so far-reaching as to include bands like BELLE AND SEBASTIAN as well as TED LEO AND THE PHARMACISTS as well.
A cover of the title track of THE DAMNED’s incredible 1979 album Machine Gun Etiquette, this version (retitled “MGE”) by one of the finest bands to come out of Washington, DC’s incredibly furtile post-hardcore scene of the late ‘80s is shorter and harder, but otherwise fairly reverential to the original.
