Mike Bennett writesiPod/MP3 Friday Shuffle — Happy Birthday Willie Nelson Edition

If Willie Nelson’s career had ended in the late ’60s, he would deserve a place in musical history for writing such great songs as “Hello Walls”, “Funny How Time Slips Away”, “Pretty Paper” and, most famously, Patsy Cline’s signature tune, “Crazy”. Thankfully, it didn’t end there. Willie eventually tired of the Nashville scene and struck out in a different direction, coming into his own with the classic song cycle, Red Headed Stranger. From there, Willie blurred the lines between country, pop, jazz and other American musical forms, singing his own great compositions and interpreting the great American songbook with his clear voice and unique phrasing. Along the way, Willie became a bit of movie star, a tax cheat and a hero to High Times subscribers worldwide. Let’s pay tribute to an American icon, by grabbing your iPod/MP3 player, hitting shuffle, and sharing the first 10 songs that come up.

For this week’s shuffle, I used my iPod Nano, just to show that I have things in my music collection that have come out in the last five years. Let’s see how this plays out.

1. The Resonars — Yes Grovesnor (That Evil Drone): The Resonars specialize in retro ’60s rock tunes that usually sound like The Hollies, if The Hollies were a rocking psych pop or garage band. This song, however, is a respite — a sweet acoustic guitar instrumental with a middle section that is a bit ominous. One could easily hear this developed into a full bore rock tune.
2. Raphael Saadiq — Sure Hope You Mean It (The Way I See It): The former front man for Tony! Toni! Tone! really hit the jackpot with his 2008 solo record. Going back to the late ’80s, Saadiq had always had one foot in classic R & B, and here, he planted both feet in that sound, making a record that conjured up memories of Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, The Temptations, Curtis Mayfield and others. Since he’s an ace songwriter, he came pretty close to equaling his idols. How sweet this song is, if you get my drift.
3. Electric Light Orchestra — Calling America (Balance Of Power): A low key pop tune from a group known for bombast. Okay, the chorus is a typical Jeff Lynne humdinger, and it’s a nice contrast to the quieter verses. Balance of Power was the final E.L.O. album until Lynne revived the name for the Zoom L.P., and like this track (which was a minor Top 40 hit), it’s a hidden gem.
4. Happy Hate Me Nots — Everyday (The Good That’s Been Done): Another ferocious rocker from this fiery Australian band that took some cues from The Saints and came up with its own distinctive brand of R & B fueled punk. This is from a great 2 CD anthology of the band. They have reunited and will have a new album out soon.
5. The Knux — F!re (Put it in the Air) (Remind Me In 3 Days): The two brothers who front the hip-hop band The Knux were displaced from New Orleans because of Katrina and ended up in L.A. The Knux are a throw back to ’80s hip hop in a lot of ways, with some songs using a fair amount of rock instrumentation. This song is a nice mid-tempo number that’s reminiscent of Naughty By Nature, with a big back beat and a nifty sampled snare drum backing.
6. Jay Reatard — Florescent Grey (Matador Singles 08): This is a cover of a Deerhunter song. This is a masterpiece of garage rock paranoia. With its simple repeating guitar motif and Reatard’s strained vocal, this is the aural equivalent of a horror movie. Outstanding.
7. Jason & The Scorchers — Mona Lee (Halcyon Times): The 2010 comeback from this band makes it sound like they haven’t left. This is the band for whom the phrase “cowpunk” was coined. The Scorchers could whip up a great country tune and then rock it up like nobody’s business. Mainstays Jason Ringenberg and guitarist Warner Hodges sound as good as ever, on the band’s best record since their debut album.
8. Pretty & Nice — Peekaboo (Get Young): Herky-jerk post-punk perkiness that would appeal to fans of earlier XTC, The Monochrome Set, Field Music and The Sugarplastic. This is mellower than most of the material on the album, but very good nevertheless.
9. Franz Ferdinand — Come On Home (Franz Ferdinand): I think that Franz Ferdinand’s debut album is nearly perfect. The songs are so well constructed and the performances are so good. They brought sexy back to the post-punk movement. This is probably a second tier song in the context of the album, which shows how incredible the first tier of songs is.
10. Leatherface — Diego Garcia (The Stormy Petrel): As with Jason & the Scorchers, this is another comeback album that sounds like a continuation of prior greatness. Franklin Stubbs still has a voice that sounds like he gargled two bottles of Drano. It’s a deceptively expressive instrument which tinges everything he sings with a measure of resignation and sadness. Meanwhile, the band creates a punk maelstrom around him, with just enough melody to make it accessible.

Mike Bennett writesipod/MP3 Friday Shuffle — Happy Birthday Roy Orbison Edition

Although the early ’60s is considered by some a somewhat fallow period for rock ‘n’ roll music, Roy Orbison is one of the notables who made that era worthwhile. Behind those shades lurked one of the most stunning voices in rock history. He brought operatic intensity and range to the rock era, with tales of romantic angst and longing that have stood the test of time. His influence has reached vocalists from Chris Isaak to k.d. lang to Glenn Danzig (really). Let’s pay tribute to Roy by grabbing your iPod/MP3 player, hitting shuffle and sharing the first ten songs that come up.

1. The Guess Who — Baby’s Birthday (Shakin’ All Over): In its early days, The Guess Who were a fairly typical ’60s rock band, playing a mix of garage rock, pop and light psychedelia. This song, off of a cool Sundazed compilation of those early days, sounds a bit like on of Mike Nesmith’s tunes from The Monkees.
2. Loretta Lynn — You’ve Just Stepped In (From Stepping Out on Me) (All Time Greatest Hits): Doesn’t the title say it all. Another great Lynn wounded woman song, with Lynn telling her straying man that if he doesn’t change his ways, she going to be “stepping out on you someday.” In this song, Lynn hits upon the dilemna of a woman who wants to leave but is scared to.
3. Guided By Voices — Ester’s Day (Bee Thousand): Like a lot of people, this album was my first exposure to GBV, who were at the forefront of the low fi movement. Of course, this was due to circumstance, not artistic intent. But they learned how to work it to their advantage, especially on the little song fragments that glued together their albums. The lower fidelity gives this track, and many others, a haunting feel.
4. The dB’s — Love Is For Lovers (Like This): Peter Holsapple, the front man for the latter day dB’s, wrote a great piece on this song for the New York Times. This was it, the perfect hit single. Which never came close to being a hit. He talked about the process and the frustration. And frustrating it had to have been, as this song is awash in hooks, full of twists, and has great lyrics. An awesome tune indeed.
5. The Boys — Heroine (Alternative Chartbusters): This underrated British ’70s pop-punk band threw a curveball on this slow piano based song. This has a whiff of Beatle-ish psychedelia and arm waving Slade glam balladry. A nice change of pace.
6. Fools Face — What You Hide (Fools Face): Fools Face are heroes to a select group of power pop fans who have their limited release albums from the ’80s. This Springfield, Missouri band had four equally adept songwriters who mined the best of pop and power pop from the ’60s and ’70s. The band’s 2002 reunion album was a jawdropper, because other than the beefier production (one of the members had gone on to becoming a big time recording engineer), it otherwise picked right up where its 1983 Public Places album had left off. This is a muscular psychedelic rocker that sounds like a less arrogant Oasis.
7. The Saints — Demoltion Girl (Wild About You: 1976-1978): The Saints are true contemporaries of the Ramones, and they were starting up punk Down Under the way the Ramones did in NYC. Whereas the Ramones revved up classic ’60s pop archtypes like Phil Spector, The Saints were turbo-charging basic R & B. Along with Radio Birdman, The Saints established a special hard edge that is always associated with Aussie punk.
8. Redd Kross — Secret Life (Show World): Show World was the final Redd Kross album, though there is still a possibility that Steven and Jeffrey McDonald might get another one out. If they don’t, this was quite the finale. After starting out as a teen punk band, Redd Kross settled into classic power pop mode. And with Show World, they perfected their sound. This is a rather powerful soaring ballad that sounds like it was made for ’70s AM radio.
9. Split Enz — Marooned (Frenzy): This album was the break away from the earlier art-pop of the first three Enz albums into the radio friendly new wavish-pop that made them known around the world. Frenzy was not quite as slick as the subsequent efforts and had an energy befitting the album title. This song sounds like a mid-point between early XTC and Field Music.
10. k.d. lang — Tickled Pink (A Truly Western Experience): The first k.d. lang effort is a bit uneven, but it established that she loved country music so much that she couldn’t take it too seriously. Thus, she brought a fresh perspective to music that respected traditions, while tweaking them to give it a feel that fit her clever lyrical sensibility. The album also let everyone know that k.d. lang is an amazing singer. This song manages to have a country structure, but also has a bluesy feel, augmented by the use of a Hammond organ. Nice.