Mike Bennett writesFriday iPod/MP3 Shuffle—Happy Birthday Astrud Gilberto

She is the Queen of Bossa Nova. Astrud Gilberto is immortal, based solely on her performance of the classic “The Girl From Ipanema”. But her contributions to Brazilian and jazz music run deep that that. She got her start on the Getz/Gilberto album, at the urging of her husband Joao Gilberto (whom she later left for Stan Getz! Musicians!). Eventually, she went out on her own, though often working with Getz. She had a long and successful career singing bossa nova, jazz and pop standards, and eventually composing her own material. Though she informally retired from the business in 2002, her biggest known hit is bigger than ever. Indeed, it is the favorite song of one of my nephews, who is six years old, and already has great taste. Let’s celebrate Ms. Gilberto’s birthday by grabbing your iPod or MP3 Player, hitting shuffle and sharing the first 10 songs that come up.

1. Led Zeppelin — Living Loving Maid (Led Zeppelin II): A short, sharp blues rocker from the second album from Led Zeppelin. The lyrics here showed the sillier side of the band. The performances on this track are so crisp.
2. The Last — We’re In Control (L.A. Explosion): This bonus track from the reissue of this band’s first album is a silly retro-futuristic sci-fi psychedelic song that was featured on a 1979 Bomp! Records compilation. This is in the vein of early Pink Floyd and songs like Robyn Hitchcock’s “The Man With the Lightbulb Head”.
3. Tom Robinson Band — Don’t Take No For An Answer (Power In the Darkness): Although Robinson was lumped in with new wave artists here in the States, Britain’s first explicitly gay rock star really was a meat-and-potatoes rocker who happened to perform extremely political material. His music was more in the vein of Springsteen and countless heartland arena rockers. And it was quite good, due in part to the urgency that he performed songs such as this one.
4. Chris Spedding & The Vibrators — Pogo Dancing (Glitterbest): The masterful guitarist teamed up with one of the earliest successful punk bands to come up with this beefy novelty tune. The Vibrators were definitely grizzled vets who happened to hop on the punk train, so they had no compunction about poking fun at an early punk show ritual.
5. The Supersuckers — Creepy Jackelope Eye (La Mano Cornuda): The fun opening track from my favorite Supersuckers album. While the ‘suckers could lay down some heavy rock, what I liked about them is that they could also play something a bit lighter. This is a happy, melodic track, that could have been covered by Jay Reatard (well, it could have been covered by anyone, but Jay could have done a bang up job on it).
6. The Casual Dots — Derailing (The Casual Dots): A nifty instrumental from a band that only produced this one great album. This song is the perfect intersection of early Wire and surf rock. The main guitar part is precise in that minimalist Wire style, while everyone else plays things in surf style.
7. The Troggs — Easy Loving (Archaeology (1966-1976): A string laden ballad from the sleazy proto-garagsters. I’m always amazed how Reg Presley, despite his limited vocal range and terminally salacious phrasing pulls this stuff off. Sappy but enjoyable.
8. The Beatles — A Taste Of Honey (Please Please Me): Paul McCartney singing a showtune on The Beatles’ debut album. A great showcase for his emerging vocal prowess and a nice arrangement of the tune.
9. The Replacements — Here Comes A Regular (Tim): A song in the vein of “Sixteen Blue” and “Unsatisified” from the Placemats’ prior Let It Be album, this is one of Paul Westerberg’s most mature Replacements songs and a highlight of their major label debut.
10. The Flying Machine — Smile A Little Smile For Me (Bubblegum Classics, Volume 2): A swell slice of British bubblegum pop. The Brits were better at producing bubblegum that had a bit more of an adult contemporary vibe, meaning the songs were sugary but not quite as silly, and not as laden with double entendres.