Mike Bennett writesFriday iPod/MP3 Shuffle—Happy Birthday Tony Bennett

Today let’s celebrate one of the most enduring figures in popular music, the last great American crooner, Tony Bennett. While he never achieved an artistic peak on par with pre-rock contemporaries such as Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole or Peggy Lee, Bennett has shown a consistency that has allowed him to stay popular over generations. Moreover, while he has never attempted to foolishly revamp his style to stay contemporary, he has never failed to recognize new talents, which has served him particularly well when duetting with modern great singers such as k.d. lang and the late Amy Winehouse. Bennett shows that one of the best ways to stay cool is to stay true to yourself. Moreover, without Tony Bennett, what song would the Big Ragu have sung on Laverne & Shirley? Let’s pay tribute to Tony by grabbing your iPod or MP3 player, hitting shuffle, and sharing the first 10 songs that come up. 

1. Libido — In My Shadow (Killing Some Dead Time): This Swedish band was an odd mix of alt-rock riffing, notions of psychedelia with melodies that reminded me a lot of The Posies. I think this major label disc was immediately released to the dollar bins, where I found my copy the year of its release. The mix of prominent guitars, stabbing bass with soaring harmonies still sounds good today.
2. Peggy Lee — I Got Ideas (Miss Peggy Lee): A fairly daring song for its time, as Peggy gets certain…feelings when she’s dancing with her beau. Indeed, one could surmise that she would like to have sex with the fella. The music is an odd waltz with percussion that wants to samba, but can’t quite figure out how to do it. Miss Lee sounds wonderful, as always.
3. Snowglobe — Stubber (Our Land Brains): This Athens, Georgia indie pop band mixed a healthy dose of Ray Davies influence with an expansive sound. So their songs mixed intimacy with a certain grandeur. Had they more frequently played up their sweeping side and punched up the aggression, they could have become the Arcade Fire before the Arcade Fire ever existed.
4. Arcwelder — Attic (Xerxes): This Minneapolis trio is one of the most underrated bands on Touch And Go. If you’re a fan of Husker Du and Parts & Labor, you should check out these guys. You get buzzing yet melodic guitars, relentless rhythms, and anthemic choruses with the ability to explode at any time. These guys developed a sound that makes for easy comparisons, but it’s really distinctive, due to their specific sensibility and top notch vocals.
5. Darker My Love — Pale Sun (2): The second album from this L.A. band drew raves from Jack Rabid of The Big Takeover, and no wonder, as the band compiled a bunch of his favorite things into one swell package. The baseline for this band was shoegazer rock with a healthy dose of pure ’60s psychedelia, which is fully illustrated on this chugging number that could hold its own with Swervedriver and The Stone Roses — indeed, it sounds like a collision of those two bands.
6. Morrisey — I Just Want To See The Boy Happy (Ringleader Of The Tormentors): I think this is a pretty good Morrissey album, with a nice mix of tunes. This song almost sounds like it could have come off Your Arsenal, with hard, distorted guitars and Mozza voice front and center. The flow from the verse to the chorus is great, and Morrissey is really engaged in his lyrics.
7. Bee Gees — Close Another Door (Bee Gees’ 1st): This starts off wth a spooky solo vocal before moving into jauntier Beatle-esque territory, and then it weaves in the initial melancholy melody, adds a haunting bridge, which makes the second chorus all the more forceful. A pretty cool composition.
8. The Clash — Janie Jones (The Clash): A fun blast of aggression from the only band that matters, essaying a guy who loves rock ‘n’ roll, getting stoned and the titular female, who was a blond bombshell. Janie Jones was a (not very good) singer and (not very good) actress who later recorded some songs with The Clash in an attempt to revive her career. This gets Side 2 of the U.S. version of The Clash’s debut LP off to a great start.
9. Tommy Boyce And Bobby Hart — Coca Cola Jingle (Things Go Better With Coke): I think one of these has popped up before on one of my shuffles — it’s from a disc of ’60s Coke jingles. This is nearly a minute long and does a great job of sounding like a psych-pop song before hitting the familiar refrain.
10. Tune-Yards — Wooly Wolly Gong (W H O K I L L): Compared to the tribal, Afro-pop inspired stuff that dominates this album, this particular song sounds a bit like Portishead, with Merrill Garbus cooing rather than roaring.