Friday 8-Track

Appros pos of nothing and everything, this week we have yet another random mix tape. Phoning it in? Just a bit.

Josh Ritter - "Wolves" - Animal Years

This album has really been growing on me and I am looking forward to Ritter's solo acoustic show at the Birchmere. As for this particular tune, it's got a nice mix of simple songcraft, atmospheric production, and cool imagery. The hook has been running through my head for over two weeks.

Steely Dan - "My Old School" - Countdown To Ecstasy

Perhaps my favorite Steely Dan tune, there is just a little bit of everything in this killer song. You've got a rockin' beat, those sly jazz changes here and there, an absolutely great horn arrangement, and (what else, of course) blistering guitar work that still makes my hair stand up everytime I hear it. Jeff "Skunk" Baxter is the man, but people always laugh at me when I make wild claims that this is the best guitar solo put to wax. Whatever, if I could play like that...

Jurassic 5 - "Quality Control" - Quality Control

I own very little hip hop, mostly because much of the genre doesn't move me. However if I do happen to pick up a a hip hop album, it is because I think it is the top of its class. As was the case with Quality Control. There was something about the beats, the samples, the rhymes, and the delivery that weaves in and out like Run and D in the dayz of old. The title track is a standout.

Bob Mould - "Wishing Well" - Workbook

Bob's first album following the breakup of Husker Du, halfway through this track shows he still wanted to wail. There's a lot of anger in this song but when the acoustic verses give way to the big electric solo and the screaming bridge; HUGE. It must have been intentional the way the volume in the mix practically doubles when the solo starts. Hell yeah.

Led Zeppelin - "The Song Remains The Same" - Houses of the Holy

In November of '94 I slept on a very cold sidewalk (OK, in my car) in front of a Kemp Mill Records in order to buy tickets for the Page and Plant reunion tour which at the time I thought was the closest thing to Second Coming. Of course rhings went awry the following morning when the dipshit working the ticket computer forgot the password to log in to the system. Ten of the most excruciating minutes of my life were lost while everyone else in the metro area started snappin up tickets. We ended up in the nosebleeds at the Cap Center but all was made better when I heard this song. Dig that 12-string drone.

Ash - "Kung Fu" - 1977

Without question, the greatest pop-punk ode to Jackie Chan ever penned. Period. And I quote, "Oh Daniel san, made in Taiwan, come on Jackie Chan, uh-uh uh-uh-uh uh uh uh." Pure poetry.

Cyndi Lauper - "Time After Time" - She's So Unusual

For a time (no pun intended) I used to think of this song as firmly ensconced within the 80's as a specific piece of pop kitsch from the era. I was such a fool. A while back I heard this song on the radio and it really hit me; this is a fantastically well written pop song. Co-written by Rob Hyman of The Hooters ("And We Danced"), they hit on a great melody. I really like the synth and subtle guitar and the sparse harmonies. And that fade out at the end is sooooo sweet. I'm so glad I came around on this song.

OK...I'm sleepy and not feeling it this week. Seven it is. Nine next week.