HIGH IN THE MID 70s

A holiday weekend ahead, and then a business trip to Chicago. Be back and posting on June 6.

Now, let's roll them bones. Daddy needs a new pair of shoes! (Note, however, that daddy does not need Nu Shooz.)

1. Don't Come Close, The Ramones
As punk as a frosted brown sugar Pop Tart. And just as much a miracle of modern science...

2. My Life is Right, Big Star
Before they tripped over into wiggy darkness, Big Star did yearning and melancholy as good as anyone. And those are my middle names, and this is my crack.

3. Telephasic Workshop, Boards of Canada
Aww, it's Twiki from Buck Rogers' birthday! And someone bought him a copy of ProTools. Go, Twiki from Buck Rogers, go!

4. Sprung a Leak, Superchunk
From No Pocky for Kitty. The best Pocky I ever had was this special Winter edition I picked up at the Japanese grocery store a few months ago. It was fecking sublime. Mmm... pocky...

5. Frankenstein, New York Dolls
It was Roger Grimsby's Manhattan. He just let the rest of us visit...

LIVING ON THE CEILING

Episode 46, in which the iPod steadfastly refuses to play anything new, again.

1. Carry That Weight, The Beatles
It's weird to hear this on its own, and not as part of the Abbey Road side 2 suite. Several years ago I ran into one of my best friends at a National Wholesale Liquidators in the middle of the afternoon on a work day, and it feels kind of like that...

2. Promises, Promises, Naked Eyes
Best 80s synthpop duo? Blancmange had their moments for sure. I guess Soft Cell would have their supporters. These guys would only scrape the bottom of my top 10...

3. This Fire, Franz Ferdinand
Um, I'm very discouraged with this shuffle so far. My admiration for Jacqueline the other day was not meant to convey that I needed more FF in my life. I was just having a moment. Now cut the shit, iPod.

4. Torrey Canyon, Serge Gainsbourg
Mais oui, le iPod. Mais oui.

5. White Girl (single mix), X
“Yeah, Exene, if we just flatten it out a little bit, and punch up some of the harmonies, we're just bound to have a hit. Jinkers, I just know we will. And then everything will be technicolor swell.”

MONKEY GONE TO HAVANA

1. Five Years, Yo La Tengo
From their debut, and trust me, in a blind taste test, there's no chance you'd know it's the Real Thing...

2. Surfer Girl, The Beach Boys
“In my Woody, I will take you everywhere I go.” Sorry, that still makes me laugh. But, damn, they make it sound like The Lord's Prayer. And maybe it is, Beavis. Maybe it is...

3. Dear Grandma and Grandpa, Tortoise
This is a good opportunity to mention that I had occasion to multiply 666 by 4.17 today while I was crunching some numbers at work. I'll save you the trouble: the result was 2777.22. Now, I'm not a religious man, and numerology holds little sway with me, but it pleased me greatly to see those three sixes turn into three sevens, surrounded by three twos.

4. Preciso Dizer Que Te Amo, Cazuza & Bebel Gilberto
I logged eight credits of intermediate Spanish in college, and passed only because I had a very cool instructor who knew that passing was a requirement for me to get into grad school. But I'll take a shot at translating that title: “What a Precise Cigar, Dizer.” Not 100% sure who Dizer is, but I think he was a painter...

5. Champs, Wire
Woo hoo-- post-punk handclaps!

THE EXCITING WORLD OF HIP

Might as well face it, I'm addicted to shuff...

1. I'm the Man Who Loves You, Wilco
I suppose calling them a post-rock Grateful Dead would sound like an insult. But there it is. Now deal.

2. I Am a Tree, Guided By Voices
I suppose calling them a post-post-rock Grateful Dead would sound like an insult. This one is positively epic for them-- it's almost five minutes long, for chrissakes. And they pretty much sustain, except for the parts where they torture the metaphor (“So climb up my trunk and build your nest”-- um, ew).

3. Download Sofist, Mouse on Mars
Pretty like a car commercial...

4. Prologue, Dimitri From Paris
Believe it or not, I paid someone $35 to buy me the Japanese version of Sacrebleu when it was first released. It came with a bonus disk, which I've never even listened to. I really liked the album itself though. And here's 36 seconds of it...

5. Blue Spark, X
There are a few identikit X songs on Under the Big Black Sun, and this is one of them. It at least has the grace and good sense to not stretch far beyond two minutes...

YOU BLEW IT UP

Shuffle short shot Friday...

1. New Music Machine, Cornelius
Ape shall not kill ape. But ape shall make ace shoegazer/Shibuya pop.

2. Days of Being Wild, ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead
Wow, that was a pretty seamless transition. Well played, sir. Well played.

3. Too Personal, The Mekons
Comfortably Numb for people who don't do drugs or easy self-pity. So, certainly not numb, and definitely not comfortable. But that last minute is just weird, man.

4. Me and the Major, Belle and Sebastian
Another in the line of songs that name-check other bands, in this case Roxy Music. If I had the energy, I'd make a list, and probably start with the T. Rex songs (All the Young Dudes, You Better You Bet)...

5. Everything Merges With the Night, Brian Eno
And speaking of Roxy. If Eno looked like Bryan Ferry, the world would now be at peace.

OLDIES NIGHT

The shuffle function got a little creaky tonight.

1. European Son, The Velvet Underground
This one is not about the words. It's about breaking the glass, grinding the glass, and then trying to fuse the glass back together when it is already ground to dust. Almost works, too...

2. Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On), Talking Heads
“Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)” is actually a perfect anagram of “European Son.” Well, it's not really, but it should be.

3. Corner Soul, The Clash
Except for the extreme wankery toward the very end, I've always thought that Sandinista! is a pretty excellent album. Let's try making it into a single album:

Hitsville UK
The Leader
Somebody Got Murdered
Up in Heaven (Not Only Here)
Let's Go Crazy
The Sound of the Sinners
Police on My Back
The Call Up
Washington Bullets
Charlie Don't Surf
The Street Parade

Now go round up all the contemporaneous albums that are better than that. It's OK, I'll wait...

4. Villiers Terrace [early version], Echo and The Bunnymen
I always wanted the Bunnymen to be better than they usually were. Oh well, at least we'll always have The Cutter and Killing Moon and Silver.

5. Painting the Town Blue, X
Right before they lost the plot. OK, this one is actually the sound of them losing the plot. But if you still don't own Wild Gift and Under the Big Black Sun, I am saddened. Truly saddened...

MECO COME

A midweek shuffle...

1. Subject to the Ladder, Broadcast
This struck me initially as a transitory song. Then I realized that most of the album is transitory. And that is its particular genius...

2. This Empty Place, Dionne Warwick
From the Bacharach/David songbook, before she went shitcracker psychic-friend crazy. Or maybe she was shitcracker crazy back then too-- it just didn't matter.

3. Goin' Out West, Tom Waits
I once had a theory that every other song on Bone Machine was great, like the Star Trek movies or Bret Saberhagen's career. But honestly, I couldn't tell you if this was one of the odd songs or one of the even songs...

4. Orgy of Bubastus, Add N to (X)
This sounds kind of like Devo's version of Satisfaction being covered by Heaven 17 in the Korova Milk Bar. Or Flight 505 being covered by the Mos Eisley Cantina Band. Whichever is the geekier reference...

5. In the Backseat, The Arcade Fire
Funeral helps define late 2004 for me, but I swear to jebus I've never, ever heard this song until now. And I don't mean that in the sense of “I've heard it 1,000 times, but now I'm really hearing it for the first time, man. I mean really hearing it, you know?” No, I mean I've just never heard it with my ears before...

LIMITLESS MINNOWS

1. Monkey & Bear, Joanna Newsom
OK, so the monkey represents the body and the pleasures of the flesh, and Ursala the bear is spirituality. Or something like that. I was playing Freecell for some of the 9:28, OK?

2. Games People Play, The Spinners
All hail supperclub soul! And some basso profundo to boot. Love the way the various vocal lines finish each others' sentences. You know, like the games people play...

3. I Don't Want to See You, Camera Obscura
From the perfectly named album Underachievers Please Try Harder. Does seem a little strange that the iPod would go there again so soon, though.

4. Small Song IV, Broadcast
For the last six or seven years, I've been more interested in what Broadcast will do next than in what Stereolab will do next. And I have not been disappointed. Ha Ha Sound is up there with Dots and Loops as one of my all-time favorite albums of tonight...

5. Please Let Me Wonder, The Beach Boys
Many years ago I borrowed the Good Vibrations box-set from my buddy Tom. My then-toddler daughter was entranced by the faux wood-grain box, and figured she could improve on it with a little well-placed doodling. Well, she did improve on it, dammit. Plus, she inadvertently scored me my very own doodled-upon version of said box-set. And got for Tom a nice clean new version. Let's just say it was a win-win-win...

DO PI

Seems to me a person could dedicate a blog to the daily results of their shuffle.

But this is not that blog.

Except when it is.

Like this week.

Shuffle week on the tongue...

1. Staring at the Sun, TV on the Radio
I promise to one day like these guys more than I do currently. Just meet me halfway fellas...

2. Keep it Clean, Camera Obscura
Yeah, it's like Belle and Sebastian if Isobel was Stuart. But I like it. As long as the dude doesn't sing. This I call the Sugarcubes rule, and it translates roughly as “Dude, shut the fuck up.” Deerhoof, I'm looking at you, too...

3. Stay Free, The Clash
Up there with the very best of Mick Jones. Sentimental, but not treacly. And some excellent nongratuitous profanity. I remember when radio loved this song, but had to play the shits and fucks in reverse. Silly radio.

4. One More Hour, Sleater-Kinney
When they're on (like here) they give me the chills. The lead vocal is so damn committed, and then the backing vocal on the chorus is kind of sardonic-- it's an amazing contrapuntal kind of thing. And then that “Don't say another word/About the other girl” part? Damn, damn, and damn...

5. After Me the Deluge, Deerhoof
And speaking of Deerhoof... And dammit, the dude is singing! Must you mock me, iPod? But you know what? Actually, it's pretty OK. I take back what I said dude from Deerhoof-- you can continue to sing on occasion. And PS, I vote for “Apres moi le deluge” as one of history's coolest quotes...

MY POD

The end of a long and draining week...

What have you got for me, o mighty shuffle feature?

1. Abernant 1984-85, The Mekons
Yeah, that'll do. A little sloppy moral outrage.

2. Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts, Wolf Parade
“But God doesn't always have the best goddamn plans, does He?” Cute.

3. Chop That Child in Half, The Mekons
Whoa, what's with more Mekons? And now we've moved from God to Solomon. What's next, Jesus from the third Velvets album? Maybe a cut from Speaking in Tongues?

4. Twist and Crawl, The English Beat
I Just Can't Stop It really is a great album. I saw in the paper today that these guys are playing locally soon. I wonder how many original members are in this iteration. Maybe Ranking Roger and a Dave Wakeling-alike?

5. Halfway to a Threeway, Jim O'Rourke
Gotta love that nutty post-rock math. This is a little creepy the first few times you hear it, then it eventually becomes kind of pretty. Then: creepy, creepy, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, creepy, pretty, creepy, creepy, pretty, creepy. I'm not sure what happens after that...

6. Raquel, The Specials
The ska bands borrowed a bunch of cool stuff from the punks. It's a shame that The Specials had to borrow the misogyny as well. And no, this isn't the only example.

7. Slack Motherfucker, Superchunk
“I'm working/But I'm not working for you!” Now that's a Friday lyric. A 1990 lyric, too.

8. Jaqueline, Franz Ferdinand
These guys knew what they wanted to do right out of the box (be a stylish Gang of Four), and they did it well. And look, another Friday lyric: “It's always better on holiday/So much better on holiday/That's why we only work when we need the money.” Aye, me wee bairns...

9. Live at Dominoes, The Avalanches
Ooh, listen, I think they just sampled an old “How to Shoot Snooker” instructional record. You know, the one that came out on Deram in 1968. The one with the green and red cover. Kooks.

10. Ladyflash, The Go! Team
OK, iPod, I have about 5,000 songs on there. There's no way you could've followed The Avalanches with The Go! Team by accident. Nice.

SWEEP THE DEBRIS

Shuffling with the 2GB nano is like going to an office party. You know you're going to run into the same people you see every day, just in a slightly different context.

Shuffling with the 30GB is a different shindig. You end up meeting people you had long forgotten, or just never really knew.

Take tonight for example.

I had ages ago written off Beck's Mutations, and strode confidently through the years convinced that there was nothing there for me.

But then shuffle dished out Lazy Flies, and I was kinda sorta blown away.

I doubt I'll have the time/inclination to go back and completely reassess Mutations.

But it was good seeing you, man. Good seeing you...

IT WAS FORTY YEARS AGO TODAY

Damn, between Strange Days and birthdays, I feel like I'm trapped in 1967.

Summer of Love, bitches! What?

SUDDENLY IT JUST HAPPENED

The number one song in England on this date in 1967 was Puppet on a String by Sandie Shaw, a piece of piffle that was the UK's entry in Eurovision that year (and the overall winner).

In America, the number one song was The Happening, which proved that The Supremes could turn shit into hit with the blink of an ess.

But all this is trivial trivia when considering that on May 7, 1967 my wife was born.

Happy 4oth dear. I love you, always.

I WON'T NEED YOUR PICTURE UNTIL WE SAY GOODBYE

Maybe it's the long week speaking, but when all is said and done, there's probably a place on my all-time top 20 for Strange Days.

It's kind of easy to dismiss The Doors in general as a remnant of my adolescence, but this particular album has a purity of vision and execution that puts it in league with stuff like Closer and Psychocandy.

And this way I can feel like I knew a little something about something when I was 15...

AWKWARD INSTANT

Strange Days was on my mind because I picked up a copy at Costco on Sunday for $7.79.

I was curious to see what remastering had wrought.

Oddly though, very little had changed, except for the random fillip or two on When the Music's Over.

Not sure if this means that Strange Days is considered more sacrosanct than Morrison Hotel, or if there's just less flotsam floating around it...