You’ve heard of speed dating, well this is speed shuffling.
1. Give It 2 Me – Madonna – This sounds so much better out of context. First rate disco.
2. 50ft Queenie – P.J. Harvey – Off this real obscure 90s boot recorded in Boston, this sounds like Bo Diddley fronted by a raging hormone.
3. The Boys Of Summer – D.J. Sammy – English electronica which means they put the hook on repeat and make the drum synths louder.
4. There’s A Boat Dat’s Leaving Soon for New York – Louis Armstrong – I never thought Armstrong was right as Porgy. Everything he gives is wrong for what it is. Except… he gets the jazz right and he makes the songs function foremost as songs. The trumpet bridge is about as great as you’ll ever hear.
5. Girls Talk (Alternate Take) – Elvis costello & the Attractions – This version is perfect for Get Happy!!, all Booker T time keyboards. The final version, slower and haunted, but for we obesessives this is pretty indicative of how the great album for its sound.
6.Standing Next to Me – The Last Shadow Puppets – Ambitiously flops on its arrangement. If the song had been a bit stronger…
7.Rosemary – Grateful Dead – Length? One minute 59 seconds.
8.FUN & Games – The Groucho Marxists – I don’t know why I don’t write about these guys. They carry on Don Giovanni’s punk pop rock mantle with speed accuracy and hooks. All of Manifesto! is great…. I need to revisit it.
9.About A Boy – Patti Smith – Another momento mori, this one for Kurt Cobain is an eight minute devastating dirge for someone “beyond it all”. A great tribute.
10.Honey Dipper – Oscar Peterson – When I write about jazz nowadays I’m worried M. Kriss will tell me off… This is swing jazz with a light handed Peterson and a light hearted rolling sound.
11.Sorpesa – Omega – Modern merengue but before Omega morphed into a reggaeton staple. The horns are great but the beat is relatively loose limbed.
12. Suffering Season – Woods – When daytrotter are on their game they make you here the song in the song clear. And Woods are two bands in one. The weird jammy psychedelic one, and this superb folk indie band.
13. Heela – John Parish & Polly Jean Harvey – There are two JP/PJ albums, this is from the lesser of the two.
14. Twistin’ The Night Away – Rod Stewart – At his best Rod was so great, he didn’t embarrasses himself when he covered Sam Cook. From one of the greatest albums of all times, pop pickers.
15. I Love It Loud – Kiss – Mickey Mouse is better. Minnie Mouse not so much.
16. Dead And Gone (feat Justin Timberlake) – T.I. Off the ridiculously great Paper Trails, what’s surprising still is what fucking flow T.I. delivers. Flow is the holy grail of rap, it is to Jay-Zzzzzz what style was to latter day Sinatra. It forgives all sins and nobody has a better flow than T.I. The newbie? It will KILL.
17.All The World Is Mad – Thrice – Emo goth. This is a touch draggy.
18. Rock Around With Ollie Vee – Buddy Holly – Catch the rhythm guitar intro.
19. Where Life Begins – Madonna – By the nineties there was too much 2nd tier stuff like this. Sexy but stuffy.
20. Before The Deluge – Jackson Browne – More arranged then I remember.
21. Trying To Get To You – Elvis Presley – You know how rock and roll is r&b plus country. This ain’t. This is the blues.
22. Sheena Is A Punk Rocker – The Ramone – If this song is playing at a club and you ask Helen bach to dance with you, I bet she does.
23. Get Away – Anton Glamb – Sciortino’s college pal and the guy is really great on this dance number. Better than I remember him from the Shinobi Ninja gig…
25. Atrocity Exhibition – Joy Division – If you can for a moment forget about Ian Curtis vocal, hook into Stephen Morris’ who makes his drums sound like tom toms. Bernard Summers keeps on claiming they wer three yobs and a poet but this song, off the second and final album, seems to disprove the claim.
26. Before The Worst – The Script – The sorta irish rock band who should be better than they are.
27. The Judas Kiss – Metallica – Loved this roarer before the vocals kicked in and I realized who it was. The moral? Play instrument
als.
als.
28. Everybody’s Got A Family – Massive Attack – I SWEAR AS GOD IS MY WITNESS this is a coincidence and it is an intrumental and it is better than anything on the current album.
29. Bells Of War – Wu-Tang-Clan – The most disappointing follow up of all time. The album was a long haul through a lotta material (160 minutes worst? Like that) to reach a drear like this.
30. The New Soft Shoe – Gram Parsons – There is something so pure about Parsons vocals… both of his solo albums are must buys and this is so lovely. That’s Emmylou Harris singing background. I’ve gotta write some more about this guy.