Saturday, January 07, 2006

Random 10 and the word "crap" for no good reason

Just for the record, this *isn’t* a late Random 10, because I did technically begin at 11:22, which was still Friday. It was just unfortunate that I started with an album-long composition (or an album full of smaller compositions that, for some reason, exists on my hard drive as a single MP3 file) and then had to work my way through the actual “Random 10”.

  1. Mike Oldfield – Platinum – I’m not sure what the individual tracks on this album are, because for some weird reason my version of it is one long MP3. Which kind of works, because most of Oldfield’s stuff is best played that way anyway. I’ve been working my way through his catalog lately, realizing there’s some of his stuff that I haven’t heard much before. After a single listen, I think this album is now among my favourites of his, and I’ve been playing it near religiously for a few days. I’m particularly fond of the way the whole thing wraps up with Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm” (which, yes, I had to Google before I realized that it was a Gershwin piece – sue me).

  2. Madonna – I’ll Remember – Why is it that the few times Madonna comes up on my random playlist, it’s never one of the two or three songs that I actually kind of enjoy? Speaking of which, I need to track down a decent copy of Tori Amos performing “Live to Tell” which is, in fact, one of those Madonna songs that I actually kind of enjoy. I’m sure it can only be improved a thousand-fold in the hands of Ms. Amos.

  3. Jewel – Don’t – I’m not sure where this comes from, but I have the weirdest sense that listening to Jewel is some kind of bizarre cardinal sin, or something. Or mortal sin. Or…what’s that other kind. Vestigal sin? No, Vestigial. Thanks Google! Anyway, sin or not, this isn’t even among the few Jewel songs I like. Which…come to think of it, that’s two for two, isn’t it? Hm. Hope this doesn’t turn into a trend.

  4. The Beatles – Come Together – Ah, at last a good’un. I’m actually a pretty big fan of The Beatles, but prefer their more hippy-esque period, as opposed to their earlier, more-pop stuff. Of course, I think deep down I’m a bit of a hippy myself. I’ve always thought if there was any period in time that’d be amazing to have been a part of, the peace movement of the 60s and 70s would have been it for me. I simply find it indescribably moving that an entire generation managed to hold the unwavering belief that they really could make the world a better place. I suppose that’s why I enjoyed so much of “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” by Hunter Thompson, which reads to me, in some ways, like a requiem to that hope and optimism of the peace movement.

  5. The Beatles – Octopus’s Garden – More Beatles fun. Is this the first time I’ve had two tracks from the same artist appear right after the other? My memory is fuzzy about such trivial details, which is too bad, because trivia is so much fun. For the record, I really wouldn’t like to be under the sea. I’m not much of a swimmer, really.

  6. The Offspring – Lightning Rod – I heard a lot of The Offspring earlier in the week, while cleaning out some of MP3 files. I had a bunch of random, unsorted, unfiled stuff that was ultimately duplicated in my non-random, properly sorted and filed stuff, but had to double check it all to make sure I wasn’t actually deleting something I didn’t have a copy of somewhere. God, My MP3s are a mess. I need some kind of hyper-intelligent computer program to go in and clean them up for me.

  7. Elton John – Bennie and the Jets – A live version. This is usually a fun one to hear him perform live (and see him perform live too, apparently, based on some TV footage I’ve seen) because he tends to get a little weird on the piano solo. Not that Elton’s ever been accused of *not* getting a little weird from time to time. Or a lot weird. Or so incredibly weird that parts of your brain explode.

  8. Leonard Cohen – Undertow – Wow, I’ve downloaded a ton of Cohen stuff I’ve never listened to before, and I’m pretty sure this is among that stuff. You know, you just can’t go wrong with this man’s voice to capture a poignantly sad kind of mood. Which is a funny thing to point out, because it seems that he doesn’t do much in the way of singing on this particular song…

  9. John Lennon – It’s Real – Wow, two from the Beatles, and a Lennon. My hippy-esque nature is now in full bloom. I feel like hosting a peace march. Wow, and now it’s over already. John Lennon whistling, accompanied by an acoustic guitar. Well, that was interesting.

  10. Ani DiFranco – Face Up and Sing – Not my favourite of hers, but not a bad one by any stretch of the imagination. Hm, DiFranco and Jewel means there’s a certain portion of this week’s Random 10 going to Nouveaux Folk. Does count as mildly hippy-ish?

  11. The Smashing Pumpkins – Farewell and Goodnight – and with a title like that, could there possibly be a better song to close another round of the Random 10 with? Nope, I didn’t think so.

And so, on that note…farewell, and goodnight.

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