This has been my sound track lately – it’s mostly derived from stuff that’s come up on the I-tunes party shuffle feature. Like the AOR radio stations of yore, I think we all have the tendency to boil most CD’s down to the two or three tunes that are really great and add them to our personal play list and more or less forget about the rest. I like to run the party shuffle as I’m laboring to create the fabulous UBUART that’s so captivated the literary and artistic universe and often I will emerge from my creative trance to ponder, huh, what is this? and discover fantastic songs that I hardly took in the first time, as well as the weird synchronicities and juxtapositions that make our world the super special one that it is.
Without further ado here it is, the annotated Prunikos play list: with title, album and artist
1.) Let your Loss Be Your Lesson – Raising Sand – Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
I love this CD and have listened to it a million times, yet this tune never made an impression on me until I heard it out of context. Plant doesn’t even sing on it, but his rock vibe makes Alison, who has one of my favorite voices in the world, do some things she usually doesn’t.
2.) Stars – New Favorite – Alison Krauss & Union Station
And this is what she usually does and there ain’t nothing wrong with it. The only problem with Union Station CD’s is that every so often some guy in the band will bellow out a tune, and believe me there are no Robert Plants in the bunch.
3.) Heart of Stone – Breakfast in Bed – Joan Osborne
Another of my favorite voices, and a pretty neglected one. Her song writing is so solid too, as evidenced by this number that easily could have been a cover of a soul classic.
4.) Surf Cowboy – University – Throwing Muses
University is such a great CD and the Throwing Muses were one of the best bands of that Indie explosion. Kristen Hersh is another one of those haunting female voices, a unique songwriter and a very good guitar player too. In a just universe she’d be bigger than Madonna.
5.)
Superfluous Daisy – Straight or Lame – The Daisy Chain
I’m always on the lookout for the psychedelic from the 60’s, and it’s truly different to find a girl band trippin’ out. But this tune is more than a novelty, it’s strangely soulful and clever. Like many artists, it shows that you don’t have to be supremely talented to produce something interesting when in the grip of a great historical moment. From 1967, of course.
6.) Person – The Complete Oh-OK – Oh-OK
I guess you could say the same thing about this number, a product of the 80’s New Wave scene in Athens, GA, from a group perhaps now most famous for having Michael Stipe’s sister in it.
7.) Phenomena – Show Your Bones – Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs
This is one of my favorite contemporary bands, though it looks like they might be hitting the modern fifteen minute limit. Karen O. has another one of those memorable female voices this set is so blessed with.
8.) For Emma – For Emma, Forever Ago – Bon Iver
Marty Gosser who used to work for me and is now a big time Gotham publisher dude (who like all the rest won’t even read my book) used to kid me about buying any rock band that gets talked up in the New Yorker, but they haven’t steered me wrong too often.
9.) I Mean It –Warm, In Your Coat – Romeo Void
Man, back in the day I couldn’t stop raving about Romeo Void, and still have to say they’re great. I remember hearing Never Say Never in the movie Reckless and wigging out. Debora Iyall is yet another great, expressive singer and songwriter.
10.) Blue – Live @ The Fillmore – Lucinda Williams
And then there’s Lucinda, who is one of the true immortals. I’ll never forget her singing this song on a rainy night in Ann Arbor.
11.) Glad and Sorry – Good Boys…When They’re Asleep –The Faces
People will probably always reduce this band to Rod Stewart and…or, with the way he’s embarrassed himself since, reduce it to just nothing. Both Rod and Ron Wood put the band down when they went on to other things, but it was a truly great outfit, more than just them as this great Ronnie Lane cut will attest.
12.) Man in a Shed – Five Leaves Left – Nick Drake
I was kind of late to Nick, not naturally being drawn to "folk," but, golly, he’s as big a genius as they say. This is a kind of overlooked, understated thing, but it fits.
13.) Gone for Good – Yes – Morphine
I had to look at the play list to see this was Morphine – I was sure it was John Hiatt. It’s certainly atypical for them – no sax for one thing – but it’s so very haunting.
14.) She is Dancing – Each Day Blues – Brian Kelly
I actually first heard this on the Basquiat soundtrack (I’ve never the flick, but it’s a mighty fine soundtrack), and basically forgot about it until it popped up on shuffle, haunting and cool and much better than anything else on Kelly’s own CD.
15.) Cursed Sleep – The Letting Go – Bonnie "Prince" Billie
Another New Yorker find. This is obviously the standout track, but the whole thing’s growing on me with each listen. I’m sure a tune will pop up on Party Shuffle some day that will blow me away. The CD has a "hidden track" on it, though, which is sooooooo annoying.
16.) I’ve Got Dreams to Remember – The Very Best of Otis Redding – Otis Redding
It’s hard for me to find an Otis number that doesn’t feel like I’ve heard it a jillion times, but Party Shuffle put this one out there.
17.
) Some Other Spring – Billie Holiday And Her Orchestra, 1939-41 – Billie Holiday
I listen to her all the time at work but this is the only CD I’ve put on I-tunes at home and thank goodness. Maybe spring will come after all.
20.) Goldmine in the Sky – The Complete London Sessions – Jerry Lee Lewis
I think I first got this album in the cutout bin. The concept of it was to have Jerry play with the London rock hot shots of the time and it was a great idea. I listened to it all through high school, played the rock’n’roll medley as the climax of many a college radio show and never stopped digging in until I put my turntable in mothballs, but I absolutely could not remember hearing this song before it popped up on Party Shuffle. What an amazing performance, like Jerry poised between baloney and heaven. He takes a corny Gene Autry number (check out, if you dare, the saccharin performance by Roy Rogers and Pat Boone on You Tube) and adds a tragic dimension that makes it truly moving. If I were elected president I’d have Jerry drag out his piano and play America at my inauguration with no taped music either. Think about it.
