Mega-Shuffle! Vol. 1
Okay, now that I've finally got all my music ripped to my computer (7.8 days' worth), I can shuffle among every single song I possess. I'm as happy as a little girl. Following the example of Agitprop, I'll recount the next 10 songs, with whatever commentary/explanation I can provide:1. "Ferny Hill" - The Chieftains, off their live album, Long Black Veil. I owned this for years before listening to it for the second time just a few months ago. I love the Chieftains but wasn't really motivated to hear them share the stage with Sting, Mick Jagger, Sinead O'Connor, Tom Jones, etc. What a mistake I'd made; the album is fantastic. The title song, sung by Jagger, is one of the saddest and most romantic tunes I've ever heard. "Ferny Hill" is a lovely traditional pipe song.
2. "Mazurka Op. 63, No. 3 in C sharp minor" - Frederic Chopin, one of my top five favorite composers. My sister says his preludes are deceptively difficult to play. Haven't been in a classical frame of mind lately.
3. "(New Wave) Polly" - Nirvana, off their eclectic and sometimes annoying collection of remixes and extras, Incesticide. I prefer the acoustic versions of "Polly," off of Nevermind and live from Unplugged, but the song is sublimely creepy in any form. It gives me this savory, predatory feeling. In an ironic way, of course.
4. "The Fly" - U2, from Achtung Baby. Most people will disagree with me, but I still say this was U2's last good album. I never got into Zooropa or All That You Can't Leave Behind, and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb sounds like they're trying too hard to prove they're not old yet.
5. "Children of the Korn" - Korn, from Follow the Leader. This song features Ice Cube over the distinctive vocals of Jonathan Davis. My favorite "South Park" episode was the Scooby-Doo-esque Halloween one with Korn as a mystery-solving band. I literally fell off the couch laughing when they turned themselves into different forms of corn to perplex the villain.
6. "Forkboy" - Lard, off the Natural Born Killers soundtrack--next to Tank Girl, my favorite soundtrack to a movie I've never seen. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails produced this soundtrack, which includes enough dialogue bits sprinkled within the songs themselves (as opposed to separate tracks, a la Pulp Fiction) to give the general idea of the movie's plot. Lard featured the vocals of ex-Dead Kennedys' frontman Jello Biafra.
7. "Uptown" - Roy Orbison. Yeah, he seems to stick out among the harsher stuff here, but I truly love this guy and his music. This was only his second release, hitting #72 on the US charts in 1960. I started listening to him because I heard he was the favorite singer of both Elvis Presley and Chris Isaak. They're sort of the Holy Trinity of rockabilly heartthrobs. Sigh...
8. "Hitchin' a Ride" - Green Day, off Nimrod. Hmm, even though Green Day is one of my favorite bands, I rarely listen to this album, so I have nothing to say about this song. It sounds pretty cool, though.
9. "1000 Miles" - Robert Mirabal, off his live album Painted Caves, where he performs with Rare Tribal Mob. Mirabal is one of the most prominent contemporary Native American recording artists. He's from the Taos Pueblo tribe in Northern New Mexico and offers a unique blend of rock and traditional music. He plays a flute and he's hot. Married with kid, though.
10. "Sweetest Sound" - CMS Productions. This was a CD of ambient music I got for Christmas called Music for Healing. There are birds chirping, apparently enamored with the synthesizer sitting next to a waterfall.
Well, that's today's edition of Mega-Shuffle. Opinions/observations on any of the above artists welcome.
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