The Random Shuffle Chronicles, Week 8 - Damn that James Taylor

I’ve got nothing against James Taylor. His songs have accompanied me many a night on the patio at my parents’ house, a beer in one hand and a good book in another, but he sure knows how to kill a workout.

It’s not just James Taylor, though. He’s only the latest in a line of numerous artists whose quiet, mellow tracks have popped up in the middle of a particularly vigorous workout.

The most recent interruption occurred over the weekend at the gym while I was pedaling furiously on the stationary bicycle. The machine had just switched to its highest resistance as a Deep Purple track (probably “Space Truckin’”) faded out, and the sounds of the Christmas season entered my ears as James Taylor began to croon “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”

Let’s keep in mind that it’s the middle of March, and as much as I like Taylor’s James Taylor at Christmas disc (and Christmas), the last song I want to hear as spring struggles to make its way to Buffalo is a blue-eyed folkie celebration of jolly-old St. Nick. And, it’s certainly not what I want to hear while I’m trying to keep my heart rate up at 160.

But, as I wrote earlier, this isn’t limited to James Taylor. With such a large number of songs on my iPod, it’s a given that songs like “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” or Styx’s “Don’t Let It End” will play at any time, but it’s still just as jarring and disappointing when they do. How is it that my iPod can string Bob Dylan, The Band and Carole King together while I’m drifting off to sleep - and bunch Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden and Mountain together while I’m driving - yet follow Black Sabbath with Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind” while I’m at the gym?

I guess I could stop complaining and deal with the fact that I’m trying to listen to every song at least once on random shuffle and take it as par for the course, but it irks me. I thought iTunes and iPods counted listening statistics. Don’t they know what’s been played before and what hasn’t? I mean, I liked Kansas and Styx when I was 14, and I still had the CDs when I got to college. They eventually made their way onto my computer, but I don’t think I’ve sought out a song from either of those bands since I was 15. Based on my listening patterns, there’s no reason for my iPod to play a Styx or Kansas song (or a Christmas song for that matter, since I listen to those mainly on CD, not on my iPod).

Well, I sure strayed off topic fast. A paranoid rant about how my iPod was out to ruin my workouts was not what I intended when I sat down, but apparently that was more important than a discussion about the psychological effects of a mellow song on a vigorous workout. The good news, at least, is that there has to have been enough Styx and Kansas played to make the rest of their stay in the shuffle rotation brief. They can’t hang around forever, right?

Total songs listened to (of 6237): 1018 - 16.3%

Top five songs of the week:

1. Poem 58 - Chicago
2. Five Years - David Bowie
3. Let Me Roll It - Paul McCartney & Wings
4. The 59th Street Bridge Song - Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper
5. Bitter Fingers - Elton John

The Random Shuffle Chronicles - Weeks 5,6,7 - A lame summary before getting back into it next week

It’s been a while. I’ve heard plenty of music over the last three weeks, and have had very little time to write about it. The iPod went on a pretty good run since I last wrote, sticking to the bluesy and the heavy, following Led Zeppelin with Pete Brown and Piblokto! and stringing together jazz tracks from the likes of Herbie Hancock, Charles Mingus and Freddie Hubbard.

And, there was nary a Styx song to be heard. Whatever mechanical mind the iPod has decided it didn’t want to listen to Dennis DeYoung and company bury rock and roll under pretentious orchestral pomp.

The past three weeks also contained a few notable first appearances from the likes of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper, Moby Grape and Santana. Bloomfield and Kooper got multiple plays, and the live versions of “Together ‘Til the End of Time” and “The Weight” made me long for the return of summer.

If there was a shuffle MVP of the last three weeks, however, it was Iron Maiden. The beasts of British heavy metal didn’t appear a lot during the shuffle, but hearing “Remember Tomorrow” as I dozed off one night launched a week long Maiden kick, culminating in a screeching trip down the highway to a ski resort as the debut album blasted through (and probably destroyed) my car’s speakers.

That’s it for now. In the future weeks I hope to find more topics as I listen that I can explore in depth, and avoid writing uninteresting summaries because I’ve been too busy to devote a proper amount of time to writing. Expect CD reviews to return in the near future.

The Random Shuffle Chronicles - Week 4 - A Detour to Talk About Prog

I haven’t given progressive rock much thought in recent years. In high school, it seemed to be all I listened to. Not many a stray minute passed by where I didn’t have a CD player at my side, headphones plastered to my ears, my head bobbing to Yes, Genesis, ELP or King Crimson.

Though, even when I enjoyed it I’m not sure my head was bobbing. After developing a love for more simplistic and gut-busting styles such as punk and blues in college, enjoying progressive rock seemed more of a tedious, daunting task, predicated on analysis and dissection, rather than pure, visceral reflex, which – to me – is the key to enjoying rock and roll.

As my music preferences turned back toward groups who emphasized rock’s most basic elements (rhythm and the blues) and bands such as the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the Patti Smith group and the Talking Heads became the go-to artists in my iPod, prog became too intellectual for me. It required too much thought to peel back the layers of a song like Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s ‘Tarkus’ or any of the tracks on Yes’ Tales From Topographic Oceans. It wasn’t music you could bob your head to and get up and dance to right away without thinking. You had to use your brain.

And so, I left progressive rock behind, until recently. In the past week, my iPod has played a bevy of songs by Yes and Genesis, much to my delight. I was taken by surprise one night by Genesis’ ‘The Battle of Epping Forest’ as I drifted off to sleep. I was immediately pulled out of my doze.

It was a revelation. The past 7 years of heavy blues and R&B listening had led me to believe that it took too much effort to parse through the dense instrumentation (and lyrics) of Yes or Genesis to find any trace of basic pop music. But, it was all there right from the outset. Above the time changes, multiple movements and complex rhythms were simple pop songs.

I realize that what I experienced anew may only apply to certain progressive rock groups whose main songwriters had a knack for writing catchy hooks and incorporating pop song structures. For every songwriter like Peter Gabriel, you have writers like Greg Lake and Keith Emerson, who, with ELP, championed pretentious symphonic rock and bombast.

But, as the week wore on, I heard songs from such groups as Yes and Rush (early Rush) and found myself focusing on the poppier (and rockier) elements of the songs with ease. I didn’t need to peel back the layers of Yes’ ‘And You and I,’ because the pop was apparent in Jon Anderson’s vocal melody and Steve Howe’s repetitive three-chord rhythm.

And then the Rush. Forget their synth-laden albums of the 1980s, these three dudes rocked. Listen to ‘By-Tor and the Snow Dog’ from Fly By Night, and you’ll think you’re listening to a Coheed & Cambria song. Guitarist Alex Lifeson strums as if he were in the Ramones as the song chugs furiously through three movements. Two albums later, by 2112 the band would be in full-on prog mode, writing a song that would take up a whole album side, telling the story of a futuristic solar war. But, Geddy Lee and co. still told the story by blasting listeners with guitar, bass, drums and vocals. If anything in 2112 was obtuse or dense, it was Neal Peart’s lyrics.

I’m excited to see where this newfound appreciation for progressive rock will take me. I figure it may be time to expand beyond the confines of Yes, Genesis, King Crimson and Pink Floyd, pull out my Soft Machine albums and delve into the Canterbury Scene. Have any Gong albums you’d like to recommend?

The Random Shuffle Chronicles - Week 3

As long as I’ve been listening to music, I’ve gone through various phases and changes in taste as I’ve discovered new bands and artists or rediscovered songs and bands I had – for some reason – stopped enjoying.

For example:

As a freshman in high school, such bands as Kansas, Styx and Van Halen were the cream of the crop. By the time I graduated high school, Styx, Kansas and VH sucked, and I listened to nothing but Yes and King Crimson, with a healthy dose of Zeppelin and Grand Funk Railroad thrown in. And now, eight years later, I stick to the blues, holding Clapton, Mike Bloomfield and Mick and Keith in the highest regard.

But this week, my iPod got me back into prog. Last Tuesday was a Genesis fest, Wednesday was a Yes fest (not to mention all 45 minutes of Jethro Tull’s A Passion Play), and I also heard a surprising amount of non-Dark Side and non-The Wall Pink Floyd (‘Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun’ was a highlight) All I needed was a day of 1975-1978 Rush and I could have been in nerd heaven.

On the negative side, I just about tore my hair out during all the Aerosmith songs played this week. Listening to Steven Tyler screech in the studio is bad enough, but hearing that caterwauling in a live setting (from Live Bootleg – I need to stop buying live records without careful consideration) almost drove me to smash my iPod to bits.

Total songs listened to (of 6237): 372 – 5.9%

The Good: My re-appreciation from prog-rock

The Bad: Asia’s ‘Here Comes the Feeling’ interrupted an enjoyable Eric Clapton – Byrds – Taj Mahal medley.

The Ugly: Steven Tyler at the peak of his “power.”

Top five songs of the week:

1. ‘Phantom of the Opera’ – Iron Maiden
2. ‘Why Does Love Got to be So Sad?’ – Eric Clapton
3. ‘Ain’t Gwine to Whistle Dixie Anymo’’ – Taj Mahal
4. ‘You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere’ – The Byrds
5. ‘And You and I’ – Yes

The Random Shuffle Chronicles - Week 2

A rather quick write-up, as I’ve been sick…

My iPod wants to play certain songs at the wrong times. Van Morrison’s ‘Into the Mystic’ in the middle of an intense workout at the gym, Metallica’s ‘Battery’ while I’m lying in bed, etc.

This was the prevailing pattern for most of the week, not that I didn’t enjoy most of the songs played on my iPod. It’s just that I didn’t hear the songs I liked at the right moments. Boz Scaggs’ brilliant live take on ‘Baby’s Calling Me Home’ from the closing concerts at the Fillmore West came into my ears while I was waiting for a spot on the ab machine at the gym. It’s a great song, but the slow blues burner certainly doesn’t pump me up for a workout.

Despite songs playing at inopportune times, the beginning of the week was front-loaded with some of my favorite recent acquisitions, including the Scaggs track, It’s a Beautiful Day’s ‘White Bird’ from the same Fillmore: The Last Days album and Fairport Convention’s ‘Tam Lin.’

On the bad side, the iPod continued its Styxfest, treating me to ‘Suite: Madame Blue’ as I drifted off to sleep late one night. The song’s overblown chorus of “Americas” jarred me awake as I half-dozed at 1 a.m. If there’s one good thing to come of this, it’s that the iPod will shuffle through my Styx Greatest Hits disc rather quickly.

Total songs listened to (out of 6327): 237 – 3.7%

The Good: Sandy Denny’s haunting voice on ‘Tam Lin,’ Yes’ ‘To Be Over’ and Pink Floyd’s ‘Free Four.’

The Bad: Too many Rick Wakeman and slow Traffic songs.

The Ugly: Styxfest continues

Top Five Songs of Week 2:

1. ‘The Battle of Epping Forest’ – Genesis
2. ‘Baby’s Calling Me Home’ – Boz Scaggs
3. ‘Tam Lin’ – Fairport Convention
4. ‘Space Captain’ – Joe Cocker
5. ‘The Kinks’ – Animal Farm

The Random Shuffle Chronicles - Week 1

For the past two years or so, I’ve been trying to complete the daunting task of listening to every song (all 6,237 of them) on my iPod. This particular challenge has only one rule: I’m not allowed to skip over any track as they play on random shuffle.

The rule makes for interesting combinations of songs. For example, Led Zeppelin’s “Over the Hills and Far Away” could be followed up by Kanye West’s “The Good Life,” which could be followed by Simon & Garfunkel’s “The 59th St. Bridge Song,” and so on, and so on.

This listening technique doesn’t make for good party music, however, particularly when a song from Wagner’s Ring Cycle shows up. The lack of the ability to keep the shuffle going at a party makes my task a lengthy one, as do other various other factors. I don’t listen to my iPod at work, my iPod car kits keep breaking, and, about half-way through the challenge(at two different times), my iPod has frozen, taking me back to square one.

However, this time, there will be no excuses. I’m going to make it through every song, or bust. And, if my iPod freezes one more damn time, I’m buying a new one.

I want to make this challenge more interesting (to me) this time, so I’m going to write about it weekly, recapping the good, the bad and the ugly of the weekly shuffle, and highlighting my favorite parts and the most interesting parts of my iPod’s shuffle choices.

So, without further ado, here are some brief observations from Week 1:

Total songs listened to (of (6,237): 112 (1.7 percent)

The Good: The iPod actually played quite a few songs from the latest batch of albums I added, instead of sticking mainly to the songs that have had multiple plays over the years. Instead of such staples as “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking,” I got to hear Blue Cheer’s “Summertime Blues” and Lee Michaels wailing away on “Hold on to Freedom.”

The Bad: There was nothing really too bad in the shuffle’s selections this week. Though, a couple limp-wristed Supertramp songs (“Hide in Your Shell,” “You Started Laughing”) were played, and the iPod chose to pick Beatles songs from the Cirque du Soleil Beatles Love soundtrack, rather than from my actual Beatles albums.

The Ugly: The Styx. Good Lord. The Styx. The iPod decided to have itself a Styx fest during its first week. I know we all thought “Renegade,” “Come Sail Away” and even (gulp) “Lady” were awesome songs back in 7th grade, but I can’t even begin to fathom why I ever bought the Paradise Theater album. Normally, I could listen to those songs with a shudder and move on, but “Nothing Ever Goes as Planned” and “Half-Penny, Two-Penny?” Gah. What’s worse is that the songs played while I was sitting out in the living room with my roommate, who has great taste in music, and now assumed I used to have good taste in music. I’ve now inflicted irreparable damage on my street cred. Damn.

Top 5 Songs of Week 1:

“Million Dollar Bash” – Fairport Convention

“Summertime Blues” – Blue Cheer

“Too Much In Love” – The Move

“Black Mud” – The Black Keys

“Emergency” – The Tony Williams Lifetime

SARR - The Incredible String Band - The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter

Music made by the hippies that lived down the hall from you in college, giggling into all hours of the night in a haze of marijuana smoke and patchouli, if those hippies knew how to write a song as good as the tunes on this record. Nuggets of humorous tongue-in-cheek folk music abound, augmented with water harps, dulcimer, pan pipes and everything you can find in your kitchen closet. A highlight: “The Minotaur’s Song,” where we learn that the mythical beast can’t dream well because of his horns.

SARR - Fleetwood Mac - Live

I seem to have a terrible habit of buying live albums by bands I’m not particularly fond of in order to hear one or two of the song I actually like by such artists. I came to Fleetwood Mac Live through this habit, tired of not having my favorite Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks- (I’m not a big Lindsey Buckingham fan) penned songs in my library. I should have bought a greatest hits album instead. The Mac sounds bland here. The McVie and Nicks songs (“Say You Love Me,” “Dreams,” “Rhiannon,” etc.) are OK, but not as polished as they are in the studio. As for the Buckingham tracks, ugh. I’ll take the studio version of “Never Going Back Again” – where I can actually hear his intricate finger picking – over this muddled mess any day.

SARR - The Flaming Lips -The Dark Side of the Moon

My advice to you before listening to this is to forget Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon exists. The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs turned Floyd’s masterpiece from a space-rock stoner’s dream into a groove-heavy, electronic trance album. It’s not necessarily trance music, but this Dark Side’s grooves are hypnotic. Believe it or not, Roger Waters’ tales of madness sound more menacing with Wayne Coyne & co. performing. Pink Floyd’s trippy, lush atmospherics become cold, mechanized pulses that bore into your brain, daring you to get up an dance. Pink Floyd, it is not, but something different (and great) altogether.

SARR - The Black Keys - Brothers

I’d buy into the hype on this one. Brothers is a swampy, filthy tour-de-force. Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney have created a stew of psychedelia, sludge, blues and soul. Through the trippy funk of “Black Mud,” the chug-and-groove of “Sinister Kid” and the Motown-at-a-snail’s-pace take on Gamble’s and Huff’s “Never Gonna Give You Up,” the Keys take listeners back to psychedelia of the late 1960s, but leave the era’s excess and self-indulgence behind. Maybe this is the sound Blue Cheer was aiming for.

SARR - The Flaming Lips - Embryonic

This psychedelic freakout needs an accompanying movie so I don’t burst a blood vessel trying to visualize what these songs sound like. Freakiness aside, Wayne Coyne and co. have created quite the party/dance album on half of this disc. Despite the squeals and squelches on such tracks as “The Sparrow Looks Up at the Machine” or “Worm Mountain,” Michael Ivins (bass) and Kilph Spurlock (drums) create enough grooves for you to dance yourself into a frenzy. When you want a break, lose yourself in the breezy, computerized soul of “The Impulse.” Party on, Wayne.