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Shout - Miles Davis
It's got a strong intro--you can definitely hear the pioneering strains of fusion in this track. It's more wah-funk than anything, and it's pretty repetitive, but "Shout" represents a new direction in Miles' career. |
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Protection - Ben Folds
Straight off the new Speed Graphic EP, "Protection" sounds like Ben singing strangely intellectual words ("Tourists wear their wallets in high places while abroad/So as not to be ripped off in ways of which they're not apprised") over pure Joe Jackson piano. It was the latter characteristic which caught my attention, and forced a mandatory inclusion into the mix. |
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Jungle Fiction - John Scofield
This jam moves at a buzz pace, and is pretty weird overall, but it's got a funky feel to it, and the bridge/coda just burns. I don't know Scofield well enough to compare this to his other works...and maybe that's okay for right now. It was a standout on Uberjam, if that makes any difference. |
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Heartland - Scott Jones
As I'm not knowledgeable in the ways of fusion, and still learning the "language", my pick from my friend Scott's release is this easygoing track, written on the day of the Oklahoma City bombing. It features Scott, who did all the backing tracks and lead guitar, and Bill Elrod, adding sax to the timbre. As always, the changes are first-rate. |
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2001 - Mike Keneally
When I first heard Wooden Smoke, this song stuck out melodically in a way that not many songs do. It has an air of melancholy to it, which is the air MK songs tend to breathe. I have no idea what he's saying, but it's a pretty song.. |
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Not To Touch The Earth - The Doors
It's amazing how car tape decks enslave you. I never would have become attached to this song if it hadn't been on a GH tape of my mom's. Buried in between "Roadhouse Blues" and "Touch Me", this twistedly poetic psychedelic salvo grew on me. Back in high school, when I was in the Saltines ("a bunch of crackers playing funk"), I was absorbing classic rock like a sponge, and the Doors' Ray Manzarek epitomized the trippy organ we were going for. |
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When The World Is Running Down, You Make The Best Of What's Still Around - The Police
Thankfully free from the serpentine chains of the Doors, Andy Summers' steely guitar is a breath of fresh air. One of three Police songs I knew before acquiring their boxed set, it remained buried in my mind until I heard a remix at American Eagle back in December. Minutes later, it was in the mix. |
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Dance Hall Days - Wang Chung
I've always just liked this song. It has that quirky 80's package: "Safety Dance" Euro vocals, clean guitars, drum loops, and cheesy high sax solos. If nothing else, a great chance to clear the palette as the sophistication takes on new heights. |
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The Colorado Trail - Dave Grusin
One of three "cowboy songs" featured on Grusin's Orchestral Album, this song is the definitive Dave Grusin song. It's slow, soft, jazzy and it has vibes...expertly played by Larry Bunker. What an excellent timbre. It's a picture portrait of "lush". I could listen to this track over and over. But we mustn't. Moving on... |
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Shades - Yellowjackets
From the album of the same name, this tune was actually written by Donald Fagen. It has the feel of Nightfly-era Fagen, and is performed with the usual panache by Ferrante's boys. Think of slick NYC streets at night--even then, you still need your shades. As this is an obscure Dan-like track, it is fitting that the following track... |
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Wetside Story - Steely Dan
...be of similar origins. This version, recorded by an amateur during the '96 Art Crimes tour, is a work in progress, and is totally representative of that period of the Dan (a band which I do know a thing or two about). Even at its conclusion, Fagen announces they're "still working on that one," and then dives into the "Jurassic period of Steely Dan" (which, apparently, was 1972's "Midnite Cruiser"). |
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More Than Fine - Switchfoot
I checked these guys out at Minneapolis' Quest with my musical friends Justin and Liz. This album is a very strong release for the band, and this track, in particular, has a great hook, straight out of the late 70's during the "I'm not givin' up/givin' up" section. Excellent changes as well. |
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Red Hill Mining Town - U2
During my freshman year at Webster, I heard a lot of U2. My friend Ed was their biggest fan, while Paul, across the hall, was a connoisseur of all rare U2 material. When it came time for me to pick up The Joshua Tree, there was something about the changes and the melody to the chorus of "Red Hill Mining Town". That night, I wrote the song "No Surrender", the first track on my On The Canal CD, inspired solely by this song. |
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Wonder - Earthsuit
The uncategorizable Christian rock band Earthsuit took my friends and I by surprise with their blurred-lines-from-every-side approach to songwriting. If that weren't enough, the production is mindblowing. "Wonder" stands in the company of several very powerful tracks on their only CD, combining the rhythms of funk and boy-band vocals dipped in the black ink of modern rock. |
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Enough Is Not Enough - Joe Jackson
Joe is notorious for showing up in my mixes, but I just love him so much. Anyway, this is a non-album track from his Beat Crazy period, I believe, based on the reckless abandon, jangling guitar, and unashamed major-9 chords. It was a track I hadn't heard before, and it worked better than "The Harder They Come" as one of his own songs, so here it is, for posterity forever. |
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Mrs. Rita - Gin Blossoms
We're just covering the whole board here with this mix. "Mrs. Rita" goes back to 10th grade, when I was finally starting to get comfortable in my musical skin (inasmuch as my listening was concerned). New Miserable Experience is a great album, and was recently given the A&M "Deluxe Edition" royal treatment. It reminds me of art class and my friend John, who hated all popular music. He is doubtless cringing at this inclusion. |
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Sarah Victoria - Acoustic Alchemy
Nearing the end of AA's first album (which ranks as one of the most beautiful guitar work I've ever heard) is this pretty song, written and performed by the late Nick Webb. It reminds me of the Christmas Eve when I was watching the "Wild, Wild West" episode, "The Night Of The Bottomless Pit". Strange to think of a desert on Christmas in Minnesota. |
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Baby, It's Cold Outside - Zooey Deschanel & Leon Redbone
This song is adorable (did I just say that??). I saw the movie "Elf" with several of my bandmates in Kansas City just before Thanksgiving 2003, and this song played over the closing credits. Leon Redbone's bourbon-soaked bass feels like the dinners we had at the Great Plains Steak House, and the way Zooey sings the word "scurry" is...well, yeah, it's adorable. |
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