No cutesy intro this week. Just the music:
1. Fly Robin Fly – Silver Convention. Amazing how much song you can wring out of the lyrics “Fly, robin, fly, high up to the sky”.
2. Sneaking Sally Through the Alley – Robert Palmer. It’s a little hard to believe that this is the same guy who’d later give us Bad Case of Loving You and Addicted to Love. But that’s the difference between the 70s and the 80s.
3. With Plenty of Money and You – Count Basie. Finally, a love song that’s truly honest about what makes for a happily-ever-after ending.
4. Excuse Me – Peter Gabriel. Possibly the weirdest song he recorded. Don’t get me wrong, it’s also one of my favorites. But weird, definitely weird.
5. Let It Ride – BTO. BTO is one of those groups that’s kind of like a bag of potato chips – the sort of thing you crave from time to time even if you don’t know why, you consume more of it than you know you should, and you feel vaguely guilty about it afterwards. Is that deep or what?
6. Pick Up The Pieces – Average White Band. Another 70s pop song that was arranged for jazz band and duly played by yours truly in high school.
7. Surf’s Up – Beach Boys. You’d think with a name like that it’d be one of their staples, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard this one on the radio. It’s a lot more mellow than you’d think.
8. I Want To Be Like You – Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. From “The Jungle Book”, originally done by the inimitable Louis Prima. I really like an arrangement done by Los Lobos for a Disney music tribute called Stay Awake, which is one of the more eclectic albums in my collection.
9. Planet Claire – The B-52s. My sister Eileen had a friend named Claire when we were kids. She hated this song, just as Eileen hated “Come On Eileen” by Dexy’s Midnight Runners, and my friend Rhonda hated the Beach Boys’ classic “Help Me Rhonda”. I can’t say I blame any of them.
10. Guyana Punch – The Judys. Technically not on my iPod yet, but included here in tribute to the local fave’s welcome comeback, which included a gig at South by Southwest.
Interestingly, the official Average White Band web site (www.averagewhiteband.com) has a bluegrass version of Pick Up the Pieces available for download as a MP3. I associate the Average White Band with the New York Cosmos, as they wrote and performed their theme song, which is also available on their website. Strangely, the song was missing from both the Once in a Lifetime documentary and soundtrack.
I’ve been having a 70’s flashback lately as it relates to Count Basie. I found on Youtube a clip from the Gong Show of Gene, Gene, the Dancing Machine, who performed to Jumpin at the Woodside.
Man, The Judy’s had an awsome set. There’s at least part of it on Youtube already…