Just Because Thursday Playlist

So yesterday's investigations led back to a pretty amazing Bobby Womack contribution, Checkin' Out, on a Don Covay tribute album. This begat alot of listening to Don Covay, including a fine version of "Just Because". Not to be confused with the Just Because popularized by Elvis Presley that we included in the Young@Heart sampler not too long ago, this begat a search for the original versions of these two grammatically daring songs.

So here they are performed by the folks who wrote them: Just Because by Lloyd Price and Harold Logan, and Just Because written by Bob Shelton, Joe Shelton, and Sydney Robinson.

Along the way, I encountered this pretty astounding track from rock & roll/doo wop madmen the Treniers and another great source track of Elvis inspiration.

Good times, indeed.

Just Because Thursday Playlist [Rhapsody Online Version]

Just Because Thursday Playlist [Rhapsody Player Software Version]

Poon-Tang - The Treniers
Just Because - Lloyd Price
Just Because - The Shelton Brothers
Love Me - Will & Ruth

Addendum: Here's a nice clip of the Treniers on the Colgate Comedy Hour in 1954 featuring some impressive dance floor battling. Let's just say I'd like to see Jerry Lewis pull out some of those moves next Labor Day.

Slightly Summer Country Fresh Catch Playlist

Here's a vaguely cohesive playlist inspired by yesterday's Just Added/New Release list in Rhapsody. First there were a fistful of Bobby Womack reissues, including the irresistibly titled "B.W. Goes C.W.". It's not all gold, but this track and Behind Closed Doors come across very well.

Then, there's the decently-recorded mixed bag the Byrds Live at Royal Albert Hall 1971. It's also not seamless: what the product description at Amazon lists as "peerless four-part vocal harmonies" sometimes sounds like four guys talking at the same time to my philistine ears. And, I wanted to stay excited for an 18-minute Eight Miles High freakout, but it really hit a lull there for about twelve minutes in the middle. But overall, this set's got some fine guitar work and a well-rounded setlist, so there you go.

For a more solid stretching out, I admit I haven't been immune to Crystal River on the Mudcrutch record, which will induce many a vacant grin on the lawns of America's concert sheds this summer, I'm sure.

Slightly Summer Country Fresh Catch Playlist [Rhapsody Online Version]

Slightly Summer Country Fresh Catch Playlist [Rhapsody Player Software Version]

I'd Be Ahead If I Could Only Quit While I'm Behind - Bobby Womack
Baby, What You Want Me To Do - The Byrds
You Were The Fool - Ween
Senor (Tales Of Yankee Power) - Willie Nelson & Calexico
Crystal River - Mudcrutch
Tennessee Jed - The Grateful Dead

Friday Toolbox Playlist

Not entirely out to lunch, not quite a coherent fresh catch playlist, but not an absolute mess, either. Let's call it a fully functional toolbox of a playlist to employ while working around the domicile this Memorial Day Weekend.

Ever since my guitar hero pointed out that Richard Thompson is HIS guitar hero, I've been doing alot of homework listening through the Rhapsody. Mock Tudor may very well be the most loaded, perfect two-word album title I've met in a very long time.

From there it's Robyn Hitchcock's fine ode to over-the-counter codeine, among other things, and the sounds and visions that may ensue.

Happy Friday, everybody!

Friday Toolbox Playlist [Rhapsody Online Version]

Friday Toolbox Playlist [Rhapsody Player Software Version]

Crawl Back (Under My Stone) - Richard Thompson
Solpadeine - Robyn Hitchcock
Humpty Dumpty - Ornette Coleman
Chain Reaction - Can
Back Home Again - John Denver

Rhapsody Psychic Friends Playlist

Who knows what to make of such things, but I had two odd precognitive Rhapsody moments yesterday. While working Tuesday afternoon, out of their entire catalog, I listened to It Still Moves from My Morning Jacket. Then last night, I happened to be sitting in the same room while Lady Ribaldry was watching the American Idol results show (yeah, that's how it happened). Imagine my surprise when the signature guitar opening of One Big Holiday came up and that song became the soundtrack for David Archuleta's Utah homecoming montage.

Then, yesterday morning I pulled up some tracks from the Peggy Lee Singles Collection box set. After lunch, Schmaltzy Junior picked out the Lady and the Tramp movie to bring home from the library. And of course, it turns out Ms. Lee co-wrote and sang most of the music in that show, and voices the wife, Siamese cats, and the stray lady dog Peg.

Spooky. Who can say what astounding incidental music I will foresee today with these mysterious talents.

For the playlist, we'll take directly relevant songs, and add in a couple more period xenophobic hits from the Peggy Lee Singles Collection.

Rhapsody Psychic Friends Playlist [Rhapsody Online Version]

Rhapsody Psychic Friends Playlist [Rhapsody Player Software Version]

One Big Holiday - My Morning Jacket
The Siamese Cat Song - Peggy Lee
Let's Do It - Peggy Lee
Mañana - Peggy Lee

The Procrastinator's Confession Playlist

Here's the happy circumstances that brought three appropriate songs together: Yesterday I was working away, listening to Iggy Pop's New Values. Suddenly I somehow found myself procrastinating and reading an archived Onion AV Club Random Rules column with Greg Saunier of the band Deerhoof. This column series has people cue up songs randomly from their mp3 players and riff on what comes up. This one was better than most, especially his perspective on Stevie Wonder in general and "Maybe Your Baby" in particular. From my incomplete research, I can also highly recommend the Random Rules feature with Patton Oswalt.

So there you go.

Happy Friday, all.

The Procrastinator's Confession Playlist [Rhapsody Online Version]

The Procrastinator's Confession Playlist [Rhapsody Player Software Version]

The Endless Sea - Iggy Pop
Believe E.S.P. - Deerhoof
Maybe Your Baby - Stevie Wonder