Friday Five - Halloween Edition

The first five things to happen when I hit shuffle on my iPod today:

Not About Love – Fiona Apple, Extraordinary Machine

This makes me smile.  Partly because I haven’t listened to Fiona in a while and this song popping up today will certainly remind me to dig a couple of her CD’s out.  Besides having a boyish crush on this red-headed goddess, I’ve always really enjoyed her music.  This is the famous album that almost wasn’t; after submitting it to her record company, they turned it down and told her to try again because, “there aren’t any marketable hits” on it.  You can imagine how well that went over.  So while Fiona took a little hiatus from making music, this album somehow got leaked onto the interwebs and an online movement formed to “Free Fiona!”  Eventually, enough people had their voices heard and the record company caved in to changing their minds and releasing the album, which of course achieved acclaim.  But some always wondered if maybe it wasn’t the record company that “leaked” the album in a sneaky ploy to not only gauge consumer interest/ reaction to the album, but also to create a grassroots marketing bonanza.  Personally, I doubt record executives could’ve been that smart.

Divorce Song – Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville

Wow, I’m already on a roll!  Another boyish crush that I just can’t get over, Liz is goddess number 2 today!  Exile is probably one of my top 5 (or at least top ten) favorite/ most influential albums of my lifetime.  I can’t even get started on it because there’s too much to say.  And this song is one of my favorites from the album.  Succinct in prose, it’s funny, sad, angry and somehow purveys a feeling of apathy that I really latched onto while using this track as my theme song for a couple of years.  I’ve had it on my list of songs to learn (on guitar) for awhile now and just haven’t put in the effort yet.  Maybe I’ll do that this weekend.  After this album, she released whitechocolatespaceegg, which I liked, but after that, I’m not sure what happened.  She seemed to lose the truth in herself and she started to try “making a living” at music, which includes letting your record company give you advice on what people want and how to be popular.  It’s really too bad.  But I prefer to remember Liz as she was…and forever will be, to me. 

Man Of A Thousand Faces – Regina Spektor, Far

Well, well, well…isn’t this an interesting turn of events.  Another quirky, red-headed piano goddess.  This is another album I bought based on a review I read.  When I read it, the author described Regina, and the album, as a cross between (ready for this?) Fiona Apple, Liz Phair and Bjork.  I mean, shit…are you kidding me?  How I could not buy that??  Needless to say, I was disappointed.  I mean, it’s not a terrible album and I have to admit that I’ve been slightly influenced in my opinion by Julie who hates this record.  But as for the peer comparisons, I would say it’s more like a failed attempt at being a female Ben Folds.

Watching The Wheels – John Lennon, Double Fantasy

Although this album sparks great conversation about John himself and everything that went on at the time of its release, this particular song reminds me more of a time in my life, rather than one in his.  I was, for all intents and purposes, a young punk.  It was around 1990-91, which puts me at 19 or 20 years old.  I had moved out on my own, had my first car and was working full-time at a Sony Store.  At that time, I was more familiar with the obvious Lennon/ Beatles stuff and a co-worker turned me on to this album.  After bringing it to work and playing it in the store, he lent it to me.  Jesus, I think I was still making mixed tapes at that point.  Anyway, I loved it.  And picture if you will:  all the attitude of a 20 year old with his first sports car, new found independence of being one’s own man, trying to look so cool and acting like such the frickin’ hotshot that age beckons from us, as a generation fascinated with the hot pink accessorizing of a rebel like Andre Agasssi…cruising around downtown in the evening with the stereo blasting………….Watching The Wheels.  Wow.

Caring Is Creepy – The Shins, Oh, The Introverted World

Terrific track that most people would more likely recognize from the soundtrack to the movie, Garden State.  Great soundtrack, by the way.  It seems this band has a real history as a product placement, though.  I believe their popularity is based on their songs being selected for the aforementioned movie and TV shows ranging from The OC to Weeds to Spongebob Squarepants.  I don’t know if I’d go so far as to call them the new Moby, but it seems like a lot of “indie” paths wind this road to popularity.  I dunno…good for them, I guess.  It doesn’t diminish in my mind what is a good album and set of tunes.  The one thing I could never figure out though, is why I always think of them as British.  Even though I know they’re an American band (Portland, I think) I still always hear them as British.  Weird.