Back To Friday Random 10

In the next installment of my dive into the CD cabinet, this one is only semi-random, as I grabbed a few in specific. And it takes me more than a week to go through my stack of ten. But here it is, on Friday even!

• Goanna - "Solid Rock" (Spirit of Place [1982]) : Hey, it's a diggeridoo, so it must be Australian! These Aussie political rockers made a splash with this debut album and this classic 80s alt-rock hit. Lots of good songs on here, but they went on to release only one more CD (Oceana) and then folded when Shane Howard, the band's founder, bolted. Ah well, they left a great legacy of sound anyway.
• JJ Cale - "Call Me The Breeze" (Anyway The Wind Blows (Disc 1) [1997]) : Boogie rock pioneer Cale has some great songs and this 2 CD set is a pretty full collection of his "hits". Another Rhapsody Radio discovery, I'd keep hearing these little boogie woogie rock 'n' roll songs pop up and every time I'd check, it would be another Cale song. Two discs might be a little too much, as there isn't much variety, but still some good stuff here. This disc includes songs covered by other artists, most notably "Cocaine" by Eric Clapton.
• JJ Cale - "Wish I Had Me A Dollar" (Anyway The Wind Blows (Disc 2) [1997]) : Cale live, with a typically low key boogie woogie song. This disc has more favorites of mine, including "People Lie", "Devil in Disguise" and "Change Your Mind".
• The Go-Betweens - "Karen" (That Striped Sunlight Sound [2006]) : I've been able to listen a lot more to this great release of a 2005 live show in Brisbane done by the newly reconstituted Go-Betweens. It features original songwriters Robert Forster and the late, lamented, Grant McLennan in fine form. Even better, it is a double disc, with the second disc a DVD featuring a video of the very same show, as well as a very nice "songwriter's session" video featuring just Forster and McLennan playing guitar and talking about the Go-Betweens, songwriting and life. This song is a nice long concert ending 7+ minute rocker. While the group doesn't have the same lineup as 16 Lovers Lane, it's still a great CD as well as two spectacular videos. Grant, you'll be missed.
• Nick Drake - "Road" (Pink Moon [1972]) : The late, great Nick Drake came to recent attention when Volkswagen used the title track of this song in a wonderful commercial, but this is my favorite Nick Drake song. This is the only Drake CD I have and it is a haunting, acoustic album, and turned out to be his last. It is a dark, inward looking album, with lots of wistful and depressing songs, as he would soon die of an overdoes of pills. To this day, it isn't clear whether it was accidental or suicidal.
• Run On - "Road" (No Way [1997]) : Okay, I cheated here. After hearing the original, I had to go and get this CD from the case, as I actually heard this version first. It's an amazing cover from a wildly flexible band, which sadly folded after this CD, its second. Very Yo La Tengo-ish, with plenty of distortion, but the CD successfully careens all over the map, and this cover is evocative and sensitive. I can listen to this short masterpiece over and over and over again - under 2 minutes of sheer delight. I need to get their other CD.

  You can say the sun is shining if you really want to
  I can see the moon and it seems so clear
  You can take the road that takes you to the stars now
  I can take a road that'll see me through
  I can take a road that'll see me through.

  You can take a road that takes you to the stars now
  I can take a road that'll see me through
  I can take a road that'll see me through
  I can take a road that'll see me through.

• The The - "The Beat(en) Generation" (Mind Bomb [1989]) : My last The The CD. I really enjoyed their (well, his - Matt Johnson) first (Soul Mining), liked their second (Infected) and wasn't real crazy about this one, so I stopped.
• Laurie Anderson - "Baby Doll" (Strange Angels [1989]) : Very funny and funky CD. I love Laurie Anderson, and I'm disappointed we missed her when she was performing here last fall. Next time, fer sure. This is a funny song:

  I don't know about your brain-
  but mine is really bossy
  I come home from a day on the golf course
  and I find all these messages
  scribbled on wrinkled up scraps of paper
  And they say thing like:
  Why don't you get a real job?
  Or: You and what army?
  Or: Get a horse.
  And then I hear this voice
  comin from the back of my head Uh huh
  (Whoa-ho) Yep! It's my brain again
  And when my brain talks to me, he says:

  Take me out to the ballgame
  Take me out to the park
  Take me to the movies
  Cause I love to sit in the dark
  Take me to Tahiti
  Cause I love to be hot
  And take me out on the town tonight
  Cause I know the new hot spot. He says:

  Babydoll! Ooo oo oo Babydoll Ooo He says:
  Babydoll! I love it when you come when I call
  Babydoll! You don't have to talk I know it all
  Babydoll! Ooo oo oo Babydoll Ooo

• The Jeff Healy Band - "Confidence Man" (See The Light [1988]) : Some rocking rhythm and blues by the blind Canadian Jeff Healy, who plays his guitar flat on his lap. This is a great John Hiatt song and really perks things up on this hot Friday afternoon. I'm a roots blues and boogie woogie kinda guy, and there's a couple good ones here, including the instrumental "Nice Problem To Have", which really rocks.
• Richard Thompson - "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" (Rumor & Sigh [1991]) : Quite possibly my favorite story told in song. I quoted it in my Motorcycle entry, and it still remains a favorite. There's a couple of other good songs on here too, but it's weird that this song isn't on the three disc Thompson compilation I have, "Watching The Dark".

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