'Doin the Friday Shuffle

And a' one, and a' two . . .

1. "Still Crazy After All These Years" -- Amanda McBroom (covering Paul Simon) -- Paul Simon: The Broadway Album
This is a very uneven album of Broadway singers covering Simon songs. This rendition suffers from overstatement; what makes the original work is how understated it is.

2. "Tell It Like It Is" -- Tracy Chapman -- New Beginning
Tracy indulges in a little (very little) funkiness.

3. "Baby Can I Hold You" -- Tracy Chapman -- Tracy Chapman
Beautiful little song with a wonderfully matter-of-fact guitar figure driving it.

4. "Master Song" -- Leonard Cohen -- The Songs of Leonard Cohen
Creepy song, with Cohen's deadpan delivery actually effective at creating a subtly sinsiter mood.

5. "Country Gentleman" -- John Mellencamp -- Big Daddy
An eviscerating political song that rips apart Ronald Reagan (if hardly subtly): "Country Gentleman, now there's a bird thatflew/High above this nation/Preyed on itsweakness/Picked our bones and threw them in his stew/Thank God he went back to California/He ain't a' gonna help no poor man/He ain't a' gonna help no children/He ain't a' gonna help no woman/He's just gonna help his rich friends."

6. "The Stonecutter's Song" -- Alf Klausen -- Songs in the Key of Springfield
"Who holds back the electric car? Who makes Steve Guttenberg a star? We do!"

7. "Distraught" -- Philip Glass - Kundun
Not one of my favorite scores, it nonetheless has some solid Glass stuff within. I really like the guttural chanting on this track.

8. "Hummer" -- Smashing Pumpkins -- Siamese Dream
The intro leaves something to be desired, but this is otherwise a solid rock song.

9. "I Have a Love" -- Leonard Bernstein -- West Side Story (Original Broadway Cast)
Given that it's really the second half of a song ("A Boy Like That") this often gets forgotten when one thinks of the West Side Story tunestack. A pity, since it's one of teh score's most gorgeous moments.

10. "Perdition - Piano Duet" -- Thomas Newman -- Road to Perdition
Pretty piece of diegetic music from the score, with Tom Hanks and Paul Newman playing a simple little piano duet at a party. From what I understand, that's really them, too.

Until Whenever