Doin' the Friday Shuffle

1. "High and Dry" - Radiohead - The Bends
Old-school Radiohead--acoustic guitar, bass, drums and nary an electric beep or boop to be found.

2. "II. Meditative" - John Adams - Road Movies
Pensive piano music from the composer laureate of the US.

3. "VIII-Zaporozhye Cossacks' Reply to the Sultan of Constantinople, Allegro" - Smitri Shostakovich - 14th Symphony
Angry, declarative piece, with strident baritone, from this vocal-heavy symphony.

4. "I Threw a Brick through a Window" - U2 - October
Early, punk-but-not-really U2.

5. "Some Days Are Better than Others" - U2 - Zooropa
Latter, not-at-all punk U2.

6. "Everybody's Got the Right" - Stephen Sondheim - Assassins (2004 Revival)
The opening song, a brilliantly bitter and cynical opening in which a carnival barker enjoins passersby to "shoot a president.":

"Hey Pal, feelin' blue?
Don't know what to do?
Hey Pal, I mean you!
Come here and kill a president!"

7. "Closing Credits" - James Horner - A Beautiful Mind (Film Score)
One of Horner's best. It's repetitive, but it's the culmination of his playing with this style and these sounds. If you are going to get one "ethereal" Horner score, this is the one.

8. "Twenty Miles from Marietta" - Jason Robert Brown - Parade (Original Broadway Cast)
Parade tells the true story of a Jew in Georgia who was accused of murdering a young girl who worked in his pencil factory. This very effective song featured the prosecutor singing his opening argument.

9. "I Draw the Line" - John Kander and Fred Ebb - Kiss of the Spider Woman (Original Broadway Cast)
From the musicalization of the story of two prisoners in South America, one gay one a freedom fighter, and the friendship that develops between them--this early song features the early hostility between the two. (Factoid: Brent Carver, who plays the gay prisoner Molina, is currently playing Gandolf in the world premiere of the new Lord of the Rings Musical in Toronto.)

10. "Queen Amidala and the Naboo Palace" - John Williams - Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (Film Score)
A bit of Anakin's theme, some regal fanfarish court music, some tension-building sneaking-around music.

Until Whenever