Doin' the Friday Shuffle

1. "Barkley Superhero (Nike Commercial)" - Danny Elfman - Music for a Darkened Theatre
One of the odder pieces in my iPod.

2. "I Cried for You" - Billy Holliday - Ken Burns JAZZ Collection: Billie Holliday
An early, upbeat recording.

3. "Stories of the Street" - Leonard Cohen - The Songs of Leonard Cohen
A light glossing of flamenco-style guitar in this urgent song, highlighted by some nice background organ work.

4. "The Wild Wild Sea" - Sting - The Soul Cages
Epic Sting, with a long, moody, wonderful story-song about an eerie dream in which the narrator finds himself on a black ship in a stormy sea. The Soul Cages is wildly underrated.

5. "Teachers" - Leonard Cohen - The Songs of Leonard Cohen
More Spanish-inflected Cohen.

6. "Linus & Lucy" - George Winston - The Music of Vince Guaraldi
Winston has a wonderful touch with the mood pieces on this disc ("Cast Your Fate to the Wind," "The Great Pumpkin Waltz"), but really doesn't have the jazz chops for this one.

7. "International Echo" - Elvis Costello and Alan Toussaint - The River in Reverse
I'm really beginning to suspect that Costello can record anything convincingly.

8. "Boy Wanted" - Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Gershwin Songbook
Sweetly swinging ballad with some nicely effective flutes complementing Fitzgerald's sweet and easy voice.

9. "I Want You" - Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
One of the few Dylan songs that could arguable be termed "sprightly." I love the way the countermelody on guitar meshes with the primary vocal melody on the verses.

10. "Old King" - Neil Young - Harvest Moon
An ode to a faithful hound dog. Sometimes the simplest ideas work the best.

Until Whenever