Doin' the Friday Shuffle

1. "The Rising" - Bruce Springsteen - The Rising
A song that has grown on me - when this album was first released, it was not one of the songs on the album I loved. Now, it's pretty close.



2. "Flint (For the Unemployed and Underpaid) - Sufjan Stevens - Greetings from Michigan
A somber piano ballad. I like Stevens, a lot, but can sometimes get very impatient with the idea that a lot of the stuff he does - this kind of piano-based, slow song, for example - is done much better, but to little acclaim - by musical theater writers like Adam Guettel and Jason Robert Brown.

3. "There Won't Be Trumpets" - Stephen Sondheim (sung by Bernadette Peters) - Sondheim, Etc.
A Sondheim song that was originally cut from the show, but has been sung by more singers than many, many, many Sondheim songs. Peters has the perfect voice for it - slightly strident and impetuous.

4. "So Far Away" - Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
Does anyone make more laid-back music than Mark Knopfler?



5. "Allegro" - Brahms - Symphony #3 in F
A spirited and lively piece of music.

6. "Black Beauty - Memories" - Danny Elfman - Music for a Darkened Theater, Vol. II
Elfman has a reputation for repeating himself that's nearing James Horner levels, but this forgotten score sounds nothing like the "typical" Elfman sound. It's lush, Romantic, and sweeping - and one of his most beautiful pieces of work. (Oh, yeah - and where the hell is Vol. III!?)

7. "Meet the Flinstones" - Homer Simpson- Go Simpsonic with the Simpsons
This. Genius.


8. "With Every Light" - The Smashing Pumpkins - MACHINA/The Machines of the Gods
For some reason, I always kind of forget that I like the Pumpkins.


9. "Prelude to Act I" - Leonard Bernstein - Peter Pan
Bernstein's "lost" score for Peter Pan (He wrote much of a score, but only one or two songs ended up getting used), is really lovely, with lots of pretty underscoring.

10. "The Happy Medley: Mammy" - Mandy Patinkin - Mandy Patinkin
Patinkin pays tribute to the man many consider to be his most obvious influence with a warm loving tribute to Al Jolsen and his signature tune.

Until Whenever