Playlist Shuffle (13.5.24)

by Rick Johansen

Yes, despite public demand, it’s time for a bonus shuffle. Instead of a random shuffle from ten of the songs in my collection, here’s ten from my Best Of playlist, which means some of my very favourite tunes ever.

To sing and listen along, just click on the title. Hope you like it.

  1. Acquiesce by Oasis. Yeah, seriously. While Noel Gallagher is probably one of the worst lyricists in the history of rock music, he can write a decent tune. However, this isn’t decent: it’s great. B Side of Some Might Say back in 1995.
  2. Tonight by Phoenix (feat Ezra Koenig). The band’s 2022 album Alpha Zulu was one of the best of the year and this joint featuring Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig is fab.
  3. World Of Good by The Saw Doctors. Back to 1996 from the band’s wonderful Same Oul’ Town LP.
  4. Downtown by Neil Young. One of my very favourite Neil tracks which comes from 1995’s Mirrorball and has Pearl Jam as his backing band.
  5. You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything (Even Take the Dog for a Walk, Mend a Fuse, Fold Away the Ironing Board, or Any Other Domestic Shortcomings) by The Faces. Rod Stewart’s peak as a singer and a co-writer. And still the longest song title ever to hit the charts. 50 years ago, mind. Kenney Jones’s drums make this song for me.
  6. We Will Always Love You by The Avalanches feat. Blood Orange. Smokey Robinson duets with Dev Hynes (Blood Orange) and The Roches. At the moment, my favourite song by anyone, ever.
  7. Sunblind by Fleet Foxes. From 2020’s stellar Shore, the brilliant Robin Pecknold remembers some great people (Judee Sill, Elliott Smith, David Berman, Arthur Russell to name but four). So lush.
  8. Visibility Zero by Kansas. In 2016, Kansas released The Prelude Implicit, astonishingly one of their best albums of their career.  Prog classic, mind.
  9. Shiver by Natalie Imbruglia. We’re back in 2005 now and Natalie Imbruglia, who made Kylie Minogue look like a bloke when she was in Neighbours (slight exaggeration, perhaps), made this banger.
  10. Paper Machete by Queens Of The Stone Age. Arguably, the best rock band on earth at the moment, this from 2023’s stunning Times New Roman.

The 11th song would have been Swing Your Daddy by Jim Gilstrap, but we don’t have an 11 in my top 10.

See you Friday for the real Friday Music Shuffle.

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