Playlists

I recently made three CDs to listen to on my short trips to and from work. They should last me quite a while. When I make these playlists, I do one of two things. Intentionally pick the songs that I'm favoring at the moment. Or, I put iTunes on shuffle, hit play and see where it takes me. I'll keep skipping along until I find a song that I like and add it to the playlist. Admittedly, this method takes longer because of its capricious nature. I don't know what song will hit next, so I end up skipping and skipping and skipping sometimes until I find a suitable track. For example, I'm not going to include a clip from a comedy album on my mix. I also won't drag a demo track onto the playlist, either. But it's still fun to see what iTunes skips to next.

I mention all of this because the three mixes I made turned out to have some really solid material on them. Sometimes with the iTunes shuffle method, I end up with a lot of mediocre songs on my CDs, so they don't hold up to multiple playings. (This is a function of the time issue. When you've been sitting in front of a computer for an extended period skipping around iTunes, you wind up getting bored and aggravated so you start dropping all kinds of tracks into the playlist just so the tedious process will reach its culmination. And I also know that if it's your iTunes, you should like 99 percent of what's on it. Truth be told, though, that's not usually the case because there may be a few albums you purchased long ago for a track or two that you enjoyed, while the rest of the record turned out to be garbage. And when you have more than 4,000 songs like I do, you're bound to land on some clunkers.)

Digression aside, here are the three playlists. I enjoy this music, so this is one man's taste:

Mix 1

1. Real Nigga Quotes from Common's One Day It'll All Make Sense -- This track has a banging beat, and it's from Common's second best album. (Like Water for Chocolate is his best.)
2. Charlie from the Red Hot Chili Pepper's Stadium Arcadim (Jupiter) -- This song seems to bridge the Peppers of old to the Peppers of new. There's a lot of the funky elements that were omnipresent in their early work (Uplift Mofo Party Plan, Mother's Milk), there's some hard rock (One Hot Minute) and some layered, textured vocals and music (Californication, By the Way).
3. Definition from Black Star's eponymous album -- This Mos Def/Talib Kweli pairing is one of my top 5 favorite hip-hop albums of all time.
4. What They Do from The Roots Illadelph Halflife -- This is my favorite Roots song from the best Roots album to date. This is hip-hop/jazz fusion at its ultimate. It hasn't been topped yet.
5. America by Simon and Garfunkel -- Bob Dylan may be the poster boy for folk music, but don't forget about this duo.
6. Home at Last from Steely Dan's Aja -- Aja is widely considered by critics to be Steely Dan's best album (although I'm partial to Katy Lied). It was their penultimate album of the '70s and does display some of their strongest work. Home at Last may not be the best track from the album, but every piece of music on Aja is fantastic.
7. We As Americans from Eminem's Encore -- Encore was a hugely disappointed third effort from Eminem. Most of it was nonsense and filler. We As Americans didn't even make the album's final playlist. It was relegated to the special second CD that came with Encore, which is a shame because this politically motivated song displays how great Enimen can be when he takes on a social cause. And it's probably better than any of the tracks on Encore.
8. Save Room from John Legend's Once Again -- This is a funky song produced by Kanye West. John Legend is the best R&B act out there today.
9. Dancing Days from Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy -- Can you go wrong with a Zeppeling song? I submit that you cannot.
10. Piano Man by Billy Joel -- A classic Billy Joel song with such strong lyrics that you make you take notice whenever it comes on.
11. Eat to Live from Talib Kweli's Ear Drum -- A wonderfully articulated hip-hop track from Kweli's newest album is touching and poignant.
    
12. Jet from Paul McCartney's Back in the U.S. Live -- It's a fun song from McCartney's post-Beatles days.
13. Greatest Hits from Sublime's Robbin' the Hood -- Sublime was an innovative band that combined sounds from reggae, rock and hip-hop. Greatest Hits flawlessly fuses reggae and rock.
14. Skills from Gangstarr's The Ownerz -- DJ Premier is the finest producer in hip-hop in my opinion, so anything Gangstarr did when they were a duo was gold.
15. Freedom by Jimi Hendrix -- Hendrix still holds the mantle of best guitarist ever, with apologies to Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page.
16. My Mind Spray from Jeru the Damaja's The Sun Rises in the East -- Jeru broke out when he appeared on a Gangstarr track. Primo produced Jeru's first two albums, then the two had a tiff and Jeru was on his own. He suffered with Premier, but his lyrical abilities have been unquestioned. And his pairing with Premier on this track and album was lethal.
17. My Way from Nas's Lost Tapes -- Lost Tapes contains tracks that didn't make it onto albums Stillmatic, Nastradamus and I Am. I'm a huge Nas fan, but most of Lost Tapes is better than anything that's on Nastradamus. That album was garbage. Lost Tapes is classic.
18. Hostile Apostle from 311's From Chaos -- 311's sound matured as they continued making music. They started from hip-hop/rock beginnings and slowly began to expand their sound. Hostile Apostle hearkens back to their earlier days while still emitting some of the more intelligent sounds of their newer stuff.
19. She from Green Day's Dookie -- A classic track from a classic album. The song is 14 years old, so in this fast-paced Internet-driven world, does that make She an oldie?

Mix 2

1. Baptized in Dirty Water from Chris Thomas King's Rise -- I learned about King when he starred in the Coen Brothers' "O Brother Where Art Thou?" I bought the soundtrack, on which he sang a song called Hard Time Killing Floor Blues. I loved that track, so I started buying his albums. He's a blues musician that also integrates elements on hip-hop into his music. Baptized in Dirty Water is straight blues music, and it's such a fantastically powerful track.
2. Verses from the Abstract from A Tribe Called Quest's The Low End Theory -- Tribe was a forerunner in hip-hop, and they helped pioneer the hip-hop/jazz sound that has been used by acts such as The Roots and Guru on his Jazzmatazz albums. Q-Tip is one of the more underrated MC's of all-time.
3. I.G.Y. from Donald Fagen's The Nightfly -- When Steely Dan split after their last album "Gaucho," both Fagen and Walter Becker embarked on solo careers. Fagen had more success with albums The Nightfly, Kamakiriad and Morph the Cat.
   
4. I Ain't No Joke from Eric B. and Rakim's Paid in Full -- Rakim is a grandfather of the hip-hop world.
5. What I'm Here 4 from Gangstarr's Moment of Truth -- This is Gangstarr's strongest album. And you already know my feelings about Premier.
6. You Never Give Me Your Money from The Beatles' Abbey Road -- You have to include Beatles tracks on your mixes.
7. Eye Know from De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising -- Much love should be given to some of the early rap groups that laid the pavement for today's artists. (And I mean today's REAL artists. The ones who rap about something, not the ones who get frequent radio play. There's too much garbage in hip-hop today. Someone needs to weed it out.)
8. Don't Feel Right from The Roots' Game Theory -- Game Theory is a solid album, and certainly better than The Tipping Point, the record that came before Game Theory. The Roots have hit their stride again.
9. How Many Mics from The Fugees' The Score -- One and done for this rap group that featured Wyclef Jean, Lauren Hill and Pras. This is my favorite track from the album that included Killing Him Softly, Ready or Not and No Woman, No Cry.
10. All Right Now from Free's Fire and Water -- This is a classic rock song. It's fun and loose.
11. Solsbury Hill from Peter Gabriel's eponymous album -- I don't know what it is about this song, but I love it.
12. Out on the Tiles from Led Zeppelin's Led Zeppelin III -- Led Zeppelin (the album) had a lot of hard-rock/metal elements. Led Zeppelin II had some more of the same, but it also experimented with a lot of different sounds. Led Zeppelin III contained more acoustical elements.
13. Doctor Wu from Steely Dan's Katy Lied -- Katy Lied is my favorite Steely Dan album. I first heard Doctor Wu as a little kid when my Dad was taking me to a haunted house, so that memory is always affiliated with this song. Still, Doctor Wu is one of the Dan's best tracks.
14. Pinball Wizard by The Who -- More classic rock from a great band.
15. Everything I Am from Kanye West's Graduation -- Kanye is a pretty strong producer (see John Legend and Common). As a rapper he's mediocre at best. I chose this track, though, because DJ Premier provides Kanye with some of his patented scratches. And if Primo has touched a track, I probably enjoy it. (To wit, I can actually stomach Limp Bizkit's N 2 Gether Now because it's produced by Premier and it features Method Man.)
16. Zero Chance from Soundgarden's Down on the Upside -- This track is off Soundgarden's final album. Soundgarden was one of many bands that made real rock 'n' roll music during the mid to late '90s. Rock today is staid and stale. But back in the day Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, Foo Fighters, Chili Peppers, Incubus, Green Day, Rage Against The Machine and early Bush were all dominating the music scene for good. (Most of those bands are still making music.)
    
17. Everybody is a Star by Sly and Family Stone -- Sly Stone is one of the more enigmatic front man in rock history. His funky music had great commercial and critical appeal.
18. Atlantic City by Bruce Springsteen -- The Boss was great during the '70s and '80s. Then he hit some hard times. His most recent album Magic is reminiscent of his older work, so he may be experiencing a resurgence. Atlantic City is one of his older songs.
19. The People from Common's Finding Forever -- Common's collaborations with Kanye (they worked on Be) have given Common a commercial jolt. He hasn't sacrificed his lyricism, and he hasn't sold out. Kanye has done a good job of being Common's two guard (a position once hold by the late J. Dilla).

Mix 3

1. Favorite Things from Incubus' S.C.I.E.N.C.E. -- This is from Incubus' first album, and it contains a lot of the hard rock elements that made them such a great band earlier in their career. They've gotten away from that in recent years, but this track epitomizes what the band was.
2. Down the Backstreets from Guru's Jazzmatazz Volume 1 -- Guru is the other half of Gangstarr, and this solo effort sans Premier works because he surrounds himself with famous jazz musicians who join him on the album's tracks. It's a great concept, executed flawlessly.
3. The Game from Common's Finding Forever -- Yeah, this track was produced by Kanye, but like Everything I Am from Kanye's Graduation, The Game features scratches from Primo.
4. Ain't the Devil Happy from Jeru the Damaja's The Sun Rises in the East -- This is a great socially conscious song from Jeru. It might be his best. (The Bullshit is another classic socially active song from Jeru's second album, The Wrath of the Math.)
5. Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) by Marvin Gaye -- As Gaye got older, he started taking up social causes in his music. He began to separate himself from the love songs and the Tammi Terrell duets. Mercy Mercy Me is one of his forays into social activism through song.
6. Bourbon Street Blues from Chris Thomas King's Me, My Guitar and the Blues -- This is an upbeat blues song from the New Orleans native.
7. Ordinary People from John Legend's Get Lifted -- This is the song that made John Legend a star. It's Legend and a piano. There's an intimacy to this naked song that, combined with the lyrics and Legend's unique voice, work perfectly.
8. 8 Million Stories from A Tribe Called Quest's Midnight Marauders -- The Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders give A Tribe Called Quest two powerful albums.
9. Beautiful Struggle from Talib Kweli's The Beautiful Struggle -- Kweli has always been a socially conscious rapper, and this song is a microcosm of what he's been doing for years.
10. Time out of Mind from Steely Dan's Gaucho -- Gaucho was thought to be Steely Dan's last album (they reunited in 1999 for Two Against Nature and again in 2003 for Everything Must Go). Gaucho was also a critical failure. I'm not sure why. There's still a lot of great tracks on the record, and this is one of them.
11. Ten Years Gone from Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti -- This is my favorite Zeppelin song.
12. Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen -- This could be one of the finest rock songs ever made. And of course it would come from the Boss and the E Street Band.
13. Sexy Sadie from The Beatles White Album -- This is a fun track. And when iTunes landed on it, I couldn't turn it down. No one would say it's The Beatles best song, but it's still good. (For the record, The Beatles only made one truly terrible song -- Revolution 9. And I love George Harrison, but Within You, Without You is pretty weak, too.)
14. If I Had a Million Dollars from the Barenaked Ladies' Rock Spectacle -- I love when bands have fun with their music. The Presidents of the United States of America always seemed like they were having a great time, so while the music was never technically stunning, it was forever fun to listen to, which makes it enjoyable.
15. Like Toy Soldiers from Eminem's Encore -- I know. That's two songs from Encore, the album I proclaimed was Eminem's worst effort. But Like Toy Soldiers has some real meaning and emotion behind it, which it makes a powerful song.
16. We're Only Gonna Die for Our Arrogance from Sublime's 40 Oz. to Freedom -- The song gets harder and harder as it progresses. The lyrics never change, though. It's a song that can get you pumped up before a game.
17. Sunshine from Lupe Fiasco's Food and Liquor -- I'm not sure how I feel about Lupe Fiasco's new album, The Cool. But what I am sure about is that no rapper since Nas has had as successful a freshman effort as Lupe did with Food and Liquor.
18. Right Now from Van Halen's For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge -- The Sammy Hagar Van Halen was no where nearly as good as the David Lee Roth version. In fact, Van Halen was never as good as they were with David Lee Roth. They've suffered since he left the band. But they did strike the right cord with Right Now.
19. Killer Queen by Queen -- This band produced so many hit songs and crossed over successfully into different genres of music.

So there you have it. Those are the three mixes I recently constructed for my listening pleasure. There's a little peek into some of the stuff I listen to. You may hate it, and that's OK because I enjoy it. And that's all that matters.