The triumphant return of the Friday Random Ten

Remember when everyone who was anyone did a Friday Random Ten?  Yeah, that's pretty much died, but I need to fill 30 days with bloggy goodness, and if 5 of them can be Friday Random Tens, I'm in.  I'll annotate them, though, so they're more interesting.

1. The Distance -- Cake.  Do people still like Cake?  I have a few Cake songs on my iPod, and I think Sam really likes them.  I want to say that they were local to where he grew up, but I could be making that up.  Either way, I feel like I took in a good amount of Cake (ha!) during the late 90's, without actually owning any Cake.  (This is getting surreal.)  I think Sam has a few Cake albums, at least, and I think he actually has the greatest hits.  Who knew Cake had enough songs to have a greatest hits?  Anyway, this song is fine, but I think there are better Cake songs.
2. Helpless -- Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.  Sometimes Neil Young's voice makes you want to poke your eardrums out.  This song is mildly annoying in that way, though I really actually do like it.  I like most of what Neil did with CSN.  Frankly, I just like most of what CSN did, and if Y wants to tag along and sing some songs with them, that's fine with me.  Although, sometimes those beautiful harmonies sound a little...off with Neil's screechiness.
3. Thinking About Tomorrow -- Beth Orton.  Here is where the problem of annotated FRTs comes in.  I honestly have nothing to say about this song, which is, for me, a mediocre song on a mediocre album.  I usually skip it.  Which I am going to do right now.
4. Our Deliverance -- Indigo Girls.  I don't know what it is, but this is one of those bands I'm having a hard time listening to right now.  I can always listen to "Swamp Ophelia" (the album), but the rest of it leaves me cold.  I don't know if it's temporary or what, but it's kind of annoying, as I have five million of their songs on my iPod.  I didn't skip this song, mostly because I had a chance to walk away from my desk and get away from it.  If I hadn't, yeah....I'd've probably skipped it.
5. Band on the Run -- Paul McCartney and Wings.  I've mentioned this before, but boy, I love this song.  Macca might not be putting out the greatest albums ever in his dotage, but he did make some good post-Beatles music, and this is one of those masterpieces.  I bet there are people out there who would be happy to disparage Macca and probably this song, but is it really because the song sucks, or is it because they're evil Macca-haters?  I'm always going to think it's the latter.
6. Soak up the Sun -- Sheryl Crow.  Ugh.  Need I say more?
7. Dissolve -- Guster.  I don't listen to Guster very often.  I guess the truth is that I don't really enjoy their music.  I mean, I do.  But I don't, because I never think, "Yeah, I know, I'll listen to Guster!"  If Guster comes on, half the time I leave the song on, and half the time I turn it off.  I guess it's just kind of boring.
8. Man in the Mirror -- Crosby, Stills and Nash.  I finally got the whole CSNY box set (all four CDs) on my iPod, and this is the result of that.  I actually don't know most of the later stuff, so listening to this is a sort of musical exploration.
9. Philosophy -- Ben Folds Five.  The first time I saw Ben Folds, he played the song, and I didn't know what it was.  At that point, the only two Ben Folds albums I listened to were "Forever and Ever Amen" and "Rockin' the Suburbs".  It's kind of shameful, especially since I owned all of them.  Yeah, call it youthful optimism.  I'd bought everything that existed after I heard the song "Brick" and pretty much ignored the albums except for that song.  Of course, after I started working at the bookstore, with a crowd of music crazies who played "Rockin' the Suburbs" 50 million times between its release date and the day they told us no swearing on the overhead, I started really appreciating Ben Folds for the first time.  Though it did take seeing him live before I really pulled out the old stuff and getting into it.  And now my favorite Ben Folds album is "The Autobiography of Reinhold..."  which doesn't include this song.  But anyway, this song rocks.
10. We Will Become Silhouettes -- Postal Service.  I've never heard this song in my life.  Literally.  And I'm totally not starting now.  Now I'm switching to a more convivial mix that will only involve switching songs once or twice.

Comments

[Mavis]

I frickin' LOVE Cake! Okay, well, what I know of them I really like. Every time I hear a song by them I haven't heard before I feel like I've just been given a little slice of heaven.

[Sam]

Yes, Cake used to play cafes in Stockton where I grew up in Northern Ca. Too bad I didn't see them.

1. Blitzkrieg Bop - Ramones
Classic.
2. Alive - Pearl Jam Live in Champaign, IL 2003
Great show, I was there.
3. Shoot to Thrill - AC/DC Live at Donnington
Greatest Live Hard Rock album of all time? Yes.
4. World I Know - Collective Soul
Meh.
5. New Years Day - U2
Classic, but not my favorite.
6. By The Way - RHCP
Decent modern RHCP song.
7. Do The Evolution - Pearl Jam Live in Sydney, Austrailia 2006 Night 1
8. Release - Pearl Jam Live at Soldier Field 1995
9. Long Road - Pearl Jam Live in Melbourne, Australia 2006 Night 3
10. Free - Phish

[Sam]

Oh, there is no Cake greatest hits cd. They refused to release one when their record label tried to force them into it. They ended up putting a b-sides and rarities cd out recently instead. They def. have enough songs for a full cd though.