Weekly Playlist, 11/13/05

Dave Marsh
Curtis Mayfield, Superfly (expanded edition) (Rhino) -- The first time I saw the film, at the Olympia Theatre on 103rd and Broadway in NYC, shooting broke out behind me in about the 4th reel. So all the furor about 50 Cent is bullshit--the film was *over* when THAT shit happened.
Audioslave, Live in Cuba (Universal DVD) -- Che rocks
Bruce Springsteen, Max's Kansas City, 7-18-73 -- The first time I saw him. Lauren Onkey sent me the download. Sue us and I'll lie and say I heard it off E Street Radio.
Bruce Springsteen, The Bruce Springsteen Story Vol. 5: Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom -- Not just a Monopoly Game
Flipsyde, We the People (Interscope) -- The politics seem to be good but I keep getting distracted by the music. Pop hip-hop rock?
B.B. King, “Mississippi” -- All work and no play...is not in my experience.

Lauren Onkey
Various Artists, Electric Highlife: Sessions from the Bokoor Studios (Naxos
World) -- Splendid collection of Ghanaian highlife tracks recorded in the 1980s by John Collins, including one by The Black Beats Highlife Dance Band, the legends of 50s & 60s highlife.

Matthew Orel
Bob Dylan, No Direction Home (Soundtrack) (Sony/Legacy) -- I'd still be mesmerized by this version of “Desolation Row” were it half an hour long.

Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen
Marty Stuart, Badlands (Universal South) – Perfect soundtrack for Peter Matthiesson’s In the Spirit of Crazy Horse. Plus, when’s the last time you heard any popular singer call out President Clinton for his fuck-ups? (“Broken Promise Land”)
System of a Down, Mesmerize (Sony) – Brutal, beautiful, and righteous. Can’t wait for Hypnotize in a couple of weeks.
Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run: 30th Anniversary (Columbia) – There’s the 12-string acoustic I never heard before on “Born to Run.” There are the unbelievable versions of “Spirit in the Night” and “Lost in the Flood” on the Hammersmith Odeon DVD. And then there’s the making-of-Born to Run documentary Wings for Wheels, which reminded me why it all matters. Hell yeah, love is real.

Fred Wilhelms
Various Artists, Get in the Groove (Norton Records, www.nortonrecords.com) -- A down and dirty live R&B party featuring Andre Williams, Nathaniel Mayer, Lonnie Youngblood, the Mighty Hannibal, Rudy Ray Moore as MC, and a completely unhinged Barrence Whitfield. There's even a guest appearance by Bettye LaVette. When those 50s preachers (and Tipper Gore) told us that music would corrupt the young, this is exactly what they had in mind. The fact that this music is still being made (recorded December, 2003) gives me hope that there's still glorious danger out there.

John Floyd
Bob Dylan, No Direction Home (Soundtrack), (Sony/Legacy) -- For "Maggie's Farm" and Mike Bloomfield and the rhythm section behind the alternate of "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" and a whole lot more.
Detroit Cobras, Baby (Bloodshot) -- The greatest cover band of the last twenty years. And they do better with purloined Irma Thomas than the Stones ever did, cf., "It's Raining" v. "Time Is On My Side." And I bet Otis would love them.
Lynyrd Skynyrd, Second Helping (MCA) -- I come back to this one every couple of years, then hit it hard for days on end. Maybe not the band at its peak as a band -- the live double from a few years later is shit-hot -- but they never made a better album.
The Waco Brothers, "Revolution Blues" from Do You Think About Me? (Bloodshot) -- Neil Young was singing about Manson or whatever, and he sounded too stoned to even care. Jon Langford hits it like he's pissed and ready for a fight and doesn't give a rat's ass about the Family, Neil's muddled lyrics be damned. Lately, I play this one every time I watch the news or read a newspaper.

Stewart Francke
Bob Dylan, Live at Budokan (Sony)
Stevie Wonder, Songs in the Key of Life (Motown)
Frank Sinatra, Moonlight Sinatra (Reprise)
Bobby Womack, The Poet (Razor & Tie)
Sammi Smith, The Toast of '45 (Mega Records)
Various Artists, Detroit Gold Vols 1 & 2: Best of Motor City Soul (Solid Smoke)