Neutral Milk Hotel has a huge cult following, and this album is widely considered their masterpiece. I have to admit I missed the boat a little with these guys. Released on my beloved Merge Records, this music should have been on my radar when it came out, but I missed it. However, I have tried to catch up with it some and definitely am a fan of this album. I would not say this track is one of the better known songs, but it is solid. SHUFFLE GOODNESS.
2. "It's Not My Birthday"--They Might Be Giants, Then: The Earlier Years (Disc 2) (1997):
This 2-disc set of TMBG's songs is more than enough for me. I always liked the band's singles but never had the stamina to listen to their entire albums. My guess is that they would be amazingly fun live, but I have never had the pleasure. Interestingly, since they have lately delved into making kid-friendly music, I have actually really enjoyed those a lot. Most of the music for kids is too painful to listen to, so I really like listening to TMBG with my kids. This song is not amazing but solid TMBG. SHUFFLE GOODNESS.
3. "Power Supply"--Portastatic, Some Small History (Disc 1) (2008):
Being a huge Superchunk fan puts Mac McCaughan at the top of my list of favorite songwriters. Whenever Superchunk is on hiatus, Portastatic is Mac's outlet. There are 6 studio albums and this compilation. He is the sole songwriter and gets other folks to help when he tours as a band. This compilation, 2-disc set was a longtime coming. Fans had been clamoring for a compilation of b-sides, covers, and unreleased demos. This 2 disc set is it. This song is an original and is a slower acoustic number. SHUFFLE GOODNESS.
4. "I Wanna Know Girls"--Portastatic, Bright Ideas (2005):
Back to back with Mac! Bright Ideas came out in 2005 and was an important Mac fix for me as it was right in the middle of the huge Superchunk hiatus from 2001 to 2010. This song was one of my favorites off of this awesome album. It features the best Public Enemy allusion in its lyrics that I know of: "Cause love is like an uzi, It weighs a ton." SHUFFLE GOLD!!
5. "Rockin' The Paradise"--Styx, Paradise Theater (1981):
One of the albums that I owned on vinyl back in the day. I was in middle school when it came out. The vinyl was way cool with etchings of the band's logo. Ultimately, this was the only Styx album that I owned, but they were a solid radio band for me. This song coming up on the shuffle right now is particularly apropos because I am watching the t.v. show "Freaks and Geeks" for the first time (I was out of the country when it originally aired) and am loving it. The show places music in scenes as well as any show that I have ever seen, and Styx is featured in several episodes. This song has not shown up yet, but there is a chance since the show is set in the 1980/81 school year, and this album was released in January. This song is also a great example of the limitations of the mp3 format and the shuffle. Technically, this song should be preceded by "A.D. 1928," which is the slow lead into this song that is more rock. On the album they flow into each other seamlessly. The link above should make it clear. SHUFFLE GOODNESS.
Re: Styx and mp3 limitations. If you ripped the music from your CD into iTunes, you can rip the adjoining songs as one track which is absolutely essential for a lot of songs like Queen's "We Will Rock You"/"We Are The Champions", Seger's "Travelin' Man"/"Beautiful Loser" and Jackson Browne's "The Load Out"/"Stay" just to name a few. Not to mention several Van Halen songs that are preceded by Eddie's instrumentals. Just looking at my library, I have at least 47 "conjoined" songs. I actually typed "conjoined" in the comment field when I ripped them that way. Anything that helps you enjoy your music the way you want to is a worthy effort.
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