Friday Playlist: Too Much Perspective

June 25, 2009 is the day many of us will remember as the day a visionary musical oddball died: Sky Sunlight Saxon of The Seeds.

For more detail, I'll point you to Nels Cline's piece about his experiences with Sky Saxon.

Grooveshark doesn't have a lot of Sky's music, but there was enough to assemble a playlist with more than enough for most (and really, all 15 minutes of "Up in Her Room" is more than enough for anybody).

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/playlist/Too_Much_Perspective/9344323

Friday Playlist: ...For the Whole World to See

The continued supply of newly unearthed, long-lost and/or forgotten music gives old people like me less incentive to keep up with anything new. Thanks (I guess), Drag City records for reissuing (or maybe just "issuing") this lost mid-70s album from 3 Detroit brothers who called themselves "Death" (why so negative, young African-American brothers from mid-70s Detroit?).

If you don't feel up to listening to the whole album, just go with the last song, "Politicians in my Eyes".

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/playlist/Death_For_the_Whole_World_to_See/8036889

Friday Playlist: Antique Homes and Plastic Cones

Pavement was (probably by design) an eccentric band. How eccentric? Their "classic lineup" of Malkmus, Kannberg, Ibold, Nastanovich and Young never even recorded an album.

They did record though. Piecing together tracks from an EP, B-sides and Peel sessions, this is what Pavement's missing album number one-and-a-half circa 1992/1993 might have been.

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/playlist/Antique_Homes_and_Plastic_Cones/8865288

I think "Relight the Burnt Match (and Stick a Flag on it)" would make a better title, but Grooveshark does not give users a way to rename playlists, other than recreating them under a different name. In Computerese, that's "there is no mv, only cp and rm."

Friday Playlist: The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

Enjoy David Shire's excellent soundtrack to the original Taking of Pelham One-Two-Three before its inevitably disappointing remake comes out next month.

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/playlist/Pelham_1_2_3/8757334

Friday Playlist: Ca Plane Pour Vous

This one is annoying and NSFW, not just lyrically, but also because it may simply prevent you from working. Your boss (should you have one) is planning on letting you out early today anyway with the holiday weekend and all, so it's cool.

The rarely asked question "how many different versions of Jet Boy Jet Girl/Ca Plane Pour Moi can I find?" has an answer, and it is "several".

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/playlist/Ca_Plane_Pour_Vous/8623109

Friday Playlist: Look out baby, there's a plane incoming!

The Move "were among the most popular British bands to not find any success in the US" (ref: Ricky P. Deya). It's not strictly true; the band did find considerable success, but they had to change their name to ELO and ease visionary freak Roy Wood out of the band. This set in motion (oh!) events that would lead to the upsetting 1981 release "Hooked On Classics".

This playlist is roughly in reverse chronological order, beginning with the cowbell-enhanced B-side of their final single, and ending with the A-side of their 2nd. Like you care. The important thing is that while there are many Move compilations, this playlist is better if only because it covers their whole career (the band switched labels so their "best ofs" tend to be incomplete). It also isn't called something like "Great Move!" either.

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/playlist/Look_out_baby_there_s_a_plane_incoming/8485736

Friday Playlist: Naturally Stoned

Too smooth for FM, and too freaky for AM. I would recommend listening to this one during a sunny afternoon bike ride, but you might get too blissed out and run someone over.