First Picks

A gut-wrenchingly long period without access to the Internet at work.....An absolute lack of will for setting up a network at home....a few great reads including the “The Dwarfs” by Harold Pinter, the first called "Utterly Monkey" by Nick Laird and the an old favorite,English, August....Heaven-knows-how-many packs of smokes....And yeah, lest I forget, W.O.R.K.....

I am never at loss when it comes to excuses for a hiatus....But it wasn't
all that bad as I make it sound it to be...I guess I need to shake up
things now and then, in my own initimably half assed way.....Sure, that old
rigmarole called life ain't gonna change drastically by any of these
moves...But at least I can claim I tried!


Anyway, today I was at it again! Creating a new playlist of some totally unrelated tracks bound together in my head due to some weird reason....One day, I will write about some of these playlists - The set list if someone were to conjure up
(sighhh...) a gig dedicated to me, Tracks that are remnants of
childhood/early adolescence memories, Songs that make me wanna
scream/squeal/yelp or just plain sing loudly along, Best opening tracks of
albums...Bleh!

Today's creation is entitled - First picks. It essentially is comprised of
that one song you queue up first out of an album to listen. For e.g - If I
am thinking I am in the mood to spin "Night Ride Home" by Joni Mitchell - I
probably think of ‘Everything for Nothing/The Windfall’ as the first song
option......If I were to "In the Court of the Crimson King" (What an
album!!), I would hop, skip and jump...or more appropriately just skip to
"I talk to the wind"....Or if it is "White Light/White Heat" (the album)
time, then...err...it is what it is.... "White Light/White Heat" (the
song)…

So along similar lines, here is the track list out of albums which have
been on the replay mode for the past few weeks:

"Such great heights" by Iron & Wine - part of the Original Sound Track
to Garden State - the motion picture.

Honestly, this was my first real exposure to this incredible band. I
have heard them before, of course, but as part of some online radio
casts...But never had steady access to their stuff...Actually, still
don't...Nevertheless, an amazing track almost inspiring an immediate
romanticism of subtle happiness...so much better and different from all
the hours of blatant indifference and the ever-evasive over-the-board
ecstatic joy...It has the most calming of acoustic intros so much so that
if you are still reeling from the vocal rampage that Geoff Tate unleashes
in "Take Hold of the Flame", you would settle down to this serene mood, at
the drop of the hat!! This mood continues throughout the track....Great
songwriting too - The chorus goes like this - "They will see us waving from
Such Great Heights...Come down now...They'll say.....But everything looks
perfect from faraway...Come down now...But we'll stay"

Oh yeah, somehow I can never add this track to the "Sing along"
List....Sometimes, you just want to let it be that way, I guess!


"Psychobabble" by Frou Frou - out of "Details"

Well, what can I say about Lady Heap?! The entire album is a piece of
contemporary art...And Trust me, the song title is nothing to go by! If it
is, this is one babble I wouldn't mind listening over and over again...She
weaves absolute magic with her voice and Guy Sigsworth creates a brilliant
soundscape with the song's orchestral support structure...

"Rider on the Wheel" by Nick Drake - out of "Made to Love Magic"

It is hard to miss this track on this album, notwithstanding the fact that
it is the first track of the album...Not taking away anything from the rest
of the tracks, there is something about the way that Nick Drake starts out
"Now you know my name...But I don't feel the same...But I ain't gonna
blame..the rider on the wheel" which is quite bewitching...Maybe it is just
me, or maybe you can't be without liking this man's music....

"New York State of Mind" by Billy Joel – The Essential Billy Joel Collection (originally of Turnstiles, his 1976 album)

Don't get me started on how I got around to listening to Mr. Joel out of
nowhere...But yeah, for all the known reasons, this is quite a
favorite...Somehow takes you on to that long cab ride over the Hudson River
at midnight....No, I haven't been there, done that...So it is all the more
bizarre as to how that mood comes about...In any case, the thought of Billy
Joel's music somehow takes me first to this track for me.


"Volcano - 97 demo" by Damien Rice - B sides
As I had stated in my review of the album, somehow this song is an
all-encompassing indication of the potential that Damien Rice possesses. I
haven't still able to ascertain whether I would have had the same thought
had I listened to this demo, without having listened to the version that is
part of "O". But yeah, its appeal lies in the way it is
sorta...well….naked....both in its uncut quality (or the lack of it) and
the rawness and honest emotion in Rice's voice.


Like I said, these are the tracks figure in the list of recent first picks
out of albums, mostly because I have been listening to most of these albums
of late. There is some new music that I am still getting used and I guess I
just need to keep revisiting and revising this playlist now and then...