I Stand Upon This Stupid Platform

“Forget,” Mission of Burma
Peter Prescott’s martial drumming keeps the song in check as it quickly builds up steam and boils over at about the 2:20 mark. Mission of Burma are masters of controlled chaos. Greg Milner wrote this article for Salon in 2002, the year the band reunited.

“From Blown Speakers,” The New Pornographers
I dig The New Pornographers, but would I be as into them if Neko Case and Dan Bejar weren’t in the band? Not bloody likely! This song has more life performed live.

“Get Ready,” The Temptations
Heavenly falsetto, courtesy of Eddie Kendricks. I've secretly always wanted to be a Motown backup singer.

“Gunshy,” Liz Phair
It’s just too bad that she couldn’t replicate the depth of her debut. Her work afterward is so devoid of anything remotely resembling Exile in Guyville.

“Billion Dollar Babies,” Alice Cooper
I remember as a kid being very afraid of Alice Cooper, what with the snakes and the blood and the what-have-you. Tipper Gore didn’t help matters much. He represented the “dark side,” or so she and her ilk warned. Alice explains his on-stage persona in this interesting video from the CBC. He likes to golf, dammit! How scary can the man be?

From Darkness Dreams Are Deserted

“Dedicated to the One I Love,” The “5" Royales
We’ve all heard the version popularized by The Mamas & The Papas. Here’s the original. The great Lowman Pauling was an early, and very underrated, blues guitarist.

“Mar Nha Confidente,” Cesaria Evora
It’s hard to look out my window right now and see traces of snow and a blustery wind. Here’s a song that needs to be played on a warm summer evening. Cesaria is a master of the fado form.

“Be Easy,” Ghostface Killah
Well, there’s a rough segue for you. It’s a track from Ghostface’s Fishscale album. He’s got another one out now called The Big Doe Rehab that I need to check out to satisfy my occasional hardcore rap jones. I just love his family-friendly message where he basically says, “Hey, look, don’t bring your lady to the club and act surprised when she goes home with me.” It’s a lifestyle I think we can all relate to, right?

“Bartali,” Paolo Conte
If Tom Waits were an elegant Italian man he’d be Paolo Conte.

“I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met),” Bob Dylan
Dylan and The Band (called The Hawks at the time) are just on fire on this song! On this whole set, in fact. This is a song from Volume 4 of Dylan’s Bootleg Series, the live concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 1966. At the time, Dylan was rubbing a lot of audiences the wrong way by having the audacity to plug in his instrument and play songs that weren’t overtly political. His folk fans had this weird and totally misplaced sense of ownership over his art. How dare he grow and evolve, they seemed to be saying. A man in the audience actually said, “I’m never going to listen to you again!” Dylan responded, “I don’t believe you! You’re a liar!” He turned to the band and said “Play it fucking loud!” They proceeded to launch into the most scorching version of “Like a Rolling Stone” I’ve ever heard.

Work It, Make It, Do It, Makes Us

“Got No Shorty,” Sean Kingston
I like to believe I’m an open-minded dad. Minnie’s taste in music runs the gamut: she likes hipster stuff and she likes Top 40, too. She’s a well-rounded girl. I’ve even come around on some of her ultra-popular faves. I dig me some Rihanna every now and then, but Sean Kingston has got to go! It’s a cover of a cover, and I think that’s what bugs me about it. Sean nicks David Lee Roth’s silly-ass version of a medley popularized by Louie Prima. The sad thing is, Sean Kingston probably has no idea who in hell Louie Prima is.

“Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger,” Daft Punk
All right, back to the good stuff. How about an electronic hand-jive? This is the track that serves as the basis for Kanye West’s Grammy-winning hit, “Stronger.” Daft Punk, in turn, sampled Edwin Birdsong’s “Cola Bottle Baby” for their song. The circle of life…

“Stick With Me Baby,” Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
What a great collaboration Raising Sand is! He actually sings in a way that he never really did with Zeppelin. No bombast. No shouting. Not that there was anything wrong with that. But, this is just sweet music with one of country’s best artists.

“The High Party,” Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
Brief conversation after “The High Party” pops up on Shuffle:
Laura: Oh! Is this Ted Leo?
Me: Yeah.
Laura: God, I hate Ted Leo!

“I Hear a Symphony,” Diana Ross & The Supremes
A Holland-Dozier-Holland production.