Clang & Clatter

Counting Crows - “Angels of the Silences” (Across a Wire: Live in New York City, 1998)
As irritated as I get at Adam Duritz’s live performances at times, Across a Wire is probably my favorite Counting Crows album, containing my favorite versions of some of their biggest songs, especially the VH1 Storytellers disc. These guys really shine in a live setting.

Ramones - “7-11” (Pleasant Dreams, 1981)
I (ahem) acquired this album from a friend along with Too Tough to Die, and honestly, I can’t remember ever hearing this song. iTunes informs me that I’ve listened to it one other time, but I think iTunes is a liar. But I’m glad I listened to it this time.

Sixpence None the Richer - “The Garden” (This Beautiful Mess, 1999)
This Beautiful Mess was my introduction to Sixpence None the Richer, and it’s still the gold standard by which I judge all their output. Sure, this track is late-90s jangly-alterno-pop navel-gazing music, but last time I checked, there wasn’t anything particularly wrong with that.

Jars of Clay - “Whatever She Wants” (The Eleventh Hour, 2002)
I still can’t quite put my finger what it is, but I remember thinking at the time The Eleventh Hour was different from anything Jars of Clay had done, and I still feel that way today. Maybe it’s that the band redefined itself by taking complete artistic control over everything for this album. Or maybe it’s that the songs feel darker, even the happy, upbeat ones. They continued in the more electric direction they had dabbled with on If I Left the Zoo (although there were enough acoustic instruments to satisfy fans of the first two albums), but the songs weren’t as immediately poppy and singalong. Still, it’s probably one of my favorite Jars releases.

Johnny Cash - “Danny Boy” (American IV: The Man Comes Around, 2002)
I was never a huge Johnny Cash fan, but I was definitely intrigued by his reworkings of popular songs in his American series, especially on tunes like “Personal Jesus,” “One,” and “Rusty Cage.” His version of “Danny Boy” has just the right amount of reverence, somberness, and sorrow for it to have been included alongside an excellent rendition of “In My Life” and my personal favorite “Hurt,” a song I like 100 times more than the original and the main reason I have this album in my collection.

Check out my Friday Five gone bad at Popdose.

Sixpence None the Richer - “I Can’t Explain” (This Beautiful Mess, 1999)
Closing track from my favorite Sixpence album back when they were an indie rock CCM outfit struggling with their record label and not FM pop radio darlings.

Jughead - “Yesterday I Found Myself” (Jughead, 2002)
When Platypus, the prog-rock supergroup side project featuring King’s X guitarist Ty Tabor, Dream Theater bassist John Myung, Dixie Dregs drummer Rod Morgenstein, and former Dream Theater keyboardist Derek Sherinian, disbanded after only two albums (both excellent by the way), Tabor and Sherinian teamed up with brothers Matt and Gregg Bissonette to form the more straight-ahead pop/rock project Jughead. However, their self-titled debut, the only album the project has released to date, does have its progressive moments on a few of the songs, such as this cut with its spacey droning verses, Beatles-esque bridge section, and harmony-laden, sugary-sweet, pure power pop chorus.

Toad the Wet Sprocket - “Stories I Tell” (Fear, 1991)
I played Fear so often back in the ’90s that there were times I just couldn’t stand to listen to it again. But “Stories I Tell” has always held this strange draw for me with its dark weightiness and mysterious lyrics.

Van Halen - “Girl Gone Bad” (1984, 1984)
Probably one of the best and most underrated songs on this Van Halen classic that saw the band moving in a new direction.

Alice in Chains - “LOVE SONG” (Sap, 1995)
The Sap EP’s closing nonsense track complete with grunting, screaming, bullhorn vocals, fart noises, and piano-based thrashing is a strange way the end what up to this point was another excellent Five. Oh well. “Kiss the midget!”

I’ve been waiting all week for the Friday Five at Popdose.

Sixpence None the Richer - “I’ve Been Waiting” (Divine Discontent, 2002)
Known more for the hit “Kiss Me” and their cover of “There She Goes,” you’ll have to trust me when I say there’s much more to Sixpence than that. This song is—as is much of the album—soft, quiet, lush, introspective, and beautiful. While I miss the loud-indie-rock-guitar moments from This Beautiful Mess, I’m just fine with this version of Sixpence.

Arcade Fire - “The Suburbs” (The Suburbs, 2010)
I’ve already admitted in other Friday Fives to having missed the Suburbs train when it first rolled by, and this album opener might be one of the reasons why. It’s not that it’s a bad song, it’s just that it doesn’t go anywhere until Win Butler’s falsetto parts in the chorus. It’s odd that I don’t like this more as it reminds me quite a bit of The Hold Steady’s “A Slight Discomfort,” which I do like. Weird.

Foo Fighters - “Let It Die” (Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, 2007)
This one’s a slow builder from the arpeggiated acoustic intro and main theme to the bombastic end section with Grohl screaming “Why’d you have to go and let it die?”

Cake - “Mahna Mahna” (For the Kids, 2002)
Written by an Italian composer for an Italian film about sexual practices in Sweden, made popular by TV in the U.S. shows Sesame Street and The Muppet Show and British comedy The Benny Hill Show, and covered in true Cake style and fashion for a compilation of new renditions of “children’s songs.”

Caedmon’s Call - “Prove Me Wrong” (Long Line of Leavers, 2000)
One of a handful of songs written or co-written by former (and along with Derek Webb, primary) lyricist (though never full band member) Aaron Tate. This was the last Caedmon’s album to feature Tate’s songs, seeing them transition to collaborating with quite a few professional CCM songwriters before Andrew Osenga from The Normals joined the band as one of the primary songwriters. Long Line of Leavers sees Caedmon’s Call move further in a pop-oriented direction started with 40 Acres, and while the album as a whole is fairly strong, actually containing a couple of my all-time favorites from the group, this particular song has never really grabbed me.

The tree is up, the lights are on, the shopping is (mostly) done, and I’m finally in the mood for an all-Christmas Friday Five shuffle. Enjoy!

Bing Crosby - “Do You Hear What I Hear?” (I Wish You a Merry Christmas, 1962 rereleased in 2006 as Bing Crosby Christmas Classics)
Few others do Christmas as well as Bing. ‘Nuff said.

Sixpence None the Richer - “Angels We Have Heard On High” (The Dawn of Grace, 2008)
We go from a crooner to the sweet, wispy voice of Leigh Nash (although her vocal style can take a bit of getting used to). Sixpence reunited after a four-year hiatus to release this set of Christmas songs.

Elvis Presley - “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” (Elvis’ Christmas Album, 1957)
I almost wish this one had been “Blue Christmas,” “Here Comes Santa Claus,” or “Santa Claus Is Back in Town” from the same album. Elvis definitely injected his own style into anything he did.

Phillips, Craig & Dean - “Go Tell It on the Mountain/Amen” (Repeat the Sounding Joy, 1996)
Upbeat, blue-eyed soul version of this old gospel spiritual by a CCM trio of pastors-turned-musicians.

Frank Sinatra - “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” (A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra, 1957)
Ol’ Blue Eyes’ take on this Christmas standard popularized by Bing Crosby is quite a bit different than the King’s interpretation, starting off like “Silent Night” before taking a left turn into the classic we all know and (should) love.