FriPod: Babies

I realized the other day that "baby" returned a good number of songs on my iTunes.  Hence this FriPod.

1.  "The Arrival of Baby Harry" by John Williams, on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone soundtrack.  Starts with a creepy/magical celesta sound, followed by swirling strings.  Now the english horn introduces more strings with bell towers, some wordless chorus, all anticipatory of the arrival.  Ah, now Harry's theme comes in, that's the arrival we've been waiting for.  The second part is happier, but very brief.  Harry has a hard life ahead.

2.  "Baby, Don't Tell on Me" by Lester Young, Count Basie, and Jimmy Rushing; performed by the Count Basie Orchestra on The Essential Count Basie, Volume 1.  Nice muted trumpet solo for this blues.  Jimmy sings, apparently on his criminal activities that his lover shouldn't squeal about.

3.  "Babyface" by U2 on Zooropa.  Interesting fusion of Bono's lower register with someone (Bono?) singing falsetto an octave higher.  

4.  "Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby", traditional tune arranged by Gillian Welch and T Bone Burnett, sung by Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack.  Beautiful three-part harmony with a haunting bowed saw (or theremin?) and a guitar that seems off on its own world.

5.  "I Found a New Baby" by J. Palmer and S. Williams, performed by the Benny Goodman Sextet on Charlie Christian: Genius of Electric Guitar.  One of the first integrated jazz combos, this showcases Charlie's great blues feel.  The piano and Benny trade comical little licks, very flighty.

6.  "I'm Crazy 'bout my Baby" by Fats Waller, performed by Fats Waller with Ted Lewis & his orchestra, on Jazz: The Singers 1930s.  Fortunately, Fats' baby is crazy about him as well, since Cupid is their teacher.

7.  "I'm Nobody's Baby" by Ager, Davis, and Santly; performed by Mildred Bailey & her orchestra, on Little Jazz.  A great trumpet solo by Roy Eldridge, such a fat yet mellow sound.  And his bends seem like trombone glissandi, they are so clear.

8.  "There Goes My Baby" by Nelson, Patterson, and Treadwell, performed by The Drifters on The Best of the Drifters.  Heavily produced, with strings and strong reverb on the drums and voices to give a very spacial feel.  In the fourth verse producers Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber put a cello line that they claim resembles Rimsky-Korsakov.  

9.  "Hush Little Baby" traditional melody, performed by Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin on Hush.  Very upbeat, not a lullaby.  

10.  "When My Baby Smiles at Me" by Bill Munro and Harry von Tilzer, performed by Benny Goodman on Live at Carnegie Hall.  A great little number (50 seconds), it sounds like a cross between Dixieland and klezmer.  

FriPod: Mind, Thought, Hear

1. "Georgia On My Mind," composed by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell, performed by Ray Charles.
2. "New York State of Mind," by Billy Joel.
3. "It Never Entered My Mind," composed by Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart, performed by Miles Davis.
4. A Beautiful Mind soundtrack, composed by James Horner.
5. "Behrani's Thoughts - Long Ago," from the House of Sand and Fog soundtrack, composed by James Horner.
6. "I Thought I'd Write to Juliet," by Elvis Costello, performed with the Brodsky Quartet.
7. "Ridiculous Thoughts," by The Cranberries.
8. "Why Wait to be Wed - You Thought Wrong," from the Shrek soundtrack, composed by Harry Gregson-Williams & John Powell.
9. "Do You Hear the People Sing?" from the Les Misérables original Broadway soundtrack, composed by Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil, and Herbert Kretzmer.
10. "Hear a New Story," by Rob Hudson, performed by the Lawrence University Jazz Ensemble.
11. "I Hear Music," composed by Burton Lane and Frank Loesser, performed by Bobby McFerrin.

FriPod: The Four Emotions

1. "Memories: B - Rather Sad" – Charles Ives, performed by Susan Graham. This song is gorgeous, a gentle sadness that is more nostalgia than sorrow.
2. "The Sad Café" – The Eagles, from Eagles Greatest Hits Vol. 2. I've always liked using this piece as an example of mode mixture in rock music (the minor iv chord). It is interesting that though the song is about sadness, it is mostly major. The mode mixture sounds more bluesy than a shift of mood.
3. "This Sad Burlesque" – Elvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet, from The Juliet Letters. I like this song, though Costello's voice is not polished enough for this kind of lyricism. Note the bad vibrato on "cannot" as an example of this.
4. "Happy Go Lucky Local" – Duke Ellington. A straight-up blues, with a funky bass solo. Not James Brown funky, but rhythmically challenging funky. The sax solo does not sound happy.
5. "Get Happy" – Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. I have three performances, by Clifford Brown, Coleman Hawkins, and Bud Powell. Now this is a happy song. The Clifford Brown arrangement is a little too busy, taking away the simple joy of the piece. Coleman Hawkins is the most straightforward, though Bud's has a nice swing to it.
6. "Sometimes I'm Happy" – Clifford Grey, performed by Bud Powell. An elegant arrangement, it has the sophistication of someone who is only sometimes happy.
7. "Don't Worry, Be Happy" – Bobby McFerrin, from Simple Pleasures. I got really annoyed with this work while in high school. But I still like this website.
8. "Snarling Wrath of Angry Gods" – Gutbucket. Headbanging minimalism. Or perhaps a pissed-off Messiaen giving up on his Catholicism and grabbing a heavily distorted guitar.
9. "Angry Young Man" – Billy Joel, from Turnstiles. This doesn't give anger a good name. The young man is rather pathetic.
10. Four Peace Vignettes – John Levno, performed by Aries Brass Quintet. The first vignette, "Rainbow Chase," is as sophomoric as the title suggests. The second movement, "Solace," has a little more depth, though the performance is a little one dimensional. The third movement should apologize to Pachelbel for ripping off his Kanon with no improvement whatsoever. I'm not feeling peaceful form listening to this work. The last vignette, "Letting Go the Grudge," is more about the grudge than the letting go.
11. "Venus, the Bringer of Peace" from The Planets – Gustave Host. I have two performances: Chicago with Solti, and Montreal with Dutoit. This is peace, the shimmering waters of an impressionist painting, unfocused yet revealing inner truths.
12. "Peace" – Horace Silver (?), performed by Chet Baker, from Peace. This piece gets dangerously close to smooth jazz. But the combination of Chet's straight and soft trumpet tone with David Friedman's vibes are very nice.

FriPod: Hit to Hope

1. "Hit the Road Jack" - Percy Mayfield, performed by Ray Charles on Ray! A relationship breaks up, because the man is no good. Clearly part of his problem is that he doesn't listen.

2. Hoc Largire, a 6 - Anonymous, performed by Copenhagen Cornetts & Sackbutts with Ars Nova. This is the fourth verse of O Quam Glorifica: O Father of all lights, through this sacred Flame/give unto us thy only Begotten Son,/who with Thee reigns brilliantly in the heavens,/ruling and governing for all ages./Amen. Very peaceful, yet with a certain trepidation.

3. "Hoedown!" - by Bobby McFerrin, performed by Bobby with Yo Yo Ma on Hush. This piece doesn't start out sounding like a hoedown, but the middle section is stereotypical. It seems to poke fun at this culture, with the simplistic and highly repetitive nature of this middle section. No understandable lyrics in this piece, but I'm inclined to not approve of this stance.

4. "Hogwarts Forever and the Moving Stairs" - John Williams on Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone. Sounds like a brass quintet arrangement rather than a typical orchestral soundtrack score. I wonder if this is available for quintets to purchase? The second half is more typical, evoking the spookiness of Voldemort's theme.

5. "Hold On My Heart" - Genesis on We Can't Dance. Yes, I own CDs of Phil Collins and Genesis, holdovers from my high school days in the 80s. It is truly painful to listen to most of these tracks now.

6. "Holde Gattin, dir zur Seite" from The Creation - Haydn, performed by John Eliot Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists. Very classical operatic, a love duet for Adam and Eve.

7. "Homecoming Hymn" - from the Lawrence University Jazz Ensemble's New Stories. This CD was cut when I was a junior at Lawrence. The particular track is a combo piece, based on a theme that is a pared down version of "Joyful, joyful we adore thee." It has a great sax solo by Doug Schneider.

8. "Honesty" - Billy Joel on 52nd Street. "Honesty, is hardly ever heard, and mostly what I need from you." Preach it, Billy.

9. "Honeysuckle Rose" - Fats Waller, performed by Benny Goodman on Live at Carnegie Hall.

10. "Hooker's Hooker" - Marvin Hamlisch on The Sting soundtrack. Think "The Stripper."

11. "Hope and Memory" - Howard Shore on The Lord of the Rings - Return of the King. I love this one.

12. "Hope Fails" - also from LOTR-ROTK. I don't like ending on this track. Previous tracks are much more hopeful, even Billy's plea for honesty. He at least hopes for honesty, whereas hope is lost here.