The New And Improved Friday Random Ten

A couple of months ago I was admiring a little Altec Lansing Orbit speaker that my wife got for her Mac. The thing is just a little bigger than a hockey puck, but cranks out the sound. I've forsworn most discretionary purchases until I'm done with school, but there is one exception: whatever change I bring home each night from my waitering job gets saved. Eventually, I bring it to the Coinstar machine in my local Jewel's grocery store. If you take payment in gift certificates for Amazon, Borders and a number of other companies, they don't charge for the coin-counting. I brought my last batch of coins in and had just enough to tack the speaker on to my last Amazon textbook purchase. My Friday Random Ten is much louder now. Rock on, Garth.


1. Up, Up and Away (In My Beautiful Balloon)-- The Fifth Dimension
2. Next Time Round- Elvis Costello
3. For What It's Worth- Buffalo Springfield
4. Road To Hell- Chris Rea
5. Corrina, Corrina- Bob Dylan
6. We Are The Normal- The Goo Goo Dolls
7. Fire On The Mountain- The Marshall Tucker Band
8. The Big Hurt- Miss Toni Fisher
9. She's A Rainbow- The Rolling Stones
10. Blake's Jeruselum- Billy Bragg


Notes:
1. Okay, I know these guys were pure pop pablum. But they worked with great material-- songs from the "Hair" musical, and the great songwriter Jimmy Webb, including this one.
2. I love Elvis Costello's early angry stuff, but sometimes he cranks out a sweet little song like this one, from "Blood and Chocolate."
3. One of the best songs from the sixties about what was going on then.
4. One of two hits for Rea-- the other was "Fool If You Think It's Over" from the seventies.
5. Bob Dylan covering Bob Wills.
6. Written by the Replacements' Paul Westerberg
7. I was in my forties before I finally figured out that there's no one named Marshall Tucker in the band.
8. A hit from 1959. The phasing effects in the instruments are reputed to be the first time this was done on a recording.
9. From "Her Satanic Majesty's Request," the Stones' 1967 attempt at psychedelia.
10. "The Internationale," the EP this is from, is one of my favorite records.