Remember when the Randomiser was a thing? It’s been at least three years since we had one of these threads – is this because letting the machine select is no longer cool, hip and groovy? I dunno – but if anyone’s up for it?
You remember how it works – post the first five random selections that your chosen device picks for you (no cheating, of course – it’s an honour thing!). Gimme five minutes and I’ll put mine in the comments.
Hit the button – and let the chips fall where they may…
Hunter’s Moon – Thin White Rope
Louisiana Hoedown – Deke Leonard
Prologue (Live @ BBC) – Renaissance
Rock of Ages – Gillian Welch
Lawdy, Miss Clawdy – Elvis Presley
Elvis! Jings! I’d forgotten he was on there.
I wouldn’t even know how to do that on my phone (which does have a fair bit of music saved on it, but all at least a few years old and I stream 95% of the time anyway).
Ooh, good idea!
1) XPROPAGANDA – Only Human
2) PRINCE – Thieves In The Temple
3) ANDY ELLISON – You Can’t Do That
4) FREEEZ – Caribbean Winter
5) SIGUR ROS – Glosoli (Glowing Soul)
All over the place, just like me!
That xPropaganda track is a belter @metal-mickey. In fact, the whole album is excellent
It is…
Letting a machine choose ‘was’ once cool? Err, OK.
1. I’m A Man
2. Gimme Some Loving
3. Every Little Bit Hurts
4. This Hammer
5. Back Into My Life Again
Strewth, it’s a CD!
1. Generique – Miles Davis
2. I’ll Keep Loving You – Chico Hamilton
3. Be Prepared – Tom Lehrer
4. Violin Sonata No.5 in E minor – Heinrich Biber
5. The Grand Old Duke of York – Tim Hart and Friends
Ha! We had, I think, a double LP of Tim Hart and Friends doing Nursery Rhymes and the like back in the 80s and, after copying to cassette, was on almost permanent rotation in the car when the kids were little. Surprisingly listenable as I recall.
Us too! Although I did try out more adult stuff on them – my daughter liked the lady she called Elephants Gerald.
I was surprised to find it was still there, tbh.
Yes….if memory serves, the other cassettes we had in the car at that time were Travelling Wilburys, Tom Petty, Eurythmics…and, er, Warren Zevon. My son can still sing Roland, the Headless Thompson Gunner to this day.
Nice choice on the Heinrich I. F. Biber, Mike. Those violin sonatas are just sublime.
He’s a recent discovery, so I was pleased it came up. Can’t quite put my finger on what I mean, but his music seems quite modern for a 17th-century geezer.
Way We Won’t – Grandaddy
Phrygian Gates – John Adams/Ralph van Raat
Digital – Joy Division
Thirty Three – Smashing Pumpkins
Wicked Soul – Kubb
Unfortunately my current MP3 player has no randomising capability.
Helen Love – This Is My Life
Kinks – I’m Not Like Everybody Else
Sugar – If I Can’t Change Your Mind
Gordon Lightfoot – The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Quireboys – Pretty Girls
Random, but from my longest (100 hour) playlist rather than from my whole library…
Boygenius – True Blue
The Marcels – Blue Moon
The Fall – There’s A Ghost In My House
Dis Fantasy – Let Me Love You
The Other Two – Tasty Fish (Pascal 12” Mix)
Ah.
Just noticed I forgot to press the “random play” button!
Oh well – I enjoyed the music anyway and, given that List 4 is just one of dozens of my Spotify !00 songs playlists, it was all pretty random to me.
1. Franklin’s Tower – Grateful Dead, June 1976 New York
2. It’s No Good Trying (Take 5) – Syd Barrett, 1968 Demos and The Madcap Laughs Outtakes
3. Something’s Wrong – The Jesus & Mary Chain, Psychocandy
4. Waving My Dick In The Wind – Ween, The Mollusk
5. Nothing At All – Status Quo, Spare Parts
As is often the case, it seems iBroadcast is trying tell me something.
I assume that that “Franklin’s Tower” was the 14 June one from the Beacon Theater?
You can’t go wrong with a Help>Slip>Franklin’s!
Yup, somewhere I stumbled on the 15CD set ‘June 1976’, and I’m slowly deadheading my way through their nimble, if lengthy jams.
I’m now about 80 songs away from 62,000* tracks – which is probably more than I will ever listen to in my entire life, so it’s good to use the random selection to bring in something new or long unheard.
*In case you’re wondering, that’s all music, and spoken word tracks, not just Grateful Dead songs…
Here’s an idea for a twist on the theme – do the randomiser, then send me the results by DM. I’ll post them, and we can have a competition to guess the AWer! To make it a little less difficult, I could post the lists, then add all the contributors at the bottom, and you then have to choose from that selection.
Late Sunday evening (live) – Art Brut
This Time Around – Green on Red
Some Other Spring – Molly Drake
You Brought the Sunshine – the Clarke Sisters
King Of The Lazy World – Ronnie Lane
Intriguing idea, Sal…
Great idea @Salwarpe !
Babarabatiri ~ Mambo Mambo Mambo
Things ~ John Cale
Hallogallo ~ NEU!
Inky Sea ~ Laura Groves
Ya Hizali ~ Sababa 5 & Shiran Tzfira
I have too much music on my computer so my WMP won’t randomise anymore, unless I select a more manageable playlist. There used to be an app (can’t remember the name of it) that could handle randomising all of it, but it disappeared from the computer a year or two ago.
So I had to go to my WMP playlists, beginning with the one I made for my 50th birthday where I chose favorite tracks from every year of my life, and this is what it randomised:
1. Prince – Dear Mr Man (Brilliant track, one of his best, sadly the lyrics are still true today) 2004
2. 7 Worlds Collide – Don’t Forget Me (Wilco-adjacent track, written by Pat Sansone) 2009
3. Stevie Wonder – Superstition (Are you listening, Robert Kennedy Jr?) 1972
4. Julian Cope – Trampoline (from IMO his best album; Saint Julian) 1987
5. Andrew Bird – Danse Caribe (the prolific whistling violinist) 2012
But I thought it was a bit dull to only get “random” tracks from a playlist of songs I love, so I turned to my Swedish playlist, where I add all of the albums I purchase made by Swedish artists; including the tracks I don’t like. But I had the good fortune/bad luck of only getting tracks I like from that playlist as well!
1. Freda – Det måste gå (Not a favourite band, but a few good singles, like this one)
2. Lolita Pop – Regn av dagar (Great band and this was one of their best, love the lyrics of the chorus. A rough translation: “I’m poor and I travel slowly, slowly, through a rain of days. Days – the only thing that remains”)
3. Tonbruket – Stratopaus (brilliant contemporary instrumental jazz)
4. Ted Gärdestad – Jag ska fånga en ängel (The Swedish Justin Bieber of the 1970s, discovered and produced at 15 by Björn & Benny of ABBA fame, and the songs are now part of the Swedish DNA, whether you like it or not…)
5. Samling – Skynda (from their 2011 debut album of contemporary prog(g), this track especially is very Dungen-like. AFAIK they only made two albums before quitting – they unfortunately chose a dumb band name; it means “compilation” or “collection” in Swedish so virtually impossible to google if you don’t know the name of their albums!)
It used to be more fun to randomise when the really awful tracks from weird compilations or bad albums bought on the strength of a great single would pop up as track five…but alas, no longer possible!
Big changes in music storage and playing over the previous three years – I did wonder whether the game would still work…
Randomly chosen from Qobuz favoured playlists.
Billie Holiday – Body and Soul.
Franz Schubert – Symphony No.5 in B-Flat Major – Maxim Emelyanychev / Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
John Coltrane – Blue Train.
The Black Keys – Beautiful People (Stay High).
Charles Lloyd & The Marvels – Anthem.
@pencilsqueezer
Body and Soul 1940 version or Body and Soul 1957 version? The latter is one of my favourite songs. Her delivery of the opening line and Ben Webster’s sax are fantastic.
The 1957 cut. Her voice is shot but I have a soft spot for the added fragility of it. It’s one of my favourite recordings of Billie. I have a lot of Lady Day’s recordings spanning her entire career apart from the access Qobuz gives me and I find myself playing these late career recordings more and more whenever I reach for her.
Random from I-Tunes (or Apple Music, as it seems now called). My mammoth re-digitising task is only up to Tuttle (both Molly and Andrew, should you wonder), so it may be biased against U – Z and VA, unless bought within the last 2 years.
1. The Folk Who Live on the Hill/Chris Garrick (from Tribute to Grapelli, 2016) A fab piano based version, before Garrick flies off on violin.
2. Cailleach Beinne Bric/Ewen Henderson (from Highlands/Lush Handmade Sound, 2024) The singer for Mànran, on the latest Lush V/A covers etc compilations, curated by the late Simon Emmerson of Afro-Celt SoundSystem. (I have a few of them.)
3. Midriff/John Coltrane ( from In a Soulful Mood, 1957) Jings, not listened in yonks. One of ‘Trane’s jollier pieces.
4.These Dreams of You/Van Morrison (from Moondance, 1970) Consummate vintage Van. Happy birthday, Sir!
5. When Jones’ Ale Was New/Blackbeard’s Tea Party (from We Are the People, 2024) Surprisingly proggy folk dance music.
Here you go…..
1. Yes – Fly From Here Pt. V : We Can Fly Reprise
2. Todd Rundgren – Pretending to Care (Live)
3. Dr John – Glory, Glory
4. U2 – Lemon
5. Al Stewart – The Palace of Versailles
1. Rice Pudding – Jeff Beck
2. Wonderful – Beach Boys
3. Donna – 10CC
4. Embryo – Pink Floyd
5. The Coffee Song – Cream
A Lifetime to Find – Wilco
I’m More Inclined – Teenage Fanclub
Alone Down There – Modest Mouse
Driving the View – Son Volt
I’ve Lost the Reason – Boo Radleys
I’m surprised at how good this genuinely random list is.
Had to use the music I’d put together for my 70th birthday last year, though I think the first one may have been added later..
Olafur Arnalds: And They Have Escaped the Weight of Darkness.
The Revels: Church Key
The Savoys: Yacka Hoom Boom
The Rutles: Ouch.
Professor Elemental: Fighting Trousrs.
Probably not my everyday listening to be fair.
I love these – can I do two? I have my ipod for walking / working and I have an old phone in the van for driving with a different selection…
Ipod
Bruce Hornsby – Pete & Manny (Spirit Trail)
Paul Weller – Nobody’s Fool (Find El Dorado)
Shostakovitch – Piano Concerto No.1 / Yuja Wang
Public Service Broadcasting – The Visitor (Bright Magic)
Al Stewart – Rumours Of War (Russians And Americans)
Van:
Ella Fitzgerald – Tea For Two (Pure Ella)
Queen – I’m Going Slightly Mad (GHII)
T Bone Burnett – Annabelle Lee (T Bone Burnett)
David Bowie – I’ve Been Waiting For You (Heathen)
David Bowie – Never Get Old (Reality)
Everything’s gone Green – New Order
I Walk the Earth – King Biscuit Time (him from the Beta Band)
Can you Hear Me? (Live Detroit, 1974) – Bowie
All This Is That – Beach Boys
Wild Life – Wings
This may be the first Randomiser selection that I could reproduce on my music player.
First five shuffling ALL SONGS on my iPhone (which has about 80% of my library – it’s a big phone!):
9 to 5 / Eple – Dolly Parton / Royksopp (from 2 many DJ’s)
Bootie Call – All Saints
Misadventure – Squeeze
Canto Della Terra – Andrea Bocelli
Through With Buzz – the Dan
I have this image of your phone getting physically bigger to accommodate the music library…
Carroll Gibbons And The Savoy Hotel Orpheans – Better Think Twice (Pennies From Heaven OST)
Prince – (Theme Song From) Which Way Is Up / Dancing Machine (live Montreux 2013)
Hot Chip – Night And Day
Lou Reed – Satellite Of Love
Billy Bragg – The Myth Of Trust
Blonde And Blue – Tom Robinson
Avalon – Rhiannon Giddens
Sonny Got Caught In The Moonlight – Robbie Robertson
Mandala – Sally Oldfield
Ghetto Matrix – Thievery Corporation
Super Beat – Nine Below Zero
Watch Me Jumpstart – Guided By Voices
A Wasteland Companion – M Ward
Moribund The Burgermeister – Peter Gabriel
Lenny’s Tune – Morrissey
Half of me thinks that I ought to explain the presence of Morrissey. The other half of me doesn’t.
The half of me that does wants to say that I recently uploaded a number of CDs that I don’t often listen to so that I could listen to them on the way to work and decide if i like them or not. I have got to California Son yet.
Much the same goes for Nine Below Zero and Guided By Voices.
Explain nothing! Publish and be damned!
Seed (Mind Games meditation mix) – John Lennon
If Tomorrow Starts Without Me – Bill Ryder-Jones
Life Begins At the Hop – XTC
Sail to the Moon (live) – Radiohead
The High Heat (live) – Wilco
Random from MediaMonkey (disregarding podcasts, mixtapes and radio show recordings).
A strange and rather disappointing bunch of tracks. Untypical.
The Hummingbird – Tim O’Brien & Darrell Scott “We’re Usually A Lot Better Than This”
So Low (Radio Edit) – Sound Of Rum “Sunday Best Recordings Sampler”
Mr. Tambourine Man – Bob Dylan “Bringing It All Back Home”
Algo Estranho Acontece – Antonio Zambujo “Songlines cover disc #89 January/February 2013”
You & Me Against The World – The Sleeping Years “The Word cover disc #66 August 2008”
I like that Tom O’Brien / Darrell Scott album a lot…
*Tim ! Goddamn it…
John Cooper Clarke – Innocents
Ren – Jenny’s Tale
Skids – Working For The Yankee Dollar
Peter and The Testube Babies – Banned from The Pubs
Sir Vincent Lone – His Arms Are Full of Broken Things
You’ve Not Changed – Sandie Shaw – The Very Best Of…
If You Should Leave Me – U-Roy – Natty Rebel (Extra Version)
Malaguena Salerosa – Chingon – Kill Bill Soundtrack (Vol 2)
Black Country Rock – David Bowie – The Man Who Sold The World
Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes – Paul Simon – Graceland
I love that Robert Rodriguez Chingon stuff!
1) The Iron Curtain Has Parted – Don Windle (Atomic Platters)
2) Pocahontas – Neil Young & Crazy Horse (Year Of The Horse)
3) A World Between The Walls – Professor Elemental (Nemesis!)
4) On The Waterfront – The Bats (Looking Back)
5) Goodnight Bob – Ryan Adams (Live After Deaf)
Tom Russell – West Texas Montage
Culture – Citizen As A Peaceful Dub
Jennifer & Hazel Wrigley – Shannandah Falls
Laura Veirs – Jailhouse Fire
Ray Charles – I Don’t Need No Doctor
The problem with having too much music. I couldn’t tell you what 1,2 & 4 sound like. I’d recognize the tune to 3 once it started and I know it was one of my faves from their excellent Huldreland CD. I was given 1,2 and 4 which probably explains why I don’t recognise the titles. So much music, so little time!
I love Tom Russell and have many of his albums but do not recognise that one.
Great live but he has mysteriously disappeared. Sad as one of very best US songwriters.
Random of my ‘various tracks’ playlist on Tidal
Got this.
A song for Europe – Roxy Music
Fever – Stereo MC’’s
My Baby’s Tops – The Gardenias
Raving on the moor – Julian Cope
From which I came/ Magic World – Eels
Have no idea who the Gardenias are nor what that track is
Falling Down- Chapterhouse
Ultimate Painting- Ultimate Painting
Get off of my cloud- Rolling Stones
Going up the country- Canned Heat
Ever Fallen in Love- Buzzcocks
I wouldn’t say that this was completely representative of my taste in music, but it would be a good listen on the way to work.
Did one from my “Club Grasshopper” playlist:
Snoop Dogg – From Tha Chuuuch To Da Palace
Busta Rhymes – Put Your Hand Where My Eyes Could See
Irakere – El Coco
Bustafunk – Love Can’t Turn Around
David Shire (Saturday Night Fever OST) – Salsation
Paul Mosley – You’re Going to Die!
Fairport Convention – Head in a Sack
Spirit of the West – If Venice is Sinking
Joe Jackson – Real Men
Hunters & Collectors – Everything’s on Fire