MFD Random Five #11

In which I click the shuffle icon on the increasingly frustrating iTunes app and listen to the first five songs that pop up from the years 1976-85.

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1. "Like a Vague Memory" by Marshall Crenshaw (1985, Warner Bros.)
   Crenshaw music is always welcome in this house, even though this slides to the country side of the continuum. The chorus is all kinds of catchy and just listen to those harmonies on the bridge.
   


2. "Love in Motion" by Icehouse (1981, Chrysalis)
   Not the best song from the US release of Primitive Man (that would be Street Café) but I'm grooving on the slow eighth-note groove in the synths. Maybe I've got Bowie on the mind of late, but this thing sounds all kinds of Bowiesque. I wasn't listening to Icehouse in the early '80s and I should have been.


3. "Easy Lover" by Philip Bailey & Phil Collins (1984, Columbia)
   Another song with a catchy chorus and this time, these guys are smart enough to start the song with it. This thing was everywhere when it was released, charting not only on the pop charts, but also AC, R&B, and Mainstream Rock. And don't overlook the contributions of bassist Nathan East and guitarist Daryl Stuermer. I had a buddy in my college dorm that was a major Phil Collins fan and he was not happy that he had to buy the Bailey album to get this tune. I hope he warmed up to the other tunes eventually.


4. "Land of La-La" by Stevie Wonder (1985, Tamla)
   Not my favorite tune from In Square Circle, but it's Stevie F. Wonder, Musician Laureate of the United States, so I'll shut up.


5. "True to Life" by Roxy Music (1982, Polydor)
   Typical Roxy Music - sonically lush, rich, meticulously crafted. Is that a guitar or saxophone or both noodling in the background around the two minute mark? Perfectly relaxing, the whole Avalon album is much the same and pairs perfectly with Simple Minds music of the time. And now I've got tonight's listening schedule mapped out.