In which I click the shuffle icon on the iTunes app and listen to the first five album cuts (no singles) that pop up from the years 1976-85.
- "Latin Medley (Frenesi / Bahia / Moliendo Cafe / Porompompero)" by Herb Alpert (1982, A&M)
Side 2, track 6 on Fandango. A cross between Alpert's Rise-era disco tunes and his Tijuana Brass 'Ameriachi' arrangements. This cut doesn't work on either level, but Alpert picked some good tunes for the medley. - "Queen of Sheba" by Nick Lowe (1982, Columbia)
Side 1, track 4 of Nick the Knife. Typical Nick Lowe (and that's a good thing. Very good.). This entire album is fantastic. While this cut isn't the best tune (that would be "Heart"), this ain't bad with a tasty chord change in the chorus when it switches from a laid back, half-time feel to straight fours. - "There Will Always be a You" by Donna Summer (1979, Casablanca)
Side 3, track 2 of Bad Girls. Quite frankly, I don't listen to Donna Summer for ballads. Not that Summer can't belt one out, it's just that I'd rather hear a Giorgio Moroder disco tune at 120 bpm. - "Just Friends" by Carole Bayer Sager (1981, Boardwalk)
Side 1, track 3 of Sometimes Late at Night. Written by Burt Bacharach, Sager, and Peter Allen, produced by Bacharach and Michael Jackson. That's some big names there. (Sager and Bacharach would later marry in 1982). Even with all that star power, there's nothing here that grabs me. It's pleasant enough, but I gotta have a hook a some point. - "Mutual Feeling" by Eric Tagg (1977, Poker)
Side 2, track 2 of Rendez Vous. This is scratching me right where I itch. Light and breezy Latin-tinged West Coast number with Tagg's spectacular vocals all over it. Ah, that middle eight. All that's missing is a Lee Ritenour guitar solo. Never released in the US, I didn't hear this album until 35 years after it's release. Sad! This hasn't been the strongest Random Five, but this tune is the clear winner of the bunch with the Lowe tune coming in second.
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