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This was so close to being great today.

Sam & Dave, “I Thank You”

I was wondering when we’d get Sam & Dave, one of the top acts from Stax and reliable hitmakers for the label. The drought is over! This comes to us from 1968, an Isaac Hayes song, and goddamn, listen to that.

Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, “Heat Wave”

Hell yes, shuffle, keep it going!

For a long time, I’ve always thought that at some point, the rats in one of the Muppet movies sang a little bit of this song. Well, my memory was only a little right, the scene had just a little echo of this song.

And the beat goes on!

Terrace Martin Presents The Pollyseeds, “Wake Up”

From Sounds of Crenshaw, Vol. 1, this album is from producer Terrace Martin, who is best known for his work with Kendrick Lamar. On this album, he also has other folks in the Lamar orbit, such as Kamasi Washington (whose playing on the sax you’re listening to). A mix of R&B and jazz, it’s a very interesting album, and absolutely worthy of further exploration, although don’t expect anything as banging as, say, “LOYALTY.”

The Management would like to apologize for yesterday’s entry. Those responsible have been sacked. Let’s try this again today.

Less Than Jake, “Just Like Frank”

We’re not rid of the ska, apparently! Actually, Less Than Jake really are barely ska at all. They have the occasional ska song, but they’re really a punk band. And a good one! Have I made that point before? I probably have. Whatever. Here at Five Songs, Quality is Job Six or Seven On A Good Day.

Happy Pi Day! I do not celebrate Pi Day usually. I have occasionally done something for Pi Approximation Day, though. Let’s do a special!

The Pietasters, “Night Owl (Live)”

So, in case you haven’t guessed, our special word for today is “pie”. As with some previous specials, I searched my library for our magic word, and shuffled between those songs. There was a significant risk of a lot of Pietasters today. (UPDATE: indeed there was.) Anyway, the Pietasters were a third wave ska act who made one out-of-character tremendous album (Oolooloo) and an assortment of lesser albums. This is from a decent live album, Strapped Live!, where most of the best songs are from Oolooloo. So, you know, that album is really good!

Nice set today!

Baroness, “Desperation Burns”

I mentioned last time around that everybody would have called these guys grunge if they had been around in the mid-90s. Tell me I’m wrong after listening to this!

Elvis Costello, “Pay It Back”

A jaunty little tune from his debut album, I’m not even entirely sure how to describe this. That’s because I’m shitty at writing about music. Good thing I go ahead and fail at it every day!

Al count for today: two.

Ministry, “Death & Destruction”

I was just making fun of the fact that Ministry just released a new record called AmeriKKKant with the Statue of Liberty doing a facepalm on the cover. That’ll teach me! Anyway, as I’ve mentioned in the past, I was big into Ministry in high school. In-your-face attitude! Super fast crunchy guitars! Edgy vocal samples! It pretty much hit 15-year-old Josh square where he lived. The thing is, I grew up. Ministry didn’t. The window in which I loved Ministry was only a few years.

A hazard of this project is that I won’t always have much to say. Sorry about that! At least I have music for you.

Claw Hammer, “Caravan”

Claw Hammer was a bit of a strange band in the underground of the 90s. For starters, their first album wasn’t really their album. It was just a cover of the entirety of Devo’s first album. Jon Wahl sang in some kind of demented John Fogerty meets Joe Strummer kind of howl. They sounded like a blues band crashed into a punk band and decided they liked it that way. Through it all, they clearly were just doing their own thing. They were often exasperating, but sometimes brilliant.

Here’s today’s list.

Wilco, “The Late Greats”

I’ve been kind of hard on this album (A Ghost Is Born), but that’s mostly due to the somewhat aimless wankery found on some of the songs. Outside of those, though, it’s a pretty sharp album.

The White Stripes, “Little People”

We’ve had Jack White pop up with The Raconteurs, but this is the first time we’ve had the band that made him famous. I’m not sure I need to introduce the White Stripes, do I? Stripped down blues-y rock that explored specific creative constraints, the White Stripes strike me as relatively unlikely stars. But stars they were, propelled by some anthemic hits. But this song comes from before they were huge, off their self-titled debut, when the primitivism of the songs was really at the forefront. I don’t think they really hit their stride until the following record, personally.

Here’s today.

Temprees, “Dedicated To The One I Love”

Old Stax track here, from the mid-point of their Atlantic years.

Atmosphere, “She Don’t Know Why She Love It”

This is a bonus track from the deluxe version of Southsiders, which is probably my second favorite Atmosphere album (after Seven’s Travels). There are some missteps in Atmosphere’s discography, with the records between those two being pretty uneven, but those are excellent.

Today’s tunes.

Death Cab For Cutie, “No Joy In Mudville”

This song comes to us from We Have The Plans And We’re Voting Yes, which I think is the first album I picked up from Death Cab. And…hang on, I stopped paying attention there for a bit. Hey, it’s the next song!

Nine Inch Nails, “The Warning”

Year Zero represented a return to form for Nine Inch Nails. The Fragile had restless experimentation, but the quality was uneven. With Teeth was better constructed, but also felt kind of paint-by-numbers at times. The artist that had made The Downward Spiral seemed to be gone, but Year Zero proved that that was emphatically not true. There are even times that I think it’s Trent Reznor’s best record. Paranoid and angry, the whole thing hangs together extremely well.