Friday Shuffle - Awesome Awesomeness Edition

I love lists. I like making them and I really love reading them. When I was a kid we had a battered copy of The Book of Lists that I read over and over and I swear it was between that book and the World Book encyclopedias I read at every opportunity that launched me on my love of trivia. If there's a list of top anything - books, TV shows, movies, songs, film villains, whatever - I'm going to find it irresistible. Even if I find someone's shopping list left behind in the basket I'm using, I have to read it.

I make a list of songs here every Friday and it's that list that led me to getting a fabulous treat this week. Jane's a regular reader that gets a kick out of the Friday Shuffle and she sent me a book, 1000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die by Tom Moon that's right up my alley and involves two things I love - music and lists.

The book is a massive list but not one that you may expect. It's not a list of the greatest pieces of music in the world. There some pieces listed that I imagine some, if not many, would consider not all that great and there are pieces that I imagine many people find brilliant that aren't listed. It's not a list of the most popular. Some of the pieces included are things you may never have heard of by people you've never heard of. I think it's better to describe it as a list of music that you need to experience in order to fully know the scope of recorded music and all it can offer.

It's just the sort of list that makes it a pleasure to read. It's in alphabetical order so there's not automatic preference inferred and that makes it perfect for casual browsing. Flip it open anywhere, read for a few minutes and then continue on with your busy day. Each entry gives a bit of insight as to why that selection is included and what one should listen for when hearing it. What I've also enjoyed is that included in the list are artists that you seldom see mentioned on other lists or are artists I liked but were never really mainstream popular and I'd forgotten about them. It was such a nice surprise to flip through and find an entry for The Incredible String Band (my brother had an album of theirs that I liked a lot but I haven't thought of them in probably thirty years) and one for Ofra Haza (I don't know anyone but me who listens to Ofra Haza). I'm enjoying this book tremendously and I'd recommend it for anyone who is a music lover, especially anyone who loves a wide variety of music and always wants to learn about more.

I was just so thrilled that Jane would go to all the trouble of sending me this book but it didn't stop there. She actually knows the author, Tom Moon, and she had him autograph the book for me. Tell me that's not cool! Tell me that's not oozing awesome awesomeness! I swear, I never cease to be amazed at how wonderful and generous and kind people are. I'm always so knocked out by folks to do great things for me for no other reason than they enjoy it. Thanks, Jane!

All this music talk is making me itch to let Bixente the iPod do his thing. Go, boy.

1. Sex Fire Religion - Edguy
2. Ertrinken - Die Toten Hosen
3. Do You Wanna - The Kooks
4. Turn The Page - Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
5. Take Back The City - Snow Patrol
6. Anchorage - Michelle Shocked
7. Closer - Travis
8. A Minor Incident - Badly Drawn Boy
9. Falling Into Place - Mike Viola and the Candy Butchers
10. This Is Us - Emmylou Harris & Mark Knopfler