I’ve been toiling over the most absolutely depressing piece I’ve written to date on the Iraq war (coming next week God willing and the creek don’t rise) and I’m really, really really hard up to offer something that has nothing to do with people dying.

So I’m going to splash around in the shallow end of the pool this morning and share a Saturday Seventeen of Great Songs that I’ve heard on the radio or played myself recently. The artist and album are below each song.

ALBERT’S SHUFFLE
Bloomfield/Kooper/Stills (Super Session)

ALL OF MY EFFORTS
Burning Bus (Sunny Side Up)

BIRDHOUSE IN YOUR SOUL
They May Be Giants (A Users Guide)

COMPARED TO WHAT
Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express (Live Oblivion 1975)

COWBOY MOVIE
David Crosby (Nobody Here Knows My Name)

EPISTROPHY
Monk/Coltrane (Live at Carnegie Hall)

FRANK & AVA
Suzanne Vega (Beauty & Crime)

IN MEMORY OF ELIZABETH REED
The Allman Brothers Band (Live At Fillmore East)

JACK STRAW
Bruce Hornsby (The Music Never Stopped)

LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON
Jerry Garcia Band (Cats Under the Stars)

NEIGHBORHOODS
Olu Dara (Neighborhoods)

OLD RED EYES IS BACK
Beautiful South (0898)

SPANISH BOMBS
The Clash (London Calling)

THIS IS A MIGHTY HAND
Hoots & Hellmouth (Hoots & Hellmouth)

TWO SHOES
The Cat Empire (Two Shoes)

WE ARE GOING
Burning Spear (Live in Paris: Zenith ’88)

YOU GOT YR. CHERRY BOMB
Spoon (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga)

What are you listening to?