Random Ten

Kuff kicks in with a round of 10 tunes. I'll add a twist to it based on a concept discussed while dining with friends this past weekend. Essentially, it goes like this: many of us listen to iPods, Sansa, or other MP3 whatnot in random mode. Even if we create a playlist of some size. My own playlists generally run 25-30 tunes, with about 5 getting the axe each week for new additions. Here's what we get when I start shuffling ...

"G.L.M." - Altar Boys
One band that's a mainstay on the heavy rotation. The songs do change, however. G.L.M. stands for Gut Level Music, the title track of one of my favorite CDs.

"Never Let Me Down" - Todd Snider
Snider has a handful of tunes with Christian overtones, with this being one of the strongest. If my playlist goes without some Snider, it's rarely for long.

"Alleluia" - Michael Sweet
One of my favorite recent CDs by an artist from the 80s (Sweet was the lead singer for Stryper). The concept is easy: rock versions of standard hymns, with a few ballads thrown into the mix. They all rock.

"Everlasting God" - Chris Tomlin
Yeah, there's loads of Chris Tomlin in my playlist. That's not likely to change.

"Zeroes & Ones" - Derek Webb
My favorite tune by the guy. Just a nice twist on the whole "dust to dust" concept. The beauty of Webb's songwriting is that you can hear a tune for months (and I suspect years), always picking up some new lyric in it that rests in your mind for too long.

"Teen Dream" - Shaun Cassidy
I make no apologies for this one.

"Glory in the Highest" - Chris Tomlin
Again ... loads of Chris Tomlin.

"Good to Be Alive" - Geoff Moore
One tune I had to go back and rediscover. The version on the playlist is a live one. I'd never thought twice about the studio version, but this one has a lot nicer - and heavier - guitar work on it. One of these days, I've got to learn how to play this one.

"Love is Not Against the Law" - Derek Webb
Loads of Derek Webb, too. I'm loading up the playlist in anticipation of his new CD coming out on 5/1.

"Mean Street Machine" - King Kobra
My one recent indulgence - the boxed set of "Hollywood Rocks!" It's a set of 4 CDs with a lot of demos and outtakes from 80s heavy metal bands. A lot of the good stuff is from before the bands made it big. There's a few tunes on there from bands that cut demos for an album after their 15 minutes were up, though. That's where this one resides. Didn't know that Carmen Appice's all-blond band had 15 minutes of fame? Yeah, you're not the only one. This number just grabbed my attention with a nice heavy metal groove from start to finish. Again, I offer no apologies for my taste here.

Oh, and speaking of Chris Tomlin, there's some video up at the other blog to give a taste.