Friday Random Ten 7/11/08

Several bloggers I like used to run a "random ten" post, so I thought that I'd try, now that I have an iPod.

1. "Kiss the Girl" from The Little Mermaid.  Alright, I'm a sucker for Disney music.  I love the calypso feel.
2. "I'll Go And List For A Sailor" from Morris On.  This is a compilation by Ashley Hutchings (yes, of Fleetwood Mac) with a bunch of folk and folk-rock musicians doing Morris-dance related stuff.
3. "War Dance for Wooden Indians" The Music Of Raymond Scott.  Everybody knows Raymond Scott's music, even if they don't know that they know it.  The long-time Looney Tunes music supervisor, Carl Stalling, used Raymond Scott's music a great deal.  "Powerhouse" would be instantly familiar to anyone who has seen more than a couple of Bugs Bunny cartoons.
4. "The Mary Ellen Carter" from Between The Breaks Live.  Stan Rogers was a Canadian folk singer who, sadly, died in an airplane fire in 1983.  "Mary Ellen Carter" is a great song about strength in the face of adversity.
5. "Seventeen Come Sunday" Train to Sligo.  The band Train to Sligo used to play in Pasadena, CA, at a pub called The Loch Ness Monster, and I went there many times to hear the band.  The female vocalist, Janie Cribbs has the darkest and richest voice I've ever heard in a woman.  Other band members included Thom Moore, who is now well known as a composer of Irish music, Gerry O'Beirne, Cait Reed, Paulette Gershen (a fantastic pennywhistle player) and Judy Gameral.
6. "Piccolo Peet" sung by The Andrews Sisters.  I love 1940's swing and bought a 4-CD collection of the Andrews Sisters.  This isn't one of their best, but it's still a fun song.
7. "Dance".  A Renaissance dance played by the Southern California Early Music Consort.  A very talented group, some of whom I see at our local Ren Faire.
8. "Two for the Early Dew" sung by Tommy Makem and Liam Clancey.  I grew up listening to the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.  This is a very silly song, but has a nice rendition of Off to California at the end.
9. "Belle-Ile/Crookhill" from Unstrung Hero.  I first heard Brian McNeil when he played fiddle (and other strings) for the Battlefield Band.  Unstrung Hero was his first solo album and I was thrilled to find it released on CD (I had the vinyl.)  A very talented fiddler, guitarist and composer.
10. "Rattlesnake" from Incandescence.  My friend Michael J. Lewis is an amazing composer.  This is an album of guitar music that he wrote or arranged and produced.  A bunch of talented guitarists, along with some interesting percussion.