You know the rules: Shuffle your entire music collection, click Play, and report the first 10 tracks, no matter what (following Thomas Hawk’s lead, I expanded the list to 20 tracks). This week’s list is formatted as artist, song title, and album (in italics):
- Fool to Think, Dave Matthews, Everyday
- You Got My Letter, Boz Scaggs, Some Change
- Hungry Heart, Bruce Springsteen, The River Disc 1
- Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart, The Coasters, Elemental R&B (compilation)
- Sullivan Street, Counting Crows, Across A Wire: Live in New York City
- Listening to Old Voices, John Hiatt, Stolen Moments
- Teenage Warrior, Little Feat, Representing the Mambo
- Jack Straw, The Grateful Dead, Live at Kezar Stadium 26-May-1973
- Hanky Panky, k.d. lang, A Truly Western Experience
- How Much I’ve Lied, Gram Parsons, G.P./Grievous Angel
- The Wicked Messenger, Bob Dylan, Live in Brussels 12-Nov-2003
- If I Could Put Them All Together (I’d Have You), Elvis Costello, Almost Blue (Expanded, Disc 2)
- Doly, Les Quatre Etoiles, Sangonini
- Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, Van Morrison and Junior Wells, A Night in San Francisco, Disc 1
- Claudette, Roy Orbison and Friends, Black and White Night
- Deacon Blues, Steely Dan, Citizen Steely Dan Disc 4
- Funkytano, Will and Lobo, Siete
- Angel Dance, Los Lobos, The Neighborhood
- Blue Moon of Kentucky, John Fogerty, Big Mon: Songs of Bill Monroe
- 2000 Miles, The Pretenders, The Singles
Why does this list make me think of that great line from the waitress at Bob’s Country Bunker in The Blue Brothers? “We’ve got both kinds of music here: Country and Western!”
(Special bonus track: 21. Black Snake Blues, Clifton Chenier, 60 Minutes with the King of Zydeco)
Ed Bott 
Jeez, Ed, don’t you have any classical music at all? 🙂 For me there are also only two kinds of music: anything written by Beethoven and all other classical music.
Ken
I have a very small and eclectic selection of classical recordings. Mostly Mozart, with a smattering of Rachmaninoff, Schumann, and Smetana. (Pretty random, I admit.) With the exception of some Mozart concertos, none of the classical tracks are ripped to digital formats.
I love American roots music – blues, jazz, country, folk, and the rock artists who built on those traditions – plus indigenous music from the Caribbean and Africa. There’s so much great listening in those categories that I really haven’t felt compelled to dig into the works of European classical composers.
My loss, I guess. If you can recommend a site that lists 100 essential classical recordings for someone with tastes similar to mine, I’m (ahem) all ears.
I have no recommendations in particular, except that you are already off to a pretty good start. I did find the following site and would suggest taking a look at the Classicism (go directly to Beethoven, do not pass go, do not collect $200) and Romanticism sections.
http://www.classical.net/music/rep/top.html
In particular, I bet you would like Dvorak. If you can, try to find a recording of his cello concerto with Yo Yo Ma performing with the New York Philharmonic (there is a Sony recording, which is superb). See if that one doesn’t hook you for life.
Ah yes, Dvorak! I used to have a vinyl copy of the New World symphony and liked that. Excellent advice. I’ll try to broaden my musical horizons when I get back from vacation.
(Beethoven Beethoven Beethoven…)
Excellent! Have a great time. Italy is nice this time of year.