»In which we return to (short) form

I managed to crash iTunes twice while working on this relatively straight-forward playlist: songs recorded in the past forty years, shorter than 2' 46" (that cutoff was intended for some specific song, but I can't remember which —), and that I have either played more than ten times or have rated four stars or more. (Aside: iTunes keeps the rating as an integer from 0-100, so through AppleScript one can pick at ratings to far great wankiness^W precision).

The real point, though, is the playlist. The traditional rock'n'roll radio anthem clocks in around four minutes, or one side of a big-hole single. Punk rock, throwing convention to the winds, cut this in half. This playlist does have variety: deliriously good 80s American punk in the form of The Minutemen and Mission of Burma; some hilariously succint late-70s British punkrock rebellion from Wire's first album; eerie California hippy music embodied in "Witchi Tai To" by Harper's Bizarre; a few songs to pull out the rusty razor, by Tindersticks; but, unfortunately, no Elvis ("The King"), as I lost the great boxed set (during a move?) some years ago, and never digitized any of the LPs. Some other bands represent the pop side of rock'n'roll: The Minders; The Apples in Stereo; The Shins.

Fortunately, this playlist magically skips the progressive rock in favor of some musique concrete, and art- in favor of post-rock: Chicago Undergound Trio, Tortoise, and . Red Norvo and Theolonious Monk show up as well.

Plenty of Elvis Costello, whose brevity shines. In fact, I bet all of the forty-plus songs from the Get Happy!!! elpee appear on this list, and probably another several dozen from the 2 1/2 Years era. Plenty of completely mind-blowing pieces by Wire, whose first three albums are again available tasty box set that includes two early concerts. Listening to these songs makes me laugh aloud.

Some odd songs: "Mr Pink Eyes" by The Cure; the pretty ballad "The Ballroom" by Paul Kelly and The Coloured Girls (that name was not suitable for the album's release in the States, and was changed to The Messengers). A few tracks from a Movie Sounds generator, the audio equivalent of clip art, appear: Ship Alarm Under Attack, Rain Falling with Thunder.

I also sheepishly found no fewer than three different recordings of "I am a Scientist" turned up. Such a pretty song! I think that's the reason I splurged on the Live at the Threadwaxing Space limited-edition album (now available for under $3 through Amazon dot com!). There are some other all-time fave-raves: "Unfair" by Pavement; "History Lesson Pt I" by The Minutement; and the hypnotic, insistent driving song "The Thing" by The Pixies.

Rock. Punk rock.