1. Lesson Learned- Alicia Keys

• "Life perfect ain't perfect if you don't know what the struggle's for, falling down ain't falling down if you don't cry when you hit the floor, it's called the past cause I'm getting past and I ain't nothing like I was before, you ought to see me now." What would it sound like if Aretha Franklin and Jimi Hendrix did a song together? I have no idea but this song is apparently what happens when Alicia Keys and John Mayer decide to collaborate. The results aren't half bad. "Lesson Learned" is much more Keys than Mayer. It's "straight R&B, straight R&B, straight R&B". Though Mayer is featured on backing vocals and guitar there is no guitar solo to show off his chops. I love any song with a great bridge. In this case the bridge is probably better than the rest of song. Perhaps they could have done more with it, kinda like when people wonder why they don't make the whole airplane out of what they use to make the black box.

2. Lover Be Strong- Gavin DeGraw

• "Just another radar a threat approach is slipping in, on another stormy morning another issue could begin." Gavin DeGraw waited five years to follow up his hit debut "Chariot" then turned around a moment later and released his third album "Free". Outside of a few songs (Dancing Shoes, Stay, Never The Same) the album doesn't offer the listener much to sink their teeth into. "Lover Be Strong" is one of those middle of the road songs. Criticism aside, Gavin is great in concert...better than on his records. When you see someone in concert and they aren't as good as they sound on their album it is disappointing but understandable- they just aren't as good as the producer that mixed their album made them out to sound. When you see someone in concert and they are way better than their record you have to wonder why someone can't get that sound/feel on record.

3. Just Hangin' Out- Main Source

• "I'm mainly known for the rough raps but kids steal my lyrics like hubcaps and eat em like stacks of flapjacks like rugrats." Main source dropped their debut "Breaking Atoms" in 1991 featuring Large Professor on vocals and K-Cut and Sir Scratch on turntables and production. The album is a hip hop classic. The album made a dent on the hip hop charts with songs like "Looking At the Front Door" and "Peace Is Not the Word to Play". "Just Hangin' Out" has a laid back 70s groove that allows Large Professor to showcase his lyrical skills. Legend has it that during the production of "Breaking Atoms" Main Source schooled Gangstarr's DJ Premier in the art of the SP1200. This is sort of like God delivering the commandants to Moses...sure things happened before, but everything moving forward springs from this. "Breaking Atoms" is also famous for the song "Live at the Barbeque" which introduced the world to a young MC named NaS. The group would release an unsuccessful follow up in 1994 after the departure of Large Professor. It turned out that Main Source without Large Professor was like "cornflake without the milk".

1. Muzzle of Bees- Wilco

• "And the sun gets passed from tree to tree, silently and back to me, with the breeze blown through, pushed up against the sea, finally back to me." Finally the great band Wilco makes an appearance on this blog. "Muzzle of Bees" is from 2004's "A Ghost is Born". The studio version is fine but not one of my favorite songs from the band. However "Muzzle of Bees" is one of my favorites to hear live. The song is largely built on a mid tempo acoustic guitar riff but eventually takes flight with powerful flourishes of electric guitar mastery-I hate to say the band has a template given how diverse their sound are styles are, but this might be it. I've had the fortune of seeing the band twice and the song was featured in both shows. Check out the live version from the "Kicking Television" album for the best take on this number.

2. Too Little Too Late- Barenaked Ladies

• "You say, why does everything revolve around you?, you say, why does everything I do confound you?, you say that I pulled the world from under you, you cant go through it this time." Finally the great Barenaked Ladies make an appearance on this blog. "Too Little Too Late" kicks off the album "Maroon" which was the follow up to the massively successful "Stunt". The album title was taken from a song (of the same name) by jazz artist Ken Nordine on the "Colors" album. "Too Little Too Late" is a straight forward rock song musically but is a bit darker lyrically. "This time isn't hell, last time, I couldn't tell, this mind wasn't well." Many BNL songs feature references to mental illness, depression and suicide. Perhaps my personal favorite is from the song "I'll Be That Girl"- "all the things I'd do to make myself turn blue, I suppose I'd start by removing all my clothes, tie my pantyhose around my neck." Great image.

3. Keep It Rollin'- A Tribe Called Quest

• "Styles be fat like Jackie Gleason, the rest be Art Carney, people love the Dawg like the kids love Barney, "I love you, you love me", the shorty Phife Dawg is your favorite MC." "Keep It Rollin'" comes from the "Midnight Marauders" album best known for the hit "Award Tour". For hip hop heads the song is probably best known for featuring The Large Professor. The Large Professor had recently left the group Main Source (who's debut "Breaking Atoms" is a hip hop classic) and went on to diss his old crew on this song. "I'm Uptown chillin, takin in this grand master Vic blend, from the projects, the PJ's, f**k them two DJ's". Hearing 3 great lryicists on the same song is a joy and makes me wonder what happened to main stream hip-hop. I caught De La Soul in concert last weekend and realized that old school hip hop is alive and well.

1. If- Bread

• "If a picture paints a thousand words, then why can't I paint you? " Those unfamiliar with Bread may have been unknowingly exposed to their music in an elevator, dental office or supermarket. For me "If" came into my life thanks to middle school jazz band. I played the electric piano and had the solo intro for this song. For anyone who attended a Northley middle school band concert in the late 1980s all I can say is "you're welcome". If you like tremolo effects (the wah-wah sound) then this song is for you. "If" is gentle, soothing and would be classified as back ground music by most critics. I recently rediscovered Bread's "Everything I Own" thanks to a cover version on the latest Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs "Under the Covers" album. Both versions are phenomenal.

2. Don't- Rachael Yamagata

• "I can understand all that you are, I can even take all that you're not, I can sympathize with all you want to be, but don't f**k me in front of me." Rachel Yamagata's second album "Elephants....Teeth Sinking Into Heart" closes with this fantastic number. When "don't f**k me in front of me" is your refrain I have to wonder what inspired this song. I suppose if someone is going to do you wrong it's better that they do it out of sight. Or maybe this song is just and ode to doggystle. "Don't" is slow, plodding and methodical with production that is both earthy and ethereal. The vocals (lyrics and delivery) are superb like most songs from Yamagata.

3. The Blue Print- Boogie Down Productions

• "We didn't do it with the soft commercial sound, try the ghetto cause i refuse to let go, you see you don't understand I knew it, you got a copy i read from the blueprint." Any list of the greatest MCs of all time that doesn't include KRS-One wasn't put together by anyone who understands hip hop. "The Blue Print" functions as the title track for "Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of Hip Hop", the 3rd album from the legendary Boogie Down Productions crew. The album is a classic. On the "40oz. to Freedom" album Sublime would pay tribute with "KRS-One", featuring lyrics from The Blueprint's "Breath Control". Of course Jay-Z would come out with an album called "The Blueprint" 17 years later but originality was never big on his list of things to be, if I may paraphrase alt-rock singer Jason Falkner.

1. Let Me Love You Baby- Buddy Guy

• "Ohh, let me love you baby, yes let me love you baby, let me love you baby 'til your good love drives me crazy ". Chicago has no shortage of blues legends and Buddy Guy ranks right at the top. "Let Me Love You Baby" with it's electric guitar, harmonica and horns personifies Chicago blues. Songs like this provided the foundation for 60s British rock bands like the Stones, Yardbirds, et all. Jeff Beck would cover "Let Me Love You Baby" on his 1968 "Truth" album featuring lead vocals from none other than Rod "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" Stewart. If you ever find yourself in the windy city and in the mood for some live blues music there probably isn't a better place to go than Buddy Guy's Legends. There is no pretension at Legends- just great live music. I found it ironic that earlier this year that at the same time Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood were playing Madison Square Garden, Buddy Guy and B.B. King were playing the much smaller Beacon Theatre in the same city.

2. Changeling /Transmission 1- DJ Shadow

• (Instrumental) DJ Shadow (Josh Davis) took recycling to a new level with 1996's "Endtroducing.....". Made entirely of sampled material (mainly forgotten vinyl) the album is able to make something entirely new out of old material. These aren't samples you are meant to recognize (ala Girl Talk) but rather an exercise in taking disparate musical elements and blending them into a cohesive sound. This song is driven by a looped keyboard and a driving drum track. "Changeling/Transmission 1" is at times meditative and at times upbeat which could be said for the album as a whole. For a great insight into how this album was put together see the stand out documentary "Scratch" that tells the history of the hip-hop DJ. I've lost count on the number of times I've watched the film.

3. The Hardest Part/Postcards From Far Away- Coldplay

• " Everything I know is wrong, everything I do it just comes undone, and everything is torn apart". You know how I know I'm straight? I only have sex with women. Having said that, I'm a big fan of Coldplay. This song is featured on the "LeftRightLeftRightLeft" live album which was available as a free Internet download and is available in physical form to anyone who checks out the band on their latest tour. "The Hardest Part" is a heartfelt ballad from the "X&Y" release while "Postcards From Far Away" is an brief piano instrumental from the "Prospekt's March EP" which provided left overs from the "Viva La Vida" sessions. I'm not usually one for stadium rock- I prefer to see my favorite acts in venues as intimate as possible (like a recording studio or tiny bar) but Coldplay excels in space- as if the songs were written for a giant crowd to sing along with. The band has taken to playing along with pre-recorded tracks to build in an even larger live sound but this offering features nothing more than piano and vocals which proves that the band can take it back to basics and still hit it out of the park.