Who shot Artie Shaw?

Play it: The Sopranos Ep. 6.01
Play it: The Sopranos Season 1

It's back... and with a bang no less. I've missed these wise guys for some time... the whole reason we got HBO in the first place, and we haven't seen hide nor hair of 'em in two years. Without going into to much detail, the episode ends in such a way that we don't even get a preview to next week's episode. It's just bing, bang, boom... Big Love.

The show opens to a montage bringing us up to speed, and it's backed by the song "Seven Souls" which is by Material (Bill Laswell) and voice-over by William S. Burroughs, and feels distracting. I'm not sure how Burroughs cut-n-paste prose fitted with the goings on, but I was at least appreciative to hear it (not Rhapavailable, however.) Other songs featured includes new Goldfrapp, Blondie ("Dreaming"," and Artie Shaw. Since I don't have "Seven Souls" for ya, I've tacked on a playlist of nearly all the music from Season 1 (not a bad bonus at all, eh?)

So where we at from last season? Johnny Sack's in prison, and the hairdo (Phil) is taking care of bidness. Meadow is still together with Finn (and gives us a lingerie dance in the intro) and AJ has grown out his hair (and his eyebrows) but not his brain cells. Vito is less wide thanks to Atkins, exercise and his closeted appreciation for the male body. The feds have a couple more informants, but they're about as useful as Adriana. Speaking of Adriana, Christopher doesn't seem to miss her much, and is still clean and sober (and takes his sponsor nearly everywhere.) Uncle June's nuttier then a Payday, and Janice can't help now that she's got a baby Bobby. Tony doesn't want to deal with Payday and his paranoia, but feels obligated out of guilt. So when Dr. Melfi reminds him his mother tried to kill him, the foreshadowing isn't lost on us.

"Who's down there?"
"It's Artie Shaw, now come down and eat your dinner!"

Full tracklisting and accompanying scene descriptions

tags: playlist, television, soundtrack, rhapsody, sopranos, goldfrapp, william s burroughs