See Me Cocoa Might Go Pop

Paul McCrane: Is It Okay If I Call You Mine
from Fame Soundtrack (Rhino Records 2003)

Nina Gordon: Straight Outta Compton

Blondie: Once I Had A Love
from The Platinum Collection (Capitol 1994) also on Parellel Lines (Captiol 2001)

Over a week later comes day 2 of what was supposed to be a consistent effort on my part. Well here it is, the official jumping off point of Filthy Choice, my foray into those lives of quiet desperation, what the rest of the world refers to as Audioblogging. So what separates this from the million other audioblogs that litter the net? Honestly, nothing much. While a lot better blogs than mine highlight the obscure and out of print, my intention for this audioblog is to include songs from albums and artists that may not have been given their just due or may have been glossed over in an effort to get to the latest chart topper or may have simply been forgotten. This audioblog is my lighthouse in the rough waters of corporate machinations and artistic egos.

First up to bat is Paul McCranes "Is It Okay If I Call You Mine" from the Fame Soundtrack. Unabashedly treacle with lines like "I love your love" this song, when removed from its synth laden soundtrack, has a lot going for it. Stripped of instrumentation save for guitar and voice, McCrane carries the song further than its lyrics try to hold it down. The greatest aspect of the song: its length. Clocking in at under 3 minutes the song gets started with barely an intro and quickly reaches a terse conclusion and like a well planned meal, it leaves you satisfied without being full and doesn't require any more of your participation than what you're willing to bring to the table. If the name Paul McCrane sounds familiar, you probably might remember him from his liquescent moment in Robocop when he gets hit by the car and bursts into liquid guts.

Switching things up, we have Nina Gordon's rendition of Straight Outta Compton. Taken from an EP of cover songs, Gordon's cover of the NWA "classic" (I can't with all honesty label it a classic just yet, to paraphrase KRS "The song isn't even twentty years old") is altogether humorous, jarring, insulting and enjoyable. Covering only one verse, Ice Cube's, the song almost mockingly reduces Cube's lyrics to adult pop pablum. Taking lines like, "When I'm called off/ I got a sawed off/ squeeze the trigger and bodies are hauled off" her rendition exposes one of the pet peeves that most people who misunderstand Gangster Rap like to point out, the disparity from the reality of the rapper's life and the lyrics that he recites. Well without going into all of the nuances about the narrative voice and the responsibilities of the celebrity-as-role-model, I must say this song is just damn entertaining.

Finally, we have the original version of the disco classic Heart Of Glass. Titled Once I Had A Love this demo version uses a more laid back beat and is just as good, if not better in a "turn down your car radio whenever you don't want anyone hearing you bump any disco" type of way. Play this whenever you have someone who's mildly familiar with Blondie (yes there are some people like that out in the world) and you can smirk in your superiority as they quizically scratch their head trying to figure out where they heard the song before.