Empty Pockets Don't Ever Make The Grade

Billie Holiday: It's Like Reaching For The Moon
from The Quintessential Billie Holiday, Vol.2: 1936 (Columbia 1990)

Billie Holiday: My Man (Mon Homme)
from Billie Holiday: The Complete Decca Recordings (Verve 1991)

Billie Holiday: Stars Fell On Alabama
from Songs for Distingué Lovers (Verve 1956)


On April 5th Hip-O/Verve will release a new two CD/DVD retrospective of Billie Holidays music. Most of the early reviews tend to focus on the DVD aspect, small wonder considering that videos of her performances are few and far between and that the quality of the music on the CD is not quite up to par with some of the more comprehensive box sets. And since this CD/DVD has got me pumped and eagerly anticipating its release, I've decided to post some treasured Lady Day songs.

The first track is Billie's 1936 recording of It's Like Reaching For The Moon. While the song itself is your basic hackneyed tin-pan alley construction, this apparent weakness actually works in Billie's favor as it allows for her and the Teddy Wilson orchestra to actually take it musically beyond its inherent boundaries. The opening, with Teddy Wilson and Johnny Hodges' trading a chorus each of piano and alto sax respectively sets the intro for a young Billie, her voice higher pitched but still inimitable. The song more than hints at the emotional expression and maturity that her voice would acquire, influenced by Blues vocalists Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey. The awkward time of the lyrics poses no obstacle to Billie as she rips through the quick two verses and takes an ultimately forgettable song and makes it her own.

Fast forward thirteen years to 1949 and Billie's recording of My Man and you can immediately hear the pathos and intense phrasing that she is best known for. This song, recorded just nine months after her release from jail for possession, is from the tail end of her tenure with Decca records, a time that many consider, vocally, was her best output. This is an alternate version of the hit that was released under the Decca label and is just as moving as the released version. Able to take a song and squeeze it for all of its emotion, Billie moves the earth with this one. Married several times and having gone through a series of abusive relationships, the song fits Billie perfectly, from the perfect timing of lines like "Cold and wet/ Tired? You bet. All of this I'll soon forget/ With my man" (a line that she would use to close her autobiography) and "I don't know why I should?/ He isn't true, he beats me too" to the hope that she infuses into the last line with it's minute hint of doubt that comes from the break in her voice, the song just oozes the Billie Holiday sound.

The last track Stars Fell On Alabama is from the 1957 recordings for her album Songs For Distingue Lovers (a horribly pretentious title) and was recorded two years prior to her death at age 44. Her voice already failing and sounding frail and hoarse it's to her testament that she can still carry the song and that her phrasing on the melody of the song is just as moving as her earlier recordings. Perfectly complimented by Harry "Sweets" Edison's trumpet (his opening of the song recalls one of Billie's idols, no pun intended, Louis Armstrong) and then again by Ben Webster's tenor sax, the song at the end has a playful, bouncing interplay between the three.

It almost seems unfair to distill Lady Day's career to just three songs as her catalog is literally sprinkled with jazz classics that have defined the genre. Strange Fruit, God Bless the Child, Lover Man, Fine And Mellow, the list goes on and not including any selections from her recordings with composer Ray Ellis (her most naked and raw recordings done before her death) seems to great an oversight to commit but then again, I could have made this post with thirty to forty songs and still not covered all the bases. And so with that in mind I chose three personal favorites from her catalog that are not as frequently covered in musical retrospectives of her career.

Diggin' In The Cassingle Crates Part Deux

Too Short: I Ain't Trippin (Extended Remix)
from: I Ain't Trippin' Cassette Single (RCA 1989)

Del Tha Funkee Homosapien: Mistadobalina (Remix)
from Mistadobalina Cassette Single (Elektra 1991)

Beastie Boys: Dis Yourself In 89 (Just Do It)
from Hey Ladies Cassette Single (Capitol1989)


A quick post and a short one at that, This is the second edition of my not yet infamous, or for that matter famous, Cassingle series the first of which could be found here. The first track is the inappropriately titled extended remix of I Ain't Trippin' (why it's called the extended remix is beyond me as it's actually 20 seconds shorter than the album track). Between the original and the remix there's no doubt that the nod goes to the remix and for one reason and for one reason only, the shit-talking hater dropping some gems on Short Dog. I was gonna type out some of the insults but it's better if you just listen to the track. Guaranteed comedy gold (listen for the Troop insult).

The next track is the remix of the song that put Del on the map. Originally more famous for being Ice Cube's weirded out cousin (he wrote lyrics for some Ice Cube and Lench Mob tracks including Jackin' For Beats) Cube and his cronies would produce his first album and fill it with P-funk. Here, the remix gives a hint of the more jazz influenced sound that would dominate Dels (and his group, Hieroglyphics) second album and is a much better song than the original.

The final track of the post is Dis Yourself In 89. Not exactly an instrumental or a remix, the song takes the beat from Hey Ladies and flips it, layering it wth more samples and cuts so that it can actually stand as it's own song and not just be the instrumental on a b-side.

The third edition of the Cassingle Crate series is gonna have some shit from Nice & Smooth, Riff (if you don't know you better ask somebody) and someone else, I haven't figured it out yet. Like I promised, short and sweet.

A Genius Shuffles Off This Mortal Coil

Mix Master Spade has passed away. For those who don't know, he was the creative force that allowed for the West Coast to be put on the map. Although he never gained the fame that a lot of his peers did, believe that he was putting in work behind the scenes to make the West Coast shine. O-Dub has a post about it that will shed a little more light on Spade including a link to a song and an interview with the Genius himself.

How Far We Going Back?

The Ghetto Brothers: Ghetto Brother Power
from Can't Stop Won't Stop: The Next Lesson (Quannum Projects 2005)

ESG: UFO
from A South Bronx Story (Universal Sound 2000)

ESG: My Love For You
from A South Bronx Story (Universal Sound 2000)


I just finished reading Jeff Chang's new book Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation and it is a very informative book on the culture. According to him, the foundation of Hip-Hop rose from out of the political abandonment of the 60's of the Bronx. The "white flight" led to resegregation which allowed for the proliferation of the violent gang era of the late 60's and early 70's. From out of the fires of gang warfare and the subsequent peace treaty would come the framework that is recognized as the start of Hip-Hop. The Ghetto Brothers, one of the most powerful of the gangs of that time, would also become one of the most influential. Politically inclined they would create and foster the peace treaty between the numerous gangs of the bronx. Musically inclined they would create their own band and play local block parties where all gangs were peacefully welcomed.

In 1972 the Ghetto Borthers released an album that would find distribution around their area. The first track on this post, Ghetto Brother Power, is from that album (here taken from the accompanying CD to the book). Ghetto Brother Power is rich in harmony and stacked with a moving Latin rhythm. Sounding surprisingly more like an early Beatles track tinged with r&b influences, the song drives quickly through it's percussion heavy two minutes. Listen for the conga breakdown right before the guitar solo and you can picture crowds in the block party sweating and dancing to the easy call and response lyrics. While the song will never get confused as a contributor to the Hip-Hop culture, the creators of the song had a deep and pronounced influence on the genesis of Hip-Hop.

The second cut is from the heavily sampled song UFO (NWA's "Real Niggaz Don't Die", Nine Inch Nails "Metal", Public Enemy's "Night of the Living Baseheads" just to name a few) and is from the criminally underappreciated , though undoubtedly influential group ESG. Emerging out of the South Bronx, the four sisters (along with a conga player) were a very popular group among the dance club enthusiasts of the South Bronx during the late 70's early 80's and hearing UFO it's easy to understand why. A driving rhythm with piercing synths, frenetic drums and a hypnotic bassline, the song goes off in all directions but still maintans a centrality that is essential to any dance song. Nowadays this song is probably more recognized as the pitched down version that a lot of DJ's like to use, but either way, it is still a great song.

If Phil Spector created his Wagner-esque Wall of Sound by throwing every instrument into the mix while still maintaining the integrity of the harmony, then the ESG sound could be considered an opposite, a minimal Wall of Rhythym. Heavy on thhe bass and percussion their sound emphasizes the rhythm over the harmony and yet the two sections still merge well enough to drive the song from beginning to end. My Love For You is a perfect example of this. A rolling bassline that thankfully never quits, the girl's vocals just seem to be dressing for the song's bass letting it lead the listener toward the inevitable end. If you have a massive soundset, I would suggest turning this song up to disturning the peace proportions as a song with a bassline this heavy loses a lot of effectiveness when played through tinny computer speakers.

Doing This One Kind Of Smooth

Connie Francis: Siboney
from Connie Francis Sings Spanish and Latin American Favorites (MGM 1960)

Nat "King" Cole: Blame It On My Youth
from After Midnight: The Complete Session (Capitol 1956)


Just a quick addendum to the last post. Two songs that were either in the film 2046 (the former) or had some roundabout ties to the film (the latter). The first song, Siboney, is featured in the 2046 film in two forms, a Xavier Cugat orchestrated piece and the one I present here, Connie Francis' version. One of the bigger female pop stars of the late 50's/early 60's and blessed with a strong, expressive voice, Francis was able to cross over into many genres pretty effortlessly. One of her biggest claims to fame was her ability to successfully record albums in many different languages as is evidenced here. In his films Wong Kar Wai likes to use spanish songs and this one with it's slithering melody and underscored percussion works well in his impressionist style of cinema, where the women slink around in beautiful cheong-san dresses.

The second song, while not in the film 2046, is included here because of the use of Cole's spanish songs in Wong Kar Wai's previous film, In The Mood For Love, and it's also included because it just happens to be one of my favorite Nat Cole songs. Returning to his jazz roots, the album After Midnight was his response to his many critics who rebuked him after he found pop success. His husky, articulate voice is in peak form here and it's almost understandable (though quite a bit unfair, one discographer even went as far as reissuing his discography but cutting it short at the end of Cole's jazz career) why many jazz critics turned their back on Cole, his voice lends itself well to the pre-bebop jazz sound. Gliding over the brush of the drums and Harry "Sweets" Edisons subdued trumpet, Cole handles the song and invests it with a magic that is uniquely his. Like Al Green's Belle this is a song that I find myself constantly listening to and never tiring of.

Burn Hollywood Burn

Shigeru Umebayashi: 2046 Main Theme (With Percussion)
from 2046 Soundtrack (EMI 2005)

Danny Elfman: Dead Presidents Theme
from Dead Presidents: Music From The Motion Picture

Ennio Morricone: Man With A Harmonica
from Once Upon A Time In The West: The Original Soundtrack Recording


The purpose of this post is not so that I can pontificate using my erudite knowledge on movie soundtracks and wax philisophical on their contribution to the canon of classical compositions (actually I don't know shit about soundtracks, and what little I do know usually comes from the extras on dvd's). No, this here post is simply to point out three film compositions that I find particularly interesting. Whether it's from their odd placement on a motion picture soundtrack, their achingly precise ability to describe the theme of the film, or just because the song is so haunting, I've decided to share them with you in case you haven't heard them already.

The 2046 Main Theme is from the Wong Kar Wai film 2046. The film is basically, like a lot of his movies, a meditation on love. In this particular film it's about the loss of love and the effect it has on the present relations of the films characters. This theme of lost love is present throughout the whole piece with the reoccuring theme played in the minor key. Dominated by strings (viola, violin and cello) with the percussion serving as a point of emphasis, the reoccuring theme captures the main characters inability to fall in love and brings to mind the characters that float in and out of his life never connecting. The song is so effectively used that it's almost impossible to separate the film from the composition or the composition from the film.

Danny Elfman's Dead Presidents Theme is a lot more perplexing. Placed on an album of R&B hits, this single orchestral piece jarringly sticks out, seeming very much out of place amongst Sly & The Family Stone or the Aretha Franklin cuts on the album. In fact of the 10 pieces he composed for the film, this one was the only one released on CD. Using eclectic instrumentation, including what sounds like a didjeridoo to open the piece, the song has a very dark feel to it. Where an opening theme for a movie would usually be dominated by the brass and string section, the Dead Presidents Theme runs the gamut of musical instruments. Electric guitars play alongside strings, the brass section has been replaced by synths and various (often unrecognizable) styles of percussion and then there is the didjeridoo. In the movie, the narrative jumps through too many hoops and tries to do too much in a limited amount of space and the same could almost be said of the theme song. But unlike the movie, the theme song is able to coalesce this mish-mash of themes and ideas into a coherent and haunting piece.

The last track is Man With A Harmonica by Ennio Morricone. I won't go into too much detail simply because Morricones music doesn't need me heaping praises on it. I will say though that this piece uses two of the most disparate instruments to convey the greatest sense of dread and foreboding you might ever get the chance to hear. Perfectly used in the film it is a strong enough composition to be listened to outside the context of the movie.

Diggin' In The Cassingle Crates

The D.O.C.: Mind Blowin' (Remix)
from Cassette Single (Ruthless 1989)

The D.O.C.: The Forumla (Funky FM Mix)
from Cassette Single (Ruthless 1989)

Boogie Down Productions: I'm Still #1 (Numero Uno Re-Recording)
from Cassette Single (Jive Zomba 1988)


Before the 12's graced my presence and prior to the advent of the CD single, my only access to the remixes and b-sides of the 12" was through the cassette single, or for the brevity inclined-the cassingle. As minimal as its truncated name, the cassingle was usually sold in a paper sleeve, the ones sold in plastic cases usually had more tracks (as if the length of the tape was directly proportional to the quality of the casing). They included the album version of the song and sometimes a remix or two, and would sell for about two dollars. First started in the early 80's, the cassingle never caught on and production on them was all but dead by the end of the 90's, but for me the late 80's-early 90's was an era of cassingle heaven.

The first cut, Mind Blowin (Remix)-as it's labeled on the paper sleeve, takes away the original versions dark, foreboding keyboards and replaces it with a frenetic, siren wail of the guitar and displaces the familiar chorus with a more dance friendly one. And as if to show just how much difference their is between the original and the remix, even the album versions "This is serious business" intro is excised. The intro for the remix is perfectly extended for DJ use and then it breaks down into a bassline heavy verse. Sonically the beat sounds cluttered and does not have that unique Dre sound. Dre's beats during this time are like Primo's now, easily recognizable. From his R&B work with Michel'le to the Hip-Hop sound he would become famous for, you always knew upon first listen that the beat you were hearing was Dr. Dre. Not so with this remix. Lyrically this is the same version as the album, with the D.O.C.s smooth, quick-tounged delivery but it's beat wise where I think the song fails. A remix to a song should either enhance or improve upon the original or allow for a different perspective of the song neither of which happens on this remix.

Next up is another Dre remix of a D.O.C. song, The Formula. Whereas the previous remix added very little to the original making for a poorer song, this one also adds very little to the original but what little it does add, enhances the song and doesn't take anything away from it. The deep 808 bass is still there as is the D.O.C.'s smooth delivery and the same lyrics but Dre plays up the role of the sax and the bass guitar. Opening with a sparse 808 intro with the sax riff that plays a part throughout the whole song, it then breaks down into the familiar flute sample that dominates the chorus, another perfect intro for a DJ to mix. The song ends similar to the album version but with a jazzier conclusion including what sounds like Eazy riffing in the background and a vibraphone going off before the sparse 808 bass fades out. This is a damn good remix.

Last is my favorite of the three. The I'm Still #1 (Numero Uno Re-Recording) remix by B.D.P. Sounding very much like Steady B's Serious Remix, they were both produced by KRS and came out at about the same time. Kris samples some jazz horns and it grates against the drums just enough to give the original version a new sound. This new sound is perfectly complemented by new lyrics where K.R.S. quite literally rips the mic to pieces. The chorus where he shouts out the people down with him is also switched up this time putting on blast his old label and rival MC's. I don't want to go too much into the song because it's best to just listen to the Teacher and absorb the knowledge.

Before I end this post, I want to say that an audioblog is not created in a vacuum. It finds sources and inspirations elsewhere (usually other websites and audioblogs). For me my direct inspiration comes from Oliver Wang's great audioblog Soul Sides. But let me explain something before it seems like I'm just stealing ideas from him. In his December 12th posting, he posted up some remixes of the D.O.C. (two that I didn't use) and later he would do a post on Al Green's Belle, which I would also do. Now I have to say, while it looks like more than mere coincidence, even suspiciously like I'm just biting his posts, I respect his work as a writer, a DJ and a blogger too much to crib any ideas from him. The remixes from the D.O.C. that I posted were posted because I wanted to do a blog on cassette singles and two prominent ones that I have were from the D.O.C., one of which even had the same Portrait of a Masterpiece remix that O-Dub had in his December post. I could have forsaken the two remixes that I posted and posted something else from one of the cassingles I have but I decided to post the two that I did because eventually I would have to post them anyway as I plan to make this a series of posts on my cassingles. As for the Al Green post that I did that mirrored O-Dubs January 31st posting, what can I say. I've always wanted to include Belle in my audioblog, even before I had set it up. We both love a classic, yet underappreciated Al Green cut. I guess the only justification for those who don't see it as a coincidence is that we both took a different approach to the same song. As a side note, as I was writing this post, I googled the term cassingle hoping to find a witty title for this venture. Smug in my vain notion that I was trailblazing a new blog path on cassingles I came across this post on one of the premiere audioblog sites, music (for robots). I guess great minds really do think alike.