Filthy Choice

Beat The Heat: Thin Covers

2006-07-19T23:20:00.000-07:00

Joey Heatherton: God Only Knows
from The Joey Heatherton Album (MGM/Hip-O Select 1972)

Joey Heatherton: It's Not Easy
from The Joey Heatherton Album (MGM/Hip-O Select 1972)

Because this summers unbearably hot (ain't that the inconvenient truth) and since I tend to wilt like a pussy whenever the thermometer jumps past 80 I've decided to throw up a series of songs that are almost guaranteed to help you beat the heat, just don't quote me on that. The first part of the series will be dedicated to cover songs that don't exactly break the mold and these particular ones are taken from Joey Heatherton's first (and only?) album, conveniently titled "The Joey Heatherton Album." Joey Heatherton, 60's sex kitten, is probably known more for her body than her body of musical work but don't let the good looks fool you, the girl has some vocal chops. Her sonorous voice is loud and crystal clear and tends to hit all the right notes, but despite the impressive ability to hold a note her by-the-numbers interpretations of some songs tend to leave you with the unsatisfied feeling of wanting more but knowing you won't get it.

God Only Knows is a good example of this. Aside from her big, brassy voice she doesn't bring much to her cover of the Beach Boys classic. It is a straight interpretation with very little to differentiate it from the original which can be seen as a good thing considering how well constructed it was to begin with. Whereas Carl Wilson's handling of the verses lent the lyrics a subdued romanticism, Joey's voice tends to effect a more melancholy tone on the interpretation and, understandably, gone is the songs multi-layered vocal harmonies here reduced to the closing of the song.

My favorite song from the album and a cover that's actually better and more interesting than the original is her cover of It's Not Easy, originally performed by the Aussie King of Pop Normie Rowe. The song, penned by hit songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, was originally intended for the Righteous Brothers and Joey steps up and does justice to the track. Though the song isn't exactly a hit, it has been covered by everyone from Eric Burdon of the Animals, to The Sweet Inspirations to Cissy Houston and supposedly by Dusty Springfield but Joey's version is for me the most endearing. The song seems ready made for her as it starts off softly and quickly builds up to the chorus and Tommy Oliver's orchestration with it's use of the horns at the right time and the always odd mix of the modern Pop and classic Big Band sounds serves to make the song a nice little gem.

If you've got a couple of sawbucks burning a hole in your pocket you'd be wise to pick up the album (don't let my damning with faint praise review make you think otherwise). Joey covers everyone from Gershwin to Meredith Wilson to Patsy Cline and while you might not find every song good enough to write home about, the whole package more than makes up for it which is more than a lot of modern artists can say about their albums.

The Return Of The Sweat Hog

2006-07-09T21:50:00.000-07:00

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: Dreaming
from The Best of OMD (A&M 1988)

Just a quick announcement that I'm back and I plan on posting on a regular basis (knock on wood). I'll make this post short and sweet and include this track from an album that I've been listening to on a regular basis. Besides having the most preposterously pretentious name in recording history Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark also had some nice radio friendly singles, and though I don't own a single album of theirs I admit to having the 7" of If You Leave (can't front, you know they got me open).

Don't Let The Party Die

2006-05-12T18:31:00.000-07:00

Image courtesy of Maopost.com

Rudy Ray Moore: Dirty Dozen (Two by Four from Watts)
from House Party: The Dirty Dozens (Cherry Red Records 1971)

Cash Money & Marvelous: A Real Mutha For Ya
from Where's The Party At? (Sleeping Bag 1988)

Manfred Hubler and Siegfried Schwab: Droge CX 9
from Vampyros Lesbos: Sexadellic Dance Party (Motel 1995)

As was mentioned in my prior post, because of some technical difficulties I don't have access to any new material that I was planning on posting except for what's already on my computer so I've decided to continue with the Party theme. Here are three tracks from albums that all have something to do with Party (I just did an iTunes search for any albums that have the word Party in the title).

Dirty Dozen (Two by Four from Watts) is from the Rudy Ray Moore album House Party and features Tut and Two, two blue comedians cappin, cracking, woofin on and playing the dozens in the Rudy Ray Moore style of rhyming their way through a story. This, and most of Rudy Ray Moore's albums are literally party albums, meant for playing during parties and recorded to sound like they were being performed at a party so next time you have a bat mitzvah, birthday party, family gathering or you're just getting together with some friends to smoke or drink up don't forget to play some Rudy Ray Moore albums to keep the party going.

The second track is from the classic album Where's The Party At by Cash Money and Marvelous, probably most famous for the song All The Ugly People Be Quiet. Admittedly I never really got into the album when it was first released but listening to it now and I wonder what the hell I was thinking back then. Filled with Cash Money's dope cuts (he's credited along with Spinbad for creating the Transformer scratch) and Marv's double words/ words double style of rhyming this song screams old school but don't hold that against it.

The song Droge CX 9 is from the break-tastic album Vampyros Lesbos: Sexadellic Dance Party which was just rereleased with some bonus trakcs. Taken from the soundtrack of a 1970 softy featuring Lesbian Vampires (does that make me bilingual?) the soundtrack is an enjoyable piece of electro kitsch and at times sounds a little bit too ambitious for what it's trying to accompany. This track, Droge CX 9, is indicative of the album and is playful and catchy enough to fend off most criticism of it (allmusic.com labels it as an album that can be used to drive roaches away) but you can decide for yourself.

Where The Party At

2006-04-15T13:50:00.000-07:00

Click the image to see The Man dance, not for everybody, only the sexy people

Lyn Collins: We Want To Parrty, Parrty, Parrty Parts 1&2
from James Brown's Original Funky Divas (Polydor 1975: cd released by Polygram 1998)

Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: The Birthday Party
from Adventures on the Wheels of Steel (Sugarhill 1981: cd released by Sugarhill 1999)

New Buffalo: No Party
from The Last Beautiful Day (Arts & Crafts 2005)

The other day I was listening to the old iPod when two songs played back to back and both of them had Party (or Parrty) in the title. Nothing unusual about that but when you've got about 2000 songs on it, and less than 20 of them have Party in the title of the song or album I figured I had a good enough reason to post up the songs on the Filthy Choice.

The first song is by the incomparable Lyn Collins. Along with Marva Whitney and Vicki Anderson, Lyn was the female voice that tempered James Brown hard edge funk without lessening it. This version of We Want To Parrty is the longer single including "Parts 1&2" with it's extended horn section and all female choral chants sounding very much like a party in the studio. Towards the end the bassline increases to almost breakneck proportions and not nodding your head to this effectively means your either dead or lack any rhythm.

The Birthday Party by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five is a rather odd song. When I first heard it as a kid waaaay back in the early 80's I loved this song and all the others that they recorded with similar musical themes like Freedom and It's Nasty, songs that sounded like they were actually having fun while they were recording it. But as I listen to it now, the charm and appeal has kind of wore thin. While Freedom and It's Nasty still retain the entertainment value that first attracted me to it, listening to The Birthday Party the song with it's kazoos and shout and response sections just comes off as derivative of the other two and the chorus with the line "any time is a happy time for a birthday party" tends to irk me now whereas back then those were parts of the song that I loved (and I really thought I connected with Melle Mel because our birthdays were two days apart according the song).

The third song No Party is a break from the party theme. Taken from the group New Buffalo, the song with it's heart rending lyrics is in no way indicative of a party atmosphere, but the wispy vocals and the airy beauty of the chorus still makes it a fun listen despite the melancholy of the sentiment.

I was actually going to do some other posts about Dusty Springfield, Joey Heatherton and some other new albums I picked up but unfortunately the SuperDrive on my iMac fizzled out on me and the stereo input that I use for converting my vinyl and tapes seems to have been misplaced, so I'll probably continue with this word-themed posts until I get the damn drive fixed or I find the audio adapter.

Mbube/Wimoweh/Lion Sleeps Tonight

2006-04-02T13:30:00.000-07:00

Solomon Linda (l)

Solomon Linda's Original Evening Birds: Mbube
from Mbube Roots: Zulu Choral Music from South Africa, 1930's-1960's (Rounder 1976)

The Weavers: Wimoweh
from Wasn't That A Time (Vanguard 1993)

The Tokens: The Lion Sleeps Tonight
from The Tokens (Victor 1961)

A grave musical injustice was recently rectified. In 1939 South African musician Solomon Linda recorded, according to journalist and author Rian Malan "the most famous melody to ever emerge from Africa." The song Mbube (pronounced eem-boo-bey) recorded with his vocal group the Evening Birds was filled with deep hypnotic chants, rhythmic wails and improvised melodies all of which caught on with local audiences and became such a hit that the title of the song is used to describe the genre of music it inspired and Solomon's fame among the Zulu migrants in South Africa rivaled that of Elvis in his heyday. As can be seen in the picture above, Solomon and his group were sharply dressed performers who played up the role of superstars and there were challengers to his throne. The group used to perform at local bars out-singing other groups and creating rivalries strong enough that it was said that Solomon died from a curse put on him by a rival group.

The song itself was released in 1939 and the lyrics come from the memory of Solomon's youth as a goat-herder chasing away lions. At the time of the recording in segregated South Africa Solomon received 10 shillings (about a dollar by todays standards) for his song and all subsequent monies including royalties went to the owner of the record company. Solomon Linda would live on until the 60's to hear his song be covered countless times (a fact of which he was proud) but to die in poverty. In the early 50's Pete Seeger heard the record from a friend and transcribed what he thought were the lyrics, turning Uyimbube to Wimoweh. With his controversial folk group they recorded the song as Wimoweh which would become one of their most popular songs. Seegers version is loud, pompous and awkwardly non-folksy with it's big band arrangement but it still managed to capture the rhythm and excitement of the original and faithfully kept the enthralling syncopation of the Zulu chants.

Even after their group broke up, succumbing to blacklisting during the McCarthy era the song still lived on in popularity, enough so that four Brooklyn kids would use it when they successfully auditioned for music producers. By this time, all ties to Solomon Linda were erased as the song was never copyrighted with song-writing credit going to the fictional Paul Campbell, an alias used to collect royalties from songs that the Weavers would take from other artists and public domain tunes. Seeger himself ceded his author royalties to Solomon Linda, but very little of the money went to him or his family. The four teens and their producers took the song and recorded it under the assumption that because it was supposedly based on an African chant that the rights for the song were open to anyone. The producers and a songwriter took credit for the song and had the Tokens record it as The Lion Sleeps Tonight. This song would become their most popular hit and is still widely recorded and played to this day. The song as recorded by the Tokens is bland and milquetoast when listened beside the previous two songs (the wimoweh chant loses all of it's vitality in the Tokens version) and the countermelody as sung by backup vocalist Anita Darian pushes the song towards kitsch. It's saving grace is the use of the unforgettable melody, a melody that Linda improvised and only used at the very end of the song and that the Weavers only played around with.

The song has now made a lot of money for a lot of people and according to Malan's research has earned about $15 million in royalties all of which should have gone to Linda but which none of it did. But recently Linda's surviving daughters (who are also living in poverty) had settled their case against the copyright holder and are to receive a undisclosed settlement from the back payment of royalties. The lion will finally sleep.

For all of the intimate details regarding the history of the song and the artists and producers involved, read Rian Malan's Rolling Stone article that helped open the lid on the injustices heaped upon the Linda family. Also NPR has an audio report on the settlement, a report that led to me posting about the story.

Blame It On My Youth

2006-03-18T20:31:00.000-08:00

Nat "King" Cole: You're Looking At Me
from After Midnight: The Complete Session (Capitol 1956)

Nat "King" Cole: L.O.V.E. (Japanese Version)
from L.O.V.E. Single

I know some of you spent your Friday celebrating St. Patty's day while some of you took the Friday as a day of abstaining from meat, and if you were one of those who recognized and wnated to partake in both events luck was with you. But for those who wanted to celebrate in a more jazz and pop standard procedure, look no further than the birth date of Nathaniel Adams Coles on that day in 1919.

Probably best known more for his pop hits than his ten plus years as an accomplished jazz pianist, he was ostensibly all things to everybody. For the jazz enthusiast he is remembered as being the prominent figure that brought about small band-jazz with his trio consisting of Oscar Moore and Wesley Prince on guitar and bass respectively (the lineup would change over the years). As a jazz band there singles were successful enough to reach number one on the Billboard R&B charts (referred to then as the Harlem Hit Parade) and when Billboard instituted the first album chart, the King Cole Trio spent 12 weeks ranked at number 1. But to the majority of people, he is recognized as the velvety crooner of pop standards like Mona Lisa and The Christmas Song and as he became more popular as a singer he gradually abandoned performing on the piano in concert and eventually dissolved the trio in favor of performing as a solo artist.

And so I present two songs to commemorate his birthday, one a track from an album meant to appease his jazz critics, and another a pop single that shows his worldwide appeal (with a conceit that an artist today probably couldn't get away with). You're Looking At Me is a song from the After Midnight album with accompanying alto sax by Willie Smith and is a song that wasn't in Cole's repertoire at the time of the recording. The song is perfectly accentuated by Willie Smith (every track on this album has a special guest accompaniment) as he glides in and out between the verses and Cole's warm voice nicely plays with the falsely self-effacing lyrics. Listen closely to the instrumentation in the background, particularly during the solos, and you can hear Cole tickling the ivories which unfortunately doesn't get as much highlight on this album as it deserves.

L.O.V.E. is a song familiar to all of Coles fans (casual and diehards) and is here presented in a version that you may not be familiar with. Cole recorded a lot of songs in both English and Spanish and on some occasions dabbled in other languages as well (this song was recorded in French, German, and Italian). I don't speak Japanese but this is a song I've always liked and regardless of whether or not he's mangling the pronunciation, the melody is still simple enough to transcend the language barrier.

Blogs Don't Hit Back

2006-02-16T22:50:00.000-08:00

Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra: Big Boss Main Theme
from The Big Boss / Fist of Fury (Soundtracks from the Motion Pictures) (Bungalow Records 2005)

Lalo Schifrin: Sampans
from: Enter The Dragon OST (Warner Bros. 1973)

John Barry: Main Title/Set Fight With Chuck Norris
from: Game Of Death OST (Victor Music 1979)

John Barry: Will This Be The Song I'll Be Singing Tomorrow
from: Game Of Death OST (Victor Music 1979)

If I look back on my childhood, several memories stand out: Transformers, breaking (I used to rock a fresh maroon/dark blue TI jacket with matching pants), drive in theaters showing Godzilla movies, Robotech and of course Bruce Lee. Of them all, Bruce is probably the most memorable. I used to have a shit load of Bruce Lee posters, the canon of 5 movies all recorded on two video cassettes in SLP mode, cotton sole china flats, nunchucks made of Archie comics rolled up tight and bound together with shoelace, I had practically all of the lines from his movies memorized and would act them out with my brother and friends, I had all the fake Bruce Lee actors names memorized, and I even sported a tight ass rice bowl haircut (although that was less of an emulation and more about the limits of my dads skill as a tonsorial artist. Shit if you were to take a picture of me every year from the time I sported the rice bowl to now, you would see an encyclopedia of bad hair styles, from the mullet on down to the high top fade, and I'm sure if my hair were kinky I would probably have rocked a jheri curl).

A Bruce Lee movie had everything that a snot nosed 10 year old punk could want, the rise and fall arc of the kung fu hero, hot females jocking the hero (Nora Miao and Maria Yi will be burned in my memory forever), clear cut lines of good and evil, a mix of martial artists from all fields duking it out, really dark villians and of course Bruce holding back and then finally unleashing some ungodly ass whooping. One aspect of a Bruce Lee flick that was an indelible and integral part of the excitement of the film was the music. The soundtracks always matched up well with the action on the screen and whether it was Joseph Koo's Morricone-esque sounds, or Lalo Shchifrin's funkdafied, wawa guitar laden tracks, his films were blessed with great composers. And I felt that the music of his films deserved their own blog post.

The first track is from his film The Big Boss, known in the U.S. as Fist of Fury. An interesting aside, the original U.S. title was supposed to be Chinese Connection (because of the drug theme and the popularity of the movie The French Connection), but was instead titled Fist Of Fury. So when his second movie came out and was titled internationally as Fist Of Fury, the U.S. title was changed to Chinese Connection, or at least that's what the internet says. When this film was originally released, Wang Fu-ling composed the soundtrack but for the English dub, electro-lounge wizard Peter Thomas scored several pieces including the one that stands out most in my mind, Big Boss Main Theme. With the hard drums and ear stabbing horns in the opening section, the song screams out ass kicking, and then when it switches themes and tempo to the single growling horn the song is in high gear. The piece jumps around once more but the familiar horn break always reappears in the nick of time to drive it home. A more subdued version of this track was sampled by Dilated Peoples for their track Work The Angles.

The Enter The Dragon soundtrack by famed film composer Lalo Schifrin is a beautiful mix of jazz, funk, pentatonic scales and chinese music. At first I was going to include the main theme but I decided instead on the more laid back track Sampans, with it's deep bassline and cool keyboards. Towards the end of the song it picks up a little flair as the wawa guitars kick in but it still keeps the same austere melody that drives it. My favorite use of this as a song sample is probably the Diamond D remix of Let It Out by the Alkaholics.

The one "Bruce Lee" film that makes my skin bristle because of it's obvious exploitation, but that I still include in the canon of 5 is Game Of Death. Using really bad effects of splicing in footage from old movies together with new footage of a Bruce Lee imitator, the movie was hard to watch as a kid because I craved for the genuine article (and I hated to see fellow Pinoy Danny Inosanto getting his ass kicked, even if it was by Bruce). Nowadays I can laugh at the films bad cuts, bad acting and the scene where a cardboard cutout substitutes for Bruce's head, while the body is real! Less offensive is John Barry's soundtrack. While not spectacular by any stretch of the imagination, the track Main Title/Set Fight With Chuck Norris is still very much listenable. It's disco synths and horns actually make this piece just as enjoyable as a stand alone track as it is a part of the soundtrack, with it's big saving grace being the Set Fight coda . The Coleen Camp sung Will This Be The Song I'll Be Singing Tomorrow is sung just as flat as when she reads her lines (she plays the lead actress in the film) but the piece is most memorable as the song that ends the film while a montage of footage from Bruce's prior four films are played.

I originally intended to include music from the movie Chinese Connection because it has an awesome Joseph Koo soundtrack and an awesomely bad sung version of the Main Theme by Mike Remedios in the same vein as Andy Williams' rendering of The Godfather and Love Story Main Themes, but because I'm too lazy to hook up my turntables to my computer right now you'll have to settle for these tracks. Someday I'll post up some Chinese Connection tracks.

And You Don't Stop (Random Heat)

2006-02-04T14:00:00.000-08:00

Key Kool & Rhettmatic: E=Mc5 (Bust Da Scientifical) ft. Vooodu!, LMNO, Meen Green & Ras Kass
from Kozmonautz (Up Above 1995)

Voodu: Pay The Price
from The Next Chapter: Strictly Underground (Immortal/Epic 1995)

LPSD: Real Raps
from Armory Massive Mix CD (Armory 2005)

It's been a while since I last posted and even longer since I last posted some Hip-Hop so I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone. I first started this post with the intention of making it about the west coast underground super group Western Hemisfear, but then I dusted off the first albums of Voodu, Mykill Myers, and Ras Kass (the three members who along with Meen Green and Bird made up the group) and couldn't find a song that really stood out, though there were some cuts on Ras' album. Most of their hot stuff was either consigned to mix tapes, demo tapes or radio appearances. So I just uploaded some random ish that had me open back in the days and one recent track from San Diego's own Hip-Hop Methuselah.

Japanese-American MC Key Kool and Filipino-American DJ Rhettmatic put out the album Kozmonauts in the mid 90's and while the production was on point, the whole experience felt a little "meh" if you know what I mean. One of the reasons I picked it up, aside from supporting Asian-American Hip-Hop was the guest spot by Western Hemisfear alum's and the song itself is probably worth the weight of the album. With the boom bap production provided by Rhettmatic and the lyrical onslaught provided by the MC's and Visonaries member LMNO the song seems to run a lot quicker than the four plus minutes its provided. This song came out at the apex of the buzz about Western Hemisfear so it's indicative of some of their better tracks.

Besides Ras Kass, the MC making the most noise of the crew was definitely Voodu. His production for Ras Kass' album, which never made it to the album due to reasons that I won't touch, definitely helped create the buzz of anticipation that preceded the albums release. Dark and foreboding with an unhealthy dose of melancholia, Voodu's beats were matched by his lyrical content. Unfortunately his album seemed bogged down by this aesthetic, his best tracks were usually the more up-tempo ones. Pay The Price from '95 was surprisingly enough put out on a major label compilation. Produced by Voodu, the slow, lolling track seems to offset the lyrics but the magic of his talent still comes through.

Every city has one. Maybe you know them personally or maybe it's through a friend of a friend, the MC or group that has been holding it down for years and still continues to put out hot stuff despite not being pushed by a major label and San Diego has more than a handful, with LPSD (Lyrical Prophets Strictly Dope) being the most impressive. At the risk of dating myself I first heard about them while still in high school in 1991 and have kept my ear to the ground for any noise about them ever since (shout out to my man Engle for letting me know about this cut). They're probably best known for their track Back At Ya that was featured prominently on The Beat Junkies first commercial mixtape (which goes for an inordinate amount of money on auction sites) and Real Raps continues with the hotness. Fronted by three MC's (Black Ran, Ice Lee, and King D) and one DJ (Steven Flex) I felt the need to post up their new track, taken from a mixtape so don't mind the editing, because of the fact that I'm constantly bumping it and wanted to expose their work to others, and no I'm not a promotional tool for them. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Making Twenty Grand Out Of Fifteen Cents

2006-01-14T14:10:00.000-08:00

Photo courtesy of Soulful Detroit

The Supremes: I Am Woman (Live)
from Where Did Our Love Go (40th Anniversary Edition) (Hip-O Select/Motown 2004)

The Supremes: People (Live)
from Where Did Our Love Go (40th Anniversary Edition) (Hip-O Select/Motown 2004)

The Supremes: Where Did Our Love Go (Live)
from Where Did Our Love Go (40th Anniversary Edition) (Hip-O Select/Motown 2004)

Believe it or not, the success of The Supremes was not always written in stone. First signed to Motown in 1961, they released several singles that made no noise and making their first chart appearance a year later with "Your Heart Belongs To Me" at no.95. In fact in these early years they were alleged to be referred to within Motown as the No Hit Supremes. But that would all change in 1964 with the release of the single "Where Did Our Love Go" and the album of the same name, in fact seven of the twelve songs on the album would chart in the top 100 with three reaching number 1.

As the title single was released, the ladies went on the Dick Clark Caravan of Stars tour, literally receiving bottom billing but over the course of the tour that would change. With the popularity of their single rising, they would be received by wilder and more vocal crowds to their amazement, because they were on tour they hadn't realized how fast their single had risen on the charts. After the tour ended they came back to Detroit and performed a homecoming show at the Twenty Grand nightclub that was recorded for what was supposed to be a live album, succinctly titled "Live, Live, Live" it was even issued a catalog number but which was never released. However with the 40th anniversary of the single and album in 2004, Hip-O Select and Motown released the entire performance on a two disc cd set that also includes both the mono and stereo versions of the album, unreleased cuts and album out-takes which I can't recommend enough.

The first song presented here, I Am Woman (Live), is The Supremes version of the Funny Girl song made famous by Barbara Streisand. The song floats along nicely with it's finger snapping rhythm and despite its antiquated lyrics the song is magic in the hands of The Supremes. Ross' silvery vocals takes on a slightly sensual growl towards the songs end and the crescendo it reaches with the final chorus showcases the strength of the groups vocals, which is something that isn't always highlighted in a Supremes song.

People (Live) is surprise song of the bunch. Led by Florence Ballard, the song has a slightly macabre overtone when you listen to it now considering the circumstances of Ballards life (alcoholism, pill popping and being kicked out of the group, an abusive marriage and financial woes and her death at 32 years of age due to cardiac arrest). Ballard was in fact the founder of The Supremes nee the Primettes a sister group to the Primes who would later be known as The Temptations. The fullness of her voice and its lower register serves the song well and offsets Ross' verse at the end of the song.

The last track is the song that put the Supremes on the map. Where Did Our Love Go (Live) starts off with the familiar double time clap and the foot stomps being replaced with the drums before Ross' familiar vocals kick in. Nothing much needs to be said about this song as this performance perfectly captures the original studio recording, something that doesn't happen much in live performances. Even Mary Wilson's and Ballard's backing vocals mirrors the recording perfectly.

If you have some spare change lying around and you're looking for a complete and near perfect CD acquisition, your money will be well spent purchasing this album.

The War On Christmas...Music

2005-12-24T17:39:00.000-08:00

Frank Sinatra: The Christmas Waltz
from A Jolly Christmas From Frank Sinatra (Capitol 1957)

Since it's Christmas (actually the 24th as I write this) I suppose i should be joining the mass of audiobloggers who have posted the obligatory Christmas song. I could probably post something obscure or non-traditional but the reality of it is is that I hate most mainstream Christmas music and I rarely ever go out of my way to track down or listen to the non-traditional stuff, but there are some songs that I enjoy and Frank Sinatra's version of The Christmas Waltz is one of them. The reason that I like this song so much is that it's in waltz time (obviously) and the 3/4 time of the waltz with it's one chord per measure, 1-2-3 beat is so infectious that anything composed in that manner (classical pieces, mariachi tunes, popular songs etc.) tends to catch my ear. Although putting lyrics over music composed in waltz time sometimes sounds awkward, the composers, Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, and the arranger, Gordon Jenkins make the most out of what they've got, and Frank does a fine job himself. So for what it's worth, merry christmas and happy holidays.

And if you're wondering about the hideously smiling pic of John Gibson above, click on it to see him blow his stack promoting his "war" on christmas. He's not exactly in the best holiday spirits. Also, if you love Christmas music but are tired of the same old same old, give Soul Shower a try, they won't steer you wrong. Hell if you just love good music peep out his site and keep it bookmarked while you're at it.

Richard Pryor

2005-12-11T21:57:00.000-08:00

Richard Pryor: Black & White Women
from Bicentennial Nigger (Warner Brothers 1976)

Richard Pryor: Chinese Food
from Wanted: Richard Pryor (Warner Brothers 1979)

Richard Pryor died at the age of 65. CNN.com has written a nice piece on his death, complete with links to some video pieces. The clips I've provided may not be his best work but they are indicative of his comedic genius.

A Little Bit Country

2005-11-20T20:41:00.000-08:00

A little bit soul?!?

Reuben Howell: Funny How Time Slips Away
from Country Got Soul (Casual 2003)

Dan Penn: If Love Was Money
from Country Got Soul (Casual 2003)

Bobby Hatfield: The Feeling is Right
from Country Got Soul (Casual 2003)

Delaney & Bonnie: We Can Love
from Country Got Soul (Casual 2003)

I have a friend who if you didn't know him, would make your jaw drop at his wanton display of ignorance. He's the type of person who, because he's unable to deal with the complexities of human nature will ascribe to each person a fixed personality reducing them to flat, one-dimensional characters. In other words, if you listen to Hip-Hop music most of the time, in his eyes you become a Hip-Hop head to the exclusion of all other musical genres, and if you listen to alternative or rock, then in his eyes you're a white suburbanite whose album collection consists of nothing but Depeche Mode and Nirvana, and that's not the end of it. This friend of mine even takes it one step further. Depending on the type of personality he's ascribed to you, he'll speak to you in the respective jargon. So if you're a Hip-Hop head, he'll affect a "black" accent, using a lot of "yo's" and "yunowutahmsayin." If you fall into his "white" music category, he'll come at you with the typical black-comedian-faking-a-nasally-white-person accent, addressing you as "dude" (with faux surfer accent) and "Hey there guy" in the aforementioned "white person" accent. Even our own people aren't free from his ignorance. Whenever he's around older Filipino folks, he adopts his "fob" accent, speaking as if he grew up there and learned english as a second language. For me, I fall under the Hip-Hop genre, meaning he'll literally answer my phone calls with "yunowutahmsayin" or respond with an exclamatory remark by saying, "yo word?!?" (did I mention he's hopelessly outdated with his colloquialisms). At first this bothered me a lot, but now I just tend to ignore it, but one thing that still rubs me the wrong way is the way he resigns you to one musical genre. Despite the fact that he knows I listen to practically everything under the sun, he reserves his most incredulous shock whenever I mention anything about country music. And despite the fact that I don't know that much about the genre, or even listen to too much of it, for me to even mention it in front of him, for whatever reason, elicits shock, profanity and the widest saucer eyes you've ever seen. A lot of the times I'll bring up the subject just to push his buttons, and so for you Gil, here is my post about country music.

The selections in this post come from the excellent album Country Got Soul Vol.1". A collection of late 60's early 70's country singers whose musical performances tended to blend country, southern soul and R&B with some groovy blues into a pastiche of palatable country fried soul. All of the artists on the CD are white, but not all of them are exclusively country performers. Some of them were in fact involved or even instrumental in the success of some of the great R&B performers of the time. Reuben Howell was a Motown artist, Eddie Hinton was a session guitar player and songwriter for a lot of R&B performers, and Dan Penn wrote songs for Solomon Burke (I Can't Stop) and Aretha Franklin (Do Right Woman) and the Purify Brother's hit I'm your Puppet to name a few and even considered himself as having the mentality of a black artist. For the most part the selections on the album work, but there are some head scratchers, like Charlie Rich's gleefully funky cover of the Hank Williams classic "Hey Good Lookin" but this post will focus on four of my favorite pieces from the album.

Reuben Howell's Funny How Time Slips Away is laid back and soulful and if you had never heard the Willie Nelson original, you'd probably never would have guessed that this was originally a country song (Al Green even covered the song showing just how common a bedfellow the southern R&B and country genre's were at the time). Howell's version eschews the stripped down instrumentation of the original and opts for the ubiquitous strings and piano of the R&B sound of the time. His vocals match it as he soulfully croons and hits all of the right notes.

Songwriter extraordinaire Dan Penn's If Love Was Money is a foot pounding slice of southern R&B. From the opening drum roll to the beat break that occurs at the end, whatever the song lacks in melody is more than made up for by the stabbing horns and the crescendo that leads into the chorus. As a vocalist, Dan Penn is a capable singer, neither excelling or hindering the song but lending a plaintive enough wail to an otherwise up tempo song to make it slightly ironic. For a good, albeit brief interview with the man, check out this interview from The Box Tops website.

The Feeling is Right by Bobby Hatfield sounds like an R&B song from the 60's with the playful guitar riff that opens it and Hatfield's vocals alternates between gravelly growls to smooth crooning so it comes as a bit of a surprise that this would be included in this collection, especially considering that the original album it comes from "Messin' In Muscle Shoals" is an arguably non country album, though very soulful. Hatfield is better known as being one of the members of The Righteous Brothers and the powerful vocals that were part of there trademark don't fail him in this song.

Delaney & Bonnie, like Dan Penn and Reuben Howell, were artists whose success was miniscule in comparison to their musical contributions and output. But unlike the other artists, D&B were successful in releasing several albums, though the albums weren't very successful. Their music was enjoyed and lauded by a lot of their contemporaries including George Harrison and Eric Clapton and Bonnie Lynn O'Farrell had the prestige of being the first white Ikette (backing vocalists for Ike & Tina Turner). We Can Love, from their 1969 album Home, released on the Stax label no less (the albums failure to chart led them to be dropped), is a rolling mid-tempo ballad that comes and goes in a scant 2:24 but it's brief time is still long enough to leave an impression. Delaney's tenor smoothly meshes with his partner's vocals, coming across like a funkdafied Captain & Tenille. The brevity of the song actually works in its favor because you can feel that if it were any longer the saccharine nature of the lyrics and the melody would begin to weigh it down.

Are these tracks soulful country songs or is it R&B as interpreted by country singers? Because southern soul was an amalgamation of the regions culture, it should be no surprise that the two genres not only blended but blended well enough to allow artists to adopt and interpret each of the respective musics. In the end, the point of this post is that it doesn't really matter which genre these songs fall under, as it's all music and it's all good.

Don't Assume

2005-10-07T13:20:00.000-07:00

It makes an ass out of U and Me

Seona Dancing: More To Lose
from More To Lose 7"

Seona Dancing: More To Lose (War Of The Indies Remix)
from More To Lose 12"

Seona Dancing: Tell Her (Extended Remix)
from Bitter Heart 12"

If you're smart like me you know that the best that television had to offer in the way of comedy writing came and went in a scant 12 episodes and a Christmas special. And now the man behind the creation of that show, Ricky Gervais has his new show Extras playing on HBO (for American viewers). So I thought now would be as good a time as any to break out the mp3's of Ricky's old musical group Seona Dancing (pronounced Shawna ala Sade).

The songs themselves aren't that great, though an article like this one would have you believing that they're the second coming of Duran Duran. Each song is sopped with enough synths, likable melodies and overbearing, pretentious lyrics that it almost sounds like they've hit on the correct formula for your typical 80's new wave hit, so it comes as a surprise that the group (comprised of Ricky Gervais on vocals and Bill Macrae with the music) never made it big; forget charting, they never even released an album.

There best known song, More To Lose, is actually not a bad song if you enjoy keyboards that battle for listening time with the lead vocals ( vocals that have that pre-emo, faux poet whine down pat) and slow stabbing synthesizers, if you could tolerate that, then you are treated to lyrics that have the affectation of something designed to impress but instead turn out to be laughably amusing. When they drop lines like the ones below, you know you're in for a treat:

A thousand tortured lives have fallen/ Wounded dying cut down by the/ Questions that we've sharpened/ Just to save our losing days/ We thought we'd nothing more to lose/ We'd tear our hearts with jagged truths/ And everything we'd hung to for so long/ Just slipped away

The War Of The Indies mix just doubles up on everything, so if you find the original song enjoyable, you'll probably enjoy even more the remix.

The other song Tell Her is more of the same but the Extended Mix, presented here, opens with a nice disco tempo break with a wailing bass line and that gives way at first to sporadic drum rolls and then the ubiquitous synths kick in. This extends for what seems like half of the song, because it almost literally is, before the vocals come in, in fact the song is probably 3/4 instrumentation and 1/4 vocals. The one great redeeming aspect of these songs is that they're very melodically driven and the melodies are very catchy.

While the group didn't capture the fame that they aspired to, the song More To Lose was a big hit in the Philippines, where the New Wave scene was in full effect in the 80's. According to The Wily Filipino the song More To Lose was released there but was titled Fade and the group was billed as Medium in order for the radio station that popularized it to keep exclusivity rights to the song (brings to mind the old school Hip Hop dj's like Bambaataa who would tear off the labels of popular breaks in order to hide the song and title). I asked my sister in law who was born and raised there about the song and she said she recognized it because her sister used to record it off the radio back in the days. It just goes to show for all you aspiring artists, that no matter how unappreciated your endeavors may be, somewhere out there someone will be able to appreciate your artistic output. If you're at all interested in learning more about the group, visit Tania's cool website dedicated to all things Seona.

Hit It And Quit It

2005-10-01T12:43:00.000-07:00

Funkadelic: Back In Our Minds
from Maggot Brain (Westbound 1971)

For those who don't know or who might have forgotten, PBS is going to spotlight Parliament/Funkadelic as part of their Independent Lens series. For more information about the Parliament episode, including whether or not it's going to be playing in your area, click here for information. If it's not playing in your area (the website checks the proceeding two weeks of the upcoming schedule) don't worry because your local PBS may have scheduled it to come out sometime later, it took my local station over two weeks to broadcast the documentary Guns, Germs and Steel.

Gotta Post Something That Means Something

2005-09-23T23:30:00.000-07:00

The Pharcyde: Y (Be Like That) (Jaydee Remix)
from Drop 12-inch (Delicious Vinyl 1995)

The Pharcyde: She Said (Mike Caren Remix)
from She Said 12-inch (Delicious Vinyl 1996)

The Pharcyde's first album was a subtly misleading venture. The freeform production and songs like Ya Mama provided an air of quirkiness and levity (and not to mention the freeform, anatomically correct roller coaster cover) but that album can be thought of as more like the class clown who avoids getting his ass whipped through self-deprecation and by acting a fool. But because it received more critical acclaim for presenting a side of Los Angeles that wasn't obsessed with gangsterism and with presenting an easily palatable, humorous side of Hip Hop, it is now seen as the high point of their career and a departure from the rest of their discography (with each subsequent album labeled as being more mature and more focused). This is an assessment that I've always had a problem with. Did they become more "mature" with each proceeding album, particularly between Bizarre Ride and Labcabincalifornia? I'd argue no. The content of their message and the way it was delivered may have been more sophisticated when their second album dropped but I'll argue that their first album, despite some of it's puerile songs, was just as mature and just as conscious as anything on their second album. All you have to do is look at the song It's Jiggaboo Time that covers a subject that every "conscious" rapper has touched upon and will continue to examine, all the different way's that an artist sells out; the song ultimately ending in a mocking self-referential indictment that's as "mature" as it is satirical.

The difference between the first and second album isn't in the maturity of their lyrical content, but in the production and a bit in their delivery. More restrained and contemplative, the beats reflect the leap from the satiric nature of Bizarre Ride to a more prosaic form that comes from the burden of label politricking. The Jaydee Remix of Y, with it's new lyrics is one example. The song, more somber in tone, still has the hallmark Pharcyde sound with the sing song chorus and off kilter delivery.

The remix of She Said by Mike Caren (who happens to be Senior Veep of A&R at Atlantic and who signed Apathy of Demigodz fame) is a song that can be thought of as being more mature in content when compared to any of their previous outings, particularly after listening to Fatlip's verse about taking a girl home but not dicking her down, but really it's a song that could have probably fit in with their first album and nobody would have been none the wiser as some of their songs from their first album dealt with the same theme.

Unfortunately the Pharcyde of the first two albums no longer exists and with the exit of Fatlip, and Slimkid Tre, the group was left without their two most dynamic personalities, but credit has to be given as the other two, Romye and Imani still continue to plug away and make some decent, passable music.

Intermission

2005-09-08T19:50:00.000-07:00

Not an audio post per se, but it does have to do with audio and mp3's. For my fellow bloggers out there who would like to get there hands on an iPod nano, jump on over to The Unofficial Apple Weblog for a chance to win one. They're giving away a white one to one lucky and creative blogger. They look really nice (the nano and the site) and it requires very little from you so feel free to give it a try.

Meet Me At The Copa Again

2005-09-08T00:28:00.000-07:00

Sam Cooke: If I Had a Hammer
from Sam Cooke at the Copa (ABCKO 1964)

Sam Cooke: This Little Light of Mine
from Sam Cooke at the Copa (ABCKO 1964)

Sam Cooke: Tennessee Waltz
from Sam Cooke at the Copa (ABCKO 1964)

Sam Cooke at the Copa is a significant album, not for the performance per se (it's nowhere near as intense as his Harlem Square Club performance), but because it is one of the few live recordings of Cooke that's readily available and because of that fact, it should be required listening for any fan of good music. It's also a sort of prodigal homecoming for Cooke who first performed at the Copa in 1958 but at the time left the crowd and critics less than half satisfied. I posted before on Sam Cooke and gushed about how fiery and soulful a live performer he is, but on this recording, playing to a mostly white audience, he is a lot more restrained though still an effective performer, and his ability to interpret a lyric masterfully is still present.

Listening to the first track If I Had A Hammer, a folk hit for The Weavers and later for Peter, Paul and Mary, one can hear that even a largely white audience reluctant to drop the veneer of decorum fall prey to Sam's ability to control a crowd. Picking himself up gracefully after missing a lyric early on, Cooke first leads the band in a call and response and then tries to coax the reluctant crowd into singing along. It takes a couple of verses but let's face it, with Cooke's gospel background and angelic voice, it's a wonder that it took the crowd that long to get into it.

This Little Light Of Mine is a gospel song that opens with a low chorus that sets the pace for the song. Finger snapping his way through it, Cooke is the reverend through and through and leads the band to its conclusion as it builds to a crescendo and then quickly brings itself low again and ends with a call and response. The final song is one that should be easily recognizable if any other singer covered it, but Cooke's rendition of the Patty Page classic is sped up to a frenetic and soulful pace, which he even acknowledges as the song opens. The song is beautifully interpreted not only by Cooke, listen to his improvisations, but also by the conductor Rene Hall who sets the tempo and instrumentation perfectly to go along with the lyrics, building the song up to not only accentuate the feeling but also to allow Cooke his graceful bowing out of the concert.

Recorded just five months prior to his death, Sam Cooke at the Copa is a fascinating piece of work. When juxtaposed with his recording at the Harlem Club the albums are like night and day, seemingly two mutually exclusive phenomena but they are in fact an inclusive portrait of the man as a performer: powerful, captivating soulful and musically inclined towards sublimity. And despite having to cater his performance towards the largely white audience, it is still as effective and as breathtaking as you would expect.

Meet Me At The Copa

2005-08-29T18:53:00.000-07:00

Marvin Gaye: How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)
from Marvin Gaye at the Copa (Hip-O Select 2005)

Marvin Gaye: Georgia Rose
from Marvin Gaye at the Copa (Hip-O Select 2005)

Marvin Gaye: Strangers In The Night
from Marvin Gaye at the Copa (Hip-O Select 2005)

Marvin Gaye: Laia Ladaia (Reza)
from Marvin Gaye at the Copa (Hip-O Select 2005)

Marvin Gaye was never your traditional R&B singer. His was a sound that transcended the genre which he was placed in and the formulaic Motown songs that charted for him and he was truthfully soulful whereas others simply presented soul on a superficial level. And even though he recorded mainly R&B songs, he was no stranger to the traditional standards and early on in his career even aspired to be a jazz vocalist in the tradition of Nat "King" Cole. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that during the 60's when Motown owner Berry Gordy wanted to take the Motown sound uptown to conquer the one venue that epitomized show biz tradition, he would bring his roster of established artists like Diana Ross & the Supremes (1965), Marvin Gaye (1966) and the Temptations (1968) to New York's Copacabana. What is a surprise is that while the Supremes, and the Temptations both released their Copa albums, Gaye's album was shelved before it could be released (the liner notes say that Gordy wasn't satisfied with Gaye's concerts and their emphasis on ballads over his established hits).

Fast forward some forty years as Hip-O Select finally releases Marvin Gaye at the Copa in a limited edition package with a handsome and detailed cd jacket and liner notes. Listening to the songs on this album it's hard not to second guess Gordy's reasoning regarding not releasing it. Even though there is an abundance of ballads, each one is endearing and sounds so natural and fits in so well with the flow of the album that it can be said with confidence that Gordy made a big mistake never releasing it.

The album is balanced between some of his hits and Motown's hits, popular standards from Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, Broadway songs and current (at that time) songs. His hit song How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You is swinging and playful with a nice call and response break towards the end. Gerogia Rose is a song that I was unfamiliar with. Sounding a lot like Hoagy Carmichael's Georgia On My Mind, a fact that doesn't escape Marvin or conductor Maurice King as they flip the song halfway through, slowing it down for a bar before returning to the original. At the time of this recording, the song was a controversial single for Tony Bennett.

Strangers In The Night is Marvin's rendition of the Sinatra classic and he does it justice. Speeding up the tempo and paying homage to his old group the Moonglows during the break (the Shoo Be Doo directly references one of their old singles) Gaye gets to show off his jazz vocal aspirations and he handles it aptly proving that he had the vocal chops to make it as a standards singer, something he explored throughout his recording career but never finding success with. And then there is the one anomaly in the album but also one of the best songs, Laia Ladaia (Reza). The simmering piano and horns work together with the bass and complement Marvin's seductive crooning so well that one very vocal woman can be heard ready to give it up in the first verse and when the tempo speeds up to a dizzying frenetic pace, it makes you wish that there was a video-recording of this performance because it's easy to picture Marvin and his backup dancers, the Gayettes (seriously) busting out a smooth choreographed dance number. This song alone is worth the purchase of the album, and you can consider the other cuts as some damn good bonuses.

If you're a fan of Marvin Gaye, Motown or renditions of pop standards I strongly suggest you pick this album up. Hell, if you're just a casual fan of Marvin Gaye pick this up as it will give you a greater appreciation of him as a singer and performer. Plus, it is a limited edition album, although a print run of 20,000 seems to ensure it will be around for a while. In the end, this is an essential must own album for all music lovers.

The Summer Is Ending, And We Are Still Not Saved

2005-08-18T18:45:00.000-07:00

Wailing Souls: Fire House Rock
from Fire House Rock (Shanachie 1980)

Scientist: The Mummy's Shroud
from Scientist Rids The World Of The Evil Curse Of The Vampires (Greensleeves 1981)

As the number of days to September 22 (the official start of Fall for 2005) draws nearer my dislike for the summer season lessens and my mood mellows just a bit and ironically I find myself listening more and more to music and songs that bring to mind the apex of the summer season.

The first track is one such song. The roots classic Fire House Rock is a mixture of pure perfection. Like a finely layered baklava, the combination of The Wailing Souls singing, the Roots Radics backing band, Henry "Junjo" Lawes production and The Scientist engineering the sound, everything works to perfection and each piece complements the others. From the opening sound of the familiar drum roll and chirping birds to the infectious scat and howls of the singer, the song brings to mind all that is enjoyable about summer (even I can't argue that summer isn't a beautiful season). In fact this whole album screams musical perfection and you do yourself a great disservice if you don't go out and buy a copy of it in whatever format you find it in.

Next up is the dub version of the same song from Scientist. Taking the instrumentation of Fire House Rock, Overton "Scientist" Brown laces it with just the right amount of reverb, vocal editing, and thickens up the bass and percussion to a molasses like texture. As a dub mix, Scientist pulls magic out of a song that is essentially perfect. Free of the Wailing Souls mesmerizing vocals, the dub mix naturally emphasizes the aspects of the song that make it so hauntingly beautiful. The guitars and horn come to the forefront, and the slap of the drums midway through the song sting harder than a slap on a sunburnt back and Scientists bag of tricks fill in where the vocals once shone making this a whole different song that stands on it's own. And the crowning jewel of this piece? The eye popping album cover showing Scientist mounted behind his studio sound board with some maaaasive speakers hunting down some dubious characters.

The Summer Is Ending, And We Are Not Saved

2005-08-09T21:00:00.000-07:00

Out in the streets, they call it murder!

Damian "Jr Gong" Marley: Welcome to Jamrock
from Welcome To Jamrock single (Up Above 2005)

John Holt: I'd Love You to Want Me
from 1000 Volts of Holt (Trojan 1973) reissued as 1000 Volts of Holt (Trojan 2002)

As August comes to a close and the season of sticky skin, clingy shirts and rampant underarm stank leaves us for the short days and orange tinted evenings of fall I thought what better way to celebrate and to kiss the summer goodbye than by posting random songs that have been getting constant play in the Filthy Choice household (non-sensical non-sequiturs are a norm in here).

First up is the already played out yet always fresh Welcome To Jamrock by Damian Marley. With it's mix of deep, plodding dancehall basslines and socially relevant lyrics this song has everything going for it. Stirring up a little controversy when it dropped, critics saying that it portrayed Jamaica as a harshly dichotomous city of extreme poverty on one side and exploitive politicians on the other, well listening to the song you can't argue with the points. With mocking lyrics like "some bwoy nah notice, dem only come around like tourist/On di beach wid a few club sodas/Bedtime stories, and pose like dem name Chuck Norris/And don’t know di real hardcore" Damian doesn't pull no punches. He presents the side of Jamaica that never gets mentioned in the tourist brochures and is able to tie together the inadequacies of ghetto life and how it permeates the very being of it's citizens, and with the Ini Kamozie vocal sample this song is the perfect farewell vehicle for summer's swan song.

The other song is by the great John Holt. Taken from his crossover hit album 1000 Volts of Holt, Holt covers the insipid Lobo song of the same name and in the tradition of great cover songs, he laces it with enough elan and rhythm that the song not only becomes palatable, it becomes enjoyable. I don't know why I love this song, I just do and sometimes that's a good enough explanantion. Listen for the "mash up" of the song with the Beatles Let It Be about halfway through.

Where Are They Now?

2005-08-05T13:00:00.000-07:00

The guy that used to put the cape on James Brown?

Red Foo & Dre Kroon: On The Microphone - Featuring Promise
from Balance Beam (Bubonic 1997)

Red Foo & Dre Kroon: The Freshest - Featuring Evidence of Dilated Peoples, DJ Revolution, & Promise
from Balance Beam (Bubonic 1997)

Red Foo & Dre Kroon: Life Is A Game Of Chess (Pt. 2) - Featuring Promise
from Balance Beam (Bubonic 1997)

Jumping around different blogs I've noticed that three in particular have recently posted tracks from Hip-Hop artists that have not been in the public eye for a minute. B-Side Wins Again posted about Low Profile (with a young WC who went on to bigger and better things), while Treat Williams did a post on a personal favorite Kwest the Madd Lad (pick up 101 Things To While I'm With Your Girl before it's gone) and the good people over at The Broke BBoys not only did a post on Bone, Thugs & Harmony but also did one on X-Clan. All of these artists are currently living under the banner of obscurity (with the exception of the aforementioned WC) and reading these posts brought to mind a group that has also dropped off the face of the earth. Red Foo & Dre Kroon, a rapper/singer duo that dropped one album in 1997 and seemed to have not made a peep since then. They made some noise in the underground with their first single "The Freshest" featuring a young Evidence and DJ Revolution. Not knowing anything other than that about them I'm not gonna wax philosophical on their place in Hip-Hop, instead I just present these songs for you.

As a group they're blend of rap and singing tries to take a more unique approach to the combo than what usually happens, where the singer only handles the chorus and is there to accentuate the rapper. Here they actually trade verses and it doesn't sound as awkward as it presents itself as is the case with On The Microphone. As a rapper Red Foo is not bad, tending towards the super scientifical at times, but his voice and delivery are unique enough to make him stand out as when he drops the line "Attack, with more energy than tech/no when I let go the neck go wreck" in Life Is A Game Of Chess. But it's is his work as a producer that should get most of the accolades. Delivering the Boom Bap, his drum programming and overall production just makes your head nod. Listen to The Freshest and try not to move your neck. Dre Kroon as a singer is less inspiring. With a limited range (think Nate Dogg but a little higher pitched) he bounces off Red Foo well enough and his southern drawl makes for an odd but pleasing complement to Red Foo's nasally delivery, plus he has some ties to San Diego according to the liner notes which is always a plus.

Another group that fell through the cracks when the Hip-Hop underground/independent movement went bust in the late 90's, I'd seriously like to know what happened to them. If anyone has any info on them, please feel free to comment.

Ain't No Cure For The Summertime Blues?

2005-07-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

Yellowman: Nobody Move Nobody Get Hurt
from Nobody Move Nobody Get Hurt (Shanachie 1984)

Marcia Griffiths: Play Me
from Sweet Bitter Love (Trojan Records 1974) also on Put a Little Love in Your Heart: The Best of Marcia Griffiths 1969-1974 (Trojan Reocrds 2001)

I don't think I'll ever get used to summer. Everything from the hot, humid and restless nights to the way the sweat makes the clothes stick to your body irritates me and makes me cranky and lazy. It's one of the reasons the updates to Filthy Choice have been sporadic lately, that and the fact that in order to beat the heat, I avoid staying inside the house for too long which keeps me away from accessing the computer and my music. During one of my crankier moments I was spinning Yellowman's Nobody Move and I gained an appreciation for it that I didn't have when listening to it in a mellower mood.

Nobody Move Nobody Get Hurt is the kind of song that can even make a cantankerous person smile. Toasting about a big middle finger to the military authority of Jamaica over a True True riddim, Yellowman rocks the song with it's thick Roots Radics bassline and heavy reverb intro courtesy of dub wizard Scientist. The life of Yellowman as a whole is like a loud "Fuck You" to the forces that would hold a person down. Living with the stigma of albinism in Jamaica (where it's looked at superstitiously as a curse) he shamelessly turned his albino features into a self-assured gimmick and won accolades and derision for his slack toasting. Later he would battle both throat and skin cancer and still go on to record songs. Of course for Hip-Hop fans the song is easily (no pun intended) recognizable from the Eazy-E song Nobody Move or from the derivative Nobody Move by Poor Righteous Teachers. If you're like me and get testy whenever the heat begins to weigh down on you and there's no relief in site, bust out this song and know that you're not alone.

Of course summer isn't all about repressive heat. Sometimes the ills of the dog days can be offset by the right, fleetingly serendipitous moment like those times when a breeze blows by and cools the beads of sweat that form on the back of your neck or when a song silently creeps out of nowhere to bring a smile to your face. Play Me by Marcia Griffiths is one of those songs. A remake of the Neil Diamond classic, this song works in a way that the original only hinted at. Neil's version is weighed down by the heavy handedness of it's melancholy rhythm and the reputation that comes with the image of an hirsute, open-shirted, mutton sideburned 70's pop star, everything that Marcia isn't. Gone is the steady, unwavering voice, and studio slick acoustics that lent itself well to the poetry-aspiring lyrics. They've now been replaced with the unsure warbling of Marcia's rendition. Her version lacks the confidence of Neil's which is actually an asset as it adds gravitas and honesty to the first verse and conveys a true sense of surprise that the lyric requires. This version is the equivalent of that cool breeze on a hot summer day, it's always welcome and it makes the intolerable that much more bearable.

The sad thing about all my griping is that I live in San Diego where the temperature is constantly in the mid 70's and anytime it gets over 85 degrees, the heat becomes intolerable for me. Compared to more uncomfortable locations where overbearing heat and humidity are a constant, I sound like a whining pussy, but hey if there wasn't anywhere to whine or anything to complain about the Blog community would never have come into existence.

Harm Me With Harmony

2005-07-17T14:50:00.000-07:00

Naughty By Nature: O.P.P. Sunny Days Remix
from O.P.P. Single (Tommy Boy 1991)

Naughty By Nature: O.P.P. Live
from Everything's Gonna Be Alright Single (Tommy Boy 1991)

As the dog days of summer kick into high gear I thought it would be appropriate to throw up the ubiquitous summer blog post that extols the virtue of the season of love and conception and what better song to set it off than Naughty By Nature's ode to infidelity.

The O.P.P. Sunny Days Remix takes a more laid back approach by using the beautiful Delegation sample from Oh Honey while still keeping the Melvin Bliss drum break and flipping the pre-Neverland Michael vocal sample and mixing all of this to perfection. This version works extremely well with the lyrics and is perfect for those lazy Sunday afternoons when you're getting you're whistle wet with other peoples property.

The second cut is a live version of O.P.P. that's memorable for two reasons. One is when Vinny, who plays the hype man throughout the song, inexplicably starts declaring his love for Treach, and does it rather loudly. Of course it's part of the song but still hearing it is a little humorous. The second highlight of this version is when Treach drops an extra verse and calls himself the "human pussy puncher". Lyrically, Treach was at the top of his game back then and could stand up to practically anyone so an extra verse is always a plus.

The most beautiful aspect of Naughty By Nature (around the time their first album dropped) is how they married street credibility, easily accessible commercial beats and dope lyrical content and delivery and made it work so that it pleased everyone, although it began to get passe and irritating by the time Hip Hop Hooray dropped.

On a side note, if you're viewing this blog using IE I would suggest using any other browser as I viewed it using Internet Explorer and it was not a pretty site.

I Don't Want No Minute Man

2005-07-11T16:33:00.000-07:00

7 G.O.A.T.'s swinging on a branch...

LL Cool J: 6 Minutes Of Pleasure (Hey Girl Remix)
from 6 Minutes of Pleasure 12" (Columbia 1991)

A simple case of an unintentional lyrical faux pas or an ameliorating self-confession from the Greatest of All Time? Either way the title of this cut has always bugged me. The title suggests that it would seem to be an ode to the quickie, but lyrically the song and title are so disconnected that one is obviously not referring to the other. Rather it seems to be in reference to the Kangoled one's sexual prowess, which if true, is not something you want to exactly be bragging about. Regardless of the titles meaning this song is a definite summer banger.

"Remixed by the one and only marley marl[sic]" (and that's a direct quote from the back cover) the song lasts a little under five minutes, which eliminates another possible meaning, but the songs length is filled up with a more subtle bass line than the original and removes the cheesy horn sample in favor of the famous Funky President guitar sample and drums. This is from the classic Todd James rapper/dancer era when he would bust a move like a poor man's Big Daddy Kane, and this song lends itself well to that type of stuff so feel free to cut up the rug while bumping this, trust me no one will be looking.

Score 100 G's Every Time I Play Atari (The Second Part)

2005-07-05T19:32:00.000-07:00

Mooki: I Just Smile [Burning Rangers]
from SONICTEAM UNPLUGGED LIVE 2004

Mooki: Chant This Charm [Giant Egg]
from SONICTEAM UNPLUGGED LIVE 2004

Continuing what I started several posts ago is two songs from that prior post this time sung in a more loungy mood by Japanese chanteuse Minato "Mooki" Obata. As a singer, Mooki is a very capable artist with a strong, breathy voice and she mixes well with the live instrumentation and the lounge sound but the songs themselves add an unintentional hilarity, particularly her version of Chant This Charm.

I Just Smile opens with the soft, pattering high-hats of the original and breaks down after 8 bars into the song and while the high notes sometimes eludes her, the singer still does a good job of emoting and capturing a mood, particularly when the second verse drops. While this song can be listened to and appreciated with a straight face, Mooki's grasp of the grammatically awkward english lyrics are pounded out by the strength of her delivery, the second song is bound to evoke the kind of laughter you would hear in a Junior High sex-ed class.

Chant This Charm was passable as a J-pop song but as it's played here, with the reserved sound of a lounge atmosphere, this song seems more in line with the type of satires that Bill Murray used to excel at. It's to her credit that Obata manages to sing the chorus without laughing and more amazingly sing it with feeling. The slow tempo only adds to the humor, but in the end the song works because it is such a 180 degree turn from the original version. By stripping it of all of it's saccharine intentions, the song attains a humor that is easily lost when listening to the original version.

RIP Luther Vandross 1951-2005

2005-07-02T11:25:00.000-07:00

Luther Vandross: Dance With My Father
from Dance With My Father (2003 J-Records)

Dead at the age of 54.

For more info

Score 100 G's Every Time I Play Atari

2005-06-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

When I was dead broke, man I couldn't picture this

Burning Rangers: I Just Smile (English version) ft. Pamela Driggs
from Burning Rangers OST (Marvelous Entertainment 1998)

Yukari Fresh: Chant This Charm (Theme of Giant Egg)
from Music Popped Out Of the Egg - Giant Egg OST (Wave Master 2003)

Masaya Matsuura: Funny Love
from PaRappa The Rapper OST (Sony Music 1996)

I've been a video game fanatic for as long as I can remember, well actually since about 1979 when the Atari 2600 came into the Filthy Choice household (back when it still had the woodgrain face panel) and through all the different iterations of video game systems, I've pretty much let the damn things take up way too much of my time. The sad thing is that for the most part, the games tend to be frivolous, trite and a mind numbing lesson in rote memorization and yet I still find them appealing, which is either indicative of how empty and dull my life is or how cunningly designed and marketed games and the game industry has become. But this isn't about all that, rather it's about Video Game music and in particular about the three tracks provided for this post.

The first song is from Burning Rangers, a game that didn't get much attention when it came out because it was released about the same time that the console it appeared on was dying out. Sung by Pamela Driggs, a Jazz and Boss Nova vocalist, the song has a light, airy almost ephemeral feeling to it and like the game it appeared on it fades quickly from memory if not listened to enough and yet despite this non-praise I find myself often listening to this song and enjoying it because of all the aforementioned traits. Her voice, singing what is an obviously mangled engrish translation of the original lyrics, fits the tune nicely with it's jazz inclinations and laid back instrumentation.

The second tune, Chant This Charm is typical J-pop fluff but distinguishes itself because of the hilarious chorus, where the singer warbles the lines "coo-coo, coo-coo doodle doo/ chant this charm you'll feel so good." Unfortunately this song is so grippingly saccharine that if your not careful it lodges in your head and sits there like a thick chunk of caramel lodged in between your teeth. The song, as sung by Japanese artists Yukari Fresh is fun, lighthearted and vacuous and has perplexing lyrics that matches an even more perplexing premise of a game.

The third song is from the game Parappa The Rapper and is sung so horribly that it could easily be mistaken for an American Idol audition reel. Funny Love was not included in the game as far as I know, and it's easy to hear why. The singer strains his voice so hard to reach a range that it has no right going to, that you can't help but wince at his attempts to hit the high notes. Why include it in this post you might be asking? Honestly I don't know, I just happen to enjoy it's melody and the game it comes from.

In the end, the selections I chose are not indicative of the quality of Video Game Music. It actually does the genre an egregious injustice because there have been some very good musical pieces created by Video Game composers, but ultimately, the bad ones are so much more entertaining. To prove it, just listen to the song The Jet Baby. It doesn't get better than that.

Blame It On The Bossa Nova

2005-06-20T16:22:00.000-07:00

Nouvelle Vague: Love Will Tear Us Apart
from Nouvelle Vague (Luaka Bop 2005)

Nouvelle Vague: Just Can't Get Enough
from Nouvelle Vague (Luaka Bop 2005)

Nouvelle Vague: I Melt with You
from Nouvelle Vague (Luaka Bop 2005)

Let me first start off this post by shouting out the homey Jenn for putting me up on this CD, something for which I'm sure I never would have picked up on had she not told me about it.

Even though the album has been out for a minute, I've only started to really listen to it within the past few days and decided, what the hell I might as well throw up something about it. Unfortunately I don't know much about them, save for what the liner notes and a few online sources have provided, including their own website and from these sources one can gather that the group is made of Marc Collins and Olivier Libaux, two musician/producers who took a group of female singers and some 80's punk and new wave songs and ripped out the essence of the tracks and remade them as pseudo Bossa Nova songs. Does it work? Not always, but when it does work each chanteuse delivers a very enjoyable song and in the end isn't that what we all want from our music.

For this post I took the three most recognizable songs from the album (though not necessarily the three best) to give the uninitiated a taste of what the album has in store. Just Bossa Nova enough to delineate it from the kitschy these tracks scream of an Astrud Gilberto influence. Each flowery voiced singer delivers a staid, yet respectable performance while keeping the melodic essence of the song intact.

Love Will Tear Us Apart opens with the soft sounds of waves coming in on the beach and then breaks down to a smoky, sweaty rendition of the Joy Division hit. The second track, I Just Can't Get Enough is a much more endearing song, stripping the synth sounds of the original and replacing it with driving percussion's and rhythmic acoustic guitars and piano, the breakdown seals the deal with it's toe tapping drums and piercing whistle. In it's own way, I Melt With You works even though the original has a greater hold on me. Gone is the faster tempo of the original, making the opening line "moving forward using all my breath" almost ironic as it's interpreted by the singer of the Nouvelle Vague version. But it's the childlike xylophone and the lumbering, almost country-western percussion that makes the song enjoyable, and it succeeds despite the sometimes heavy-handedness of the vocalist to carry the song farther than it's allowed.

As a whole the album is very successful in that every song is one that can be listened through in it's entirety, which is something of an exception nowadays. But coming from someone who's exposure to punk and alternative is minimal at best, this is probably something you would want to pick up only if you want to hear a tribute album that comes out of left field.

Mindless Music For The Masses Makes Ya

2005-06-14T13:10:00.000-07:00

Think less of the one that hates ya

Atban Klann: No Sequel
from Grassroots LP (Ruthless 1992)
Atban Klann: Open Your Mind
from Grassroots LP (Ruthless 1992)
Atban Klann: Mountain Top
from Grassroots LP (Ruthless 1992)

Now I admit to having a soft spot for the Black Eyed Peas. Even though lyrically they're not that impressive (and they've gotten progressively worse in their attempt to fill up their albums with four minute sound bites instead of songs) and beat wise, Wil I Am, though competent behind the boards leaves a lot to be desired. I think my admiration stems from two reasons, 1. one of the members, like me is Filipino and 2. I bought into their whole socially conscious/jazzy/independent/backpacker sound that they had when their first album dropped. But since then the only fascination that the group held for me was the fact that apl.de.ap was dropping songs with Tagalog sprinkled in it, and like most critics I've, sometimes unfairly, dismissed them as radio pop fluff (though to be honest, they've worked hard to earn that rep).

Tracing their roots back to their days as the Atban Klann, when they were first signed to Ruthless Records by Eazy-E, you can hear in their sound a genuine love for Hip-Hop and songs like No Sequel show that they could have easily been a second tier Souls of Mischief or Pharcyde, and considering how far both of those groups have fell it's easy to imagine that the the B.E.P. nee Atban Klann could have easily surpassed them even had they continued with this sound, which makes it kind of difficult to listen to these tracks as I'm the type of person who waxes nostalgic about the days when Hip-Hop was "good". Mixing live instrumentation and samples into their beats, their music was diverse and eclectic and yet still easily accessible.

The marriage of the Atban Klann and Ruthless seems like an odd one, the former a socially conscious rap group with an east coast jazz influenced sound and the latter the hallmark of Gangsta rap, but at the time of their signing, Ruthless Records had it's fair share of conscious rap acts in the likes of Blood of Abraham and Yomo & Maulkie so Atban Klann was not exactly alone but their sound and whole persona led to label politricking and a marketing disaster so their album never saw the light of day and with the death of Eazy in 1995 the group found itself without a label. The album that they recorded for Ruthless, Grassroots, had some songs that upon listening could have easily fit into the early 90's sound. And with the satirically misogynistic song Mountain Top countered by Open Your Mind, it's a wonder that the album was never released (but then again, hindsight is 20/20) It's a shame they were never given a chance to shine as the Atban Klann because as the B.E.P.'s they seemed to forsaken music for marketing.

Nothing Sounds Quite Like An 808

2005-06-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

Gucci Crew: Sally, That Girl
from So Def, So Fresh, So Stupid (Gucci Crew 1988)

D.O.C.: Let The Bass Go
from No One Can Do It Better (Atlantic 1989)

Original Concept: Pump That Bass
from Straight From The Basement Of Kooley High (Def Jam 1988)

One of the greatest advents of 80's Hip Hop has to be the the use of the kick drum on the Roland TR-808 drum machine, first made famous by Rick Rubin and Jazzy Jay on T La Rock's cut It's Yours. This simple move shifted the dynamics of Hip Hop from the tinny sounds of the cheap drum machines to the kind of bass that could punch a hole in your chest if you weren't careful. The use of one kick drum also gave rise to a lot of careers that never would have flourished had the 808 never caught on.

Case in point, The Gucci Crew II. Probably best known for Sally and their seminal hit Gucci Bass, the crew will never be mistaken for great lyricists but that can be forgiven considering that their one great redeeming value is the window rattling bass that laced all of their songs. And speaking of "great" lyricists, is it any surprise that B.E.P. in their new song Don't Phunk With My Heart lift a vocal sample from the song Sally-a nostalgic nod or a self-effacing shout out to just how weak the group is lyrically, but that's neither here nor there. The reason I chose this song over Gucci Bass, The Cabbage Patch, or another favorite of mine Truz n Vogues is that this song has a lot of sentimental value for me. The song brings to mind my days as a youngsta: my friend Mel pounding out the beat on the lunch table and us freestyling the song only replacing Sally with the flavor of the week. Also the then titillating lyrics were the equivalent to a Penthouse Letter to my no-game-having, no-pussy-getting 15 year old self (sadly, little has changed). The Gucci Crew would later try to recreate the success of this song with the originally titled Shirley, but it's Sally with it's purile, sing song, easy to recite lyrics and it's copious amount of 808 that takes the cake.

The second cut Let The Bass Go shows that not all 808 songs were just about the bass at the expense of lyrics. The Dr. Dre produced song absolutely bumps, particularly when the breakdown comes towards the end of the fourth verse and with the D.O.C. dropping his smooth delivery the song works in a way that Hip Hop songs always should, as a marriage of beat and lyric.

Original Concept's Pump That Bass came out around the time when Hip Hop truly embraced 808. 1986 brought out cuts like Shy D's Gotta Be Tough, 2 Live Crew's Get It Girl, and Rodney O & Joe Cooley's Everlasting Bass. Made up of Dr. Dre and T-Money (both of Yo Mtv Raps fame) this song also brings back fond memories of homemade mixtapes where this song would be mixed with Gigolo Tony's song Fat Rome or Hokey Pokey (note to self, post those mixes up here someday) and of shitty corollas and dropped Nissan pickups that used to drive by the Junior High I went to bumping this song from generic brand 15" subwoofers, and how I longed to one day own my own shitty car with a booming system. At the risk of sounding like an old codger, they just don't make songs like this anymore.

808 is still around in the form of booty music and that slow southern-fried chopped and screwed type song and if you listen to it now, not much has changed. It's still the same easy lyrics with an over-emphasis on production but the genre has definitely become more exclusive and the appreciation has become less pronounced by the Hip Hop community. For a really good overview of the genre peep out PappaWheelie's History of Bass. It's really informative and tracks the genre from it's birth up to the ass clapping sound of the new wave of bass artists.

Bound To Happen

2005-05-31T16:38:00.000-07:00

Clarence Reid: Nobody But You Babe
from Dancin' With Nobody But You Babe (Atlantic 1969)

William Bell: I Forgot To Be Your Lover
from Bound to Happen (Stax 1969)

One of the more beautiful aspects about spring in Southern California is the ability to kick back under the sun and have the cool breeze of the beach winds dance on your skin and through your hair while you drink ice cold coronas from an ice filled cooler and barely break a sweat all while you listen to music so funky and so moving you can't help but play them over and over again. For those who have never had this small luxury of life I wish I could help you experience it but since I can't provide everything needed to fulfill this I can at least provide a bit of a soundtrack for this idyllic image.

Clarence Reid's Nobody But You Babe is funky piece of spring swag. It's not exactly a song that you wanna kick back and smoke an el to, but for those peak spring afternoons when you get too lazy to get up out of the lawn chair, it's the perfect toe tapper to accompany you as you move past the hump of the noon day sun. Just as well known under his alias Blowfly, Reid drives the song with a heeeeavy guitar break and stabbing horns that works it's way up to the bridge, at which point he then ups the funk meter by a good 10,000. If your head isn't nodding ten seconds into the start of the song I would strongly suggest you check your pulse or get out into the sun a little longer to invigorate your spirit.

The second song is nowadys just as recognizable from being sampled on the Alchemist produced track for Dilated Peoples, Worse Comes To Worse, as it is for being a top ten hit for Bell in '68. Lugubrious and doleful, Bell's voice cuts through the song and gains more pity backed by a bluesy guitar than it has any right to. This is the song you listen to as your spring excursion comes to an end and as the sun turns to to it's dusky faded yellow. A perfect song to break out the hookah and fire it up to, or to just close your eyes and let the liquor subdue your mind.

Diggin' In The Cassingles Crate Part Tre

2005-05-24T14:50:00.000-07:00

Nice & Smooth: Hip Hop Junkies (Spanish Fly Mix)
from Hip Hop Junkies cassette single (RAL/Columbia 1991)

King Tee: Can This Be Real
from Act A Fool cassette single (Capitol 1989)

One of my guilty pleasures in life is bumping Ain't A Damn Thing Changed whenever I come home drunk and depressed. There's something about the stripped down beats, odd harmonizing, questionable lyrics and the vocal wordplay between Greg Nice and Smooth B that is so unique it's almost ameliorating, and I know I'm not the only one as De La did a spot-on homage (or parody depending on how you view the content of their lyrics) in their song Simply and of course there's the classic Dwyck that is arguably the best Hip Hop song ever. While the simplicity of their songs can be thought of as a weakness, it's probably the best thing they have going for them and Greg Nice as a producer is mildly impressive flipping The Partridge Family's I Think I Love You to open the song posted here, and more impressively taking the Tracy Chapman song Fast Car and sampling it for Sometimes I Rhyme Slow. The Spanish Fly Mix of Hip Hop Junkies is the song on that big ole spanish booty tip with a funky flute sample that adds the right amount of energy to a song that in it's original form was a little more downtempo. Despite the awkward spanish delivery of their lyrics this song is still a banger. Do like me and bump it when you start to get tipsy and it's guaranteed to get your head nodding.

King Tee's Can This Be Real is a classic DJ Pooh production from it's banging drums courtesy of The Meters to the heavy bassline, it's like these two were meant to be together. King Tee during the late 80's-early 90's was definitely holding it down with that LA Posse sound and his articulate delivery, it's a shame that he was overlooked later on and even signed and dropped by Dre's label but that seems to be the fate of all the former greats. Funny thing is, back in the days I used to constantly listen to the b-side of this single because it had the classic Act A Fool and I almost never got past that song, so I didn't rediscover Can This Be Real till I dusted off the tape and put it in the walkman (you all remember those, right?) and was surprised at how well the song held up, especially considering it was the b-side of a damn good song. And if you're interested Can I Bring My Gat has a couple of Pooh selections up as of this writing.

I'd Call That A Bargain The Best I Ever Had

2005-05-20T18:33:00.000-07:00

The Lovelites: How Can I Tell My Mom And Dad
from Art Laboe's Dedicated to You, Vol. 2 (Original Sound 1992)

Solomon Burke: If You Need Me
from Rock and Soul (Atlantic 1964) also on Solid Gold Soul: Deep Soul (Rhino Records 2000)

Vicki Anderson: The Message From The Soul Sisters, Parts 1 & 2
from 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of James Brown, Vol. 3 (Polydor 2005)

With prices of CD's ranging anywhere from twelve dollars (and that's usually a bargain) to nineteen dollars, it really is no surprise that illegal downloads and a la carte music services get more internet traffic than the financially troubled Tower Records get foot traffic. But all's not lost for that dying breed of consumer, the CD purchaser. When albums fail to hold your interest for more than the two or three songs that are earmarked for single consumption, you can always turn to the compilation album. Made most noticeable with the MTV compilation series, these types of CD's can be a blessing in disguise. If you buy the right ones, you're usually blessed with a couple of diamonds in the rough.

For example the Art Laboe series of CD's. His Dedicated To You series has been around for a bit and practically all of the CD's have something for the old school head in all of us. The first track I present here is from his Vol. 2 of the series and is from the underappreciated group The Lovelites (not to be confused with the Phil Spector backed group of the same name). The song which is about teenage pregnancy, and predates Madonnas song on the same subject by 20 years, is pretty racy for it's time. It's slow langorous opening sets up your standard fare of 60's female r&b harmonizing but the song still builds nicely and makes a pretty poignant point about the mistakes of youth. Particularly enjoyable is the breakdown after the second verse with it's emotive guitar break and smooth bass line.

The second track is from the inimitable Solomon Burke and if ever there was a track that exudes smoky chitlin circuit soul this song has to be it. From the thick guitars to the "pitchy" (I hate that word) background singers and the monologue that expectedly comes in during the break, this song works on one level, the get-out-of-your-pants-and-let's-get-it-on level, and it works it down to tthe very end of the song. His passionate wailing cuts right to the essence of the song, and the beautiful thing about Burke is how every one of his recordings gush with the same passion.

The last track is from Vicki Anderson, whom most people would recognize as the understudy to the great Lyn Collins in the James Brown diva hierarchy. This is a by the numbers James Brown production piece which means that it's funkier than almost every other song put out at the same time. With it's rolling piano and the frenetic horns backing the message of female empowerment the song immediately takes charge with Vicki proselytyzing about being looked over. While not as strong a singer as Lyn Collins, Vicki Anderson is still a very capable performer and is strong enough vocally to run with the big boys that are backing her.

It's Been A Long Time

2005-05-20T17:47:00.000-07:00

So I've weathered the storm and made it through relatively unscathed. I'd like to thank everyone who has stuck by me and for the kind words. Needless to say, I'm going to try to catch up and make up for the lost time. Computer has been fixed, personal problems have been put aside and the green light has been given, so bear with me as I clean up the dust and prepare for the long journey ahead.

We Are Experiencing Some Technical Difficulties

2005-05-15T20:35:00.000-07:00

For those few people who actually visit this site, I want to send a big thank you and a sincere apology for not having updated in a minute. Some personal things (nothing difficult) and some computer woes have sidelined me for a bit and I won't be able to update, most likely until the end of this week (5/21 thereabouts). I promise to come back with a bang, or at the very least a whimper. And if you're craving for some really good music, visit the links that I provide to your right. They're guaranteed to not steer you wrong, or I wouldn't have linked to them.

A Few Of The Unpleasant'st Words That Ever Blotted Paper

2005-05-03T19:38:00.000-07:00

Shel Silverstein: Father of a Boy Named Sue
from Songs & Stories (Parachute 1972)

Blowfly: Gemini- I Know a Place
from Zodiac (Hot Productions 1996)

Rudy Ray Moore: The Player
from The Player-The Hustler (Kent 1977) and Raw, Rude & Real (Capitol 2001)

If you only know Shel Silverstein because of his childrens books like The Giving Tree then hearing some of his satirical folk songs is a lesson in discovery. Having penned over 800 songs for such artists as Dr. Hook and Johnny Cash, his two albums Freakin At The Freakers Ball and Songs And Stories take him back to his days as a political satirist for Playboy, where he first made a name for himself. A Boy Named Sue is grossly comedic and so flauntingly in your face that listening to the tale of homosexual incest you can't help but laugh. Told as suredly and as comfortably as he would recite one of his childrens poems, this song is definitely for those who like dark humor.

The second track is from Blowfly's album Zodiac and is his raunchy version of the Staple Singers classic I'll Take You There. Although not a great blue comedian (he was, in my opinion, many steps behind Redd Foxx, Pigmeat Markham and Rudy Ray Moore just to name a few) he did carve out a niche for himself reinterpreting popular songs with an adult twist like the scatological Shittin' On The Dock Of The Bay or The First Time You Ever Sucked My Dick. The song would often be followed up by his theme song which, if you listen to his albums the whole way through, can bog you down with just how fatuous as a whole his albums are.

Last but definitely not least is the self proclaimed King of the Party Records Rudy Ray Moore. More famously known as Dolemite he started his career off as a singer and dancer and graduated to comedian through his wild interpretations of black folk tales like Stagolee or Peetie Wheatstraw. The Player is Rudy doing what he does best, rapping to a raucous audience about such philosophical musings as the correlation between penis size and race or mastubatory technique. His gruff voice lends itself well to his comedic routine and it's no surprise that you can, in this one routine, find a lot of sources for Hip-Hop vocal samples.

Metaphors Are Dirty Like Herpes But Harder To Catch

2005-04-29T17:45:00.000-07:00

Immortal Technique: Bin Laden ft. Mos Def
from Sirius Bizness Mixtape (2005)

Immortal Technique: Bin Laden (Remix) ft. Chuck D & KRS One
from Bin Laden Single (2005)

Seeing as how the remix for Bin Laden was just leaked I thought now would be a good time to do a post on Immortal Technique. An inflamatory song (but then again, which Immortal Technique song isn't) that uses the Jadakiss sample to drive it, the original version features Mos Def on the chorus and Chuck D and KRS on the remix, but oddly enough none of the three drop any verses which means Immortal Technique has to carry the song which he is entirely capable of.

The original goes for a more stripped down sound with I.T. rocking over a haunting keyboard sample. His lyrics, as usual, are full of quotables even when he's going off the deep end, claiming that "Fahrenheit 9/11 thats just scratching the surface." The surprising thing about this song is that it was included on a Sirius satellite radio mixtape put out by Eminem's Shady Records, but then Eminem was on that Rock the Vote tip for a minute.

Opening with an Al Sharpton soundbite, the remix with Chuck D and KRS brings a more ominous sound with it's faux guitar and it's head scratching opening line "what the industry did to Pac they did to Jesus." The song covers a lot of territory that the original did, which is both a positive and a negative. Lifting a lot of the same lines and images that the original used just as effectively I.T. covers everything from money grubbing christians "preaching out their bentleys" to Schwarzenegger to steroetyped portrayals of blacks in cinema and the music industry, the song is essentially treading the same ground as the first and bringing very little that's new to the song. The fact that neither Chuck D or KRS drop any verses is a bit of a puzzler as well as you have three of Hip-Hop's most outspoken voices and two of them are relegated to the chorus. I'll assume that somewhere down the line a remix with all three will show up.

But in the end, an average Immortal Technique song is guaranteed to be ten times better and infinitely more provacative than anything else you will hear on the radio.

Will Rise, Not Fall. Definition:

2005-04-28T13:32:00.000-07:00

Cypress Hill: Latin Lingo (Prince Paul Mix)
from Latin Lingo single (Columbia 1992)

Prince Paul: DJ Prince Paul Vs. The World
from Deep Concentration (O.M. Records 1998)

Paul Barman: Salvation Barmy
from It's Very Stimulating (Wordsound 2000)

MF Doom: Hot Guacamole (Featuring MC Paul Barman)
from MM Leftovers (Rhymesayer 2004)

It's been a long while, and for that my apologies, I'll try to make sure it doesn't happen again. After having done a post on Prince Paul I decided that just one wasn't good enough and so I present the second installment of the Prince Paul post. The first track is a Prince Paul remix of the Cypress Hill song Latin Lingo from their classic first album. Of all the songs to remix on that album I think it would have been a better choice to do Pigs as the concept of the song lends itself well to the production style of Prince Paul, namely his use of sampling kiddie records, but as it is, we have this remix. Although not a bad remix, the fact that it's a Sen-Dog song is what I think holds it back. As a rapper, his strength is complimenting B-Real and not carrying a song, which he does here. Production wise, the song sounds like a by-the-numbers Cypress Hill piece which is surprising since Prince Paul has a unique sound, but as that Soul Assasins sound was becoming really popular back then, it seems that Paul was just trying to bring his own vision of the sound to the song.

DJ Prince Paul Vs. The World is a return to form so to speak. Starting out as a DJ/Producer in Stetsasonic, Prince Paul goes back to his 1200 roots and crafts a song that is straight turntablism. Mixed with some dissonant keyboards and some vocal samplings, including a collaged shout-out to himself the song is deceptively dope, it may take several listens for it to really catch on (more if you're not a fan of DJ songs). As a DJ, he's no Q-Bert but he's really good on the ones and twos, throwing in some transforming and layering his cuts to create a rich sound.

The third song is from the Paul Barman EP It's So Stimulating, which is entirely produced by Prince Paul and listneing to the songs it's easy to hear why he decided to produce him. Although the content of his rhymes is questionable, his skill is evident from the beginning. Lacing him with a classic Prince Paul beat, the off kilter vocal and jutting horn samples and the use of the Black Italiano (a Prince Paul staple) works perfectly with Barman's dextrous wordplay and his bugged out non-sequitors. Listen for the line "My pissed off Jimbrowski turned three colors like Krystof Kieslowski."

The last song is from MF Dooms promo EP MM Leftovers and brings together two greats and throws in Paul Barman to play off the two. A short yet very funky headnodding song (with a sample that's on the tip of my tongue and probably won't come to me till after this is posted). The song has a playful bounce throughout and it amazes me that Prince Paul and Doom don't do more collaborations as the two that I'm aware of, this song and the Chubb Rock joint from Politics of the Business show that they go together just as well as he did with De La back in the days. The more I listen to this song the more I realize that it's not just the samples that endear me to Prince Paul, but his drum programming, with it's simple, concise chops that still bring to mind the claassic era of late 80's early 90's.

Oh, and check out this link for a good video interview with transcript. Prince Paul touches on all subjects and if you can't sit through the inane host's comments, just read the transcript.

Plug 4

2005-04-17T17:30:00.000-07:00

Prince Paul: Mother's Day
from It Takes A Nation Of Suckers To Let Us In (1991)

Prince Paul: Mood For Love
from A Prince Among Thieves (Tommy Boy 1999)

Prince Paul: Beautifully Absurd (Featuring Ellington Felton And K'Alyn On Guitar).mp3
from Politics Of The Business (Razor & Tie 2003)

Prince Paul: Here Come The Dix
from The Art Of Picking Up Women (Smacks 2005)

Other, much better and more frequently updated, blogs have touched on the genius of Prince Paul (like Can I Bring My Gat, Cocaine Blunts and The Rap Nerd just to name a few) and since he just released a new album I thought I would throw my proverbial hat in the ring and run down a couple of my favorite tracks from some of his albums.

The first track is from Prince Pauls Resident Alien album that never saw the light of day because of label politickin. However if you ever listen to the album you can understand why it was never released. Initially given an imprint label and a distribution deal with Def Jam with the notion that Paul would craft his beats for Def Jam artists, he created the album It Takes A Nation Of Suckers To Let Us In and in true Prince Paul fashion the album was devoid of any material suitable for singles. Although one 12" was released the album on the whole sounds more like a couple of guys fucking around in a basement (for any other artist, this would mean an undigestable album but for Prince Paul the album carries a unique irreverance). Take for example the song Mothers Day. Essentially a five minute Yo Mama joke, territory that's been treaded by a lot of rappers before, the conceit of this song is just how bad the jokes are and the token white guy misunderstanding the whole situation makes the song even more hilarious.

The second track is from his critically acclaimed concept album A Prince Among Thieves. Prince Paul takes the James Moody classic, Moody's Mood For Love, and showers it with a really bad moog organ and a syruppy thick bassline and turns the song into an ultra-cheese lounge fest that actually fits the mood of the song just as well as, if not better than, most jazz interpretations. The best part of the song, besides Don Newkirks vocoder voice, is the Breezely Brewin line "Your love is real good honey, it even feels better cause I didn't pay money."

Beautifully Absurd is from an album that was unjustifiably overlooked. Politics of the Business was released four years after his last abum and a lot of critics at the time were either looking for more of the same or they wanted Prince Paul to make a quantum leap beyond what was a classic album neither of which happened on this album. The production on this song is classic Prince Paul, take a melodic sample, sparsely layer it, in this case with just drums, bass and a bit of scratching, and let the artist go. While not indicative of the album as a whole, Beautifully Absurd is a definite banger.

The last track of the post is from his new album The Art Of Picking Up Women and in it Prince Paul goes back to the irreverence of the Resident Alien days. Taking the premise that while beat digging in a Parisian flea market Prince Paul discovered the rarest of rares for beat diggers, a forgotten 60's group that has evaded collecters, namely The Dix (and yes the less than subtle double entendre of the album title and group name play heavily into the song). Sounding less like a 60's doo wop group and more like a mash up of Pauls Stetsasonic beats and some ridiculous garage funk band, the song is just the tip of the iceberg on this album. One of the funnier moments of the album is a spot on impression of The Dix doing a Wu-Tang style interview. Packed with a documentary DVD titled "The Rise and Fall of The Dix" this has to be one of the highlights in the 2005 year of Hip-Hop.

Before I end this post I have to give a big thanks to one of the better audioblogs out there Honey, Where You Been So Long for their kind shout-out and assesment. Not only have they been holding it down with some of the best blues artists you may never have heard of, they compile some of the most thorough discographies of a song that you will ever have the pleasure to peruse. You do yourself a great disservice if you don't visit their site and/or bookmark it immediately, especially since they're doing a Nina Simone tribute this week.

Crowds So Live They're Coming In Flocks

2005-04-12T21:32:00.000-07:00

Sam Cooke: Bring It On Home To Me
from Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 (RCA 1963)

Donny Hathaway: You've Got A Friend
from Live (WEA/Atlantic 1972)

The Temptations: For Once In My Life
from Live at the Copa (Motown 1968)

After my last post, I got on a live-in-concert kick and tracked down several live albums that I've always enjoyed listening too. The thing with live albums are that they usually tend to focus on the performance of the artist(s) to the exclusion of the crowd, which is understandable because you pay to hear your favorite performer. The problem with this is the whole purpose of a live album is that the artist is performing for an audience and not some studio engineer. Sometimes this isn't entirely the fault of the album. If you have an artist who is unable to move the crowd you're usually left with a performance that goes by the numbers, not so with these three tracks.

Probably the greatest soul performance I've ever had the pleasure to hear, Sam Cookes Live at the Harlem Square Club is a perfect example of a great live album. Performed at a small club in Miami in an intimate setting the atmosphere is on fire throughout and it's most evident in the track presented here. Bring It On Home is a gospel tinged remnant of his Soul Stirrer days but listening to Sam perform it here he strips it of any maudlin overtones and presents it in a raspy rendition that's as soulful as it gets. Opening with the ending refrains from the prior song, Sam at this point in the concert is hitting all cylinders and the crowd is literally wrapped around his hand. He takes the urbane and refined You Send Me and reshapes it into a song that you barely recognize but that the crowd instantly picks up on and it's at this point that Sam, King Curtis and the band breaks down into three minutes of the most soulful singing you'll ever hear. No amount of superlatives can cover how impossibly moving this song is so just listen in awe as Sam takes the crowd on a call and response that I don't think any singer can rival, with the possible exception of the performer of the next track.

Donny Hathaway's 1972 Live album can probably be regarded as one of his best albums and I'm sure you wouldn't find too many people that would argue that point. The beautiful thing about this song is how he takes the stripped down Carole King song and drenches it in some soulful juice and makes it uniquely his. Blessed with an expressive voice that punches through any melodrama, it lends a sublime aire to the song which lifts it beyond the hallmark-esque sound that it now seems to possess. Like the previous song, this one is from an album filled with a crowd that's glued to every word that Donny sings, just listen to the chorus after the first verse. The crowd literally takes over the song and Donny just guides them through.

The last track is from The Temptations performance at the Copa. The album was a mix of Broadway standards and classic motown songs and came a little bit after their album In A Mellow Mood where they performed all pop standards, an album that redfined their boundaries. Taking the classic song that Stevie Wonder would also record, Paul Williams' rendition retains the originals mellower tempo and introspective mood. Listening to Williams sing it, his voice sounds as if a weight has been lifted off of his back and the inner struggles that he fought against had finally been purged, but unfortuantely this wouldn't be as he would later commit suiced after struggling with alcoholism.

As an ancillary note, for a pretty good rendition of Sam Cooke's Harlem Club performance, get a copy of the Michael Mann/Will Smith movie Ali. The opening of the film is worth the price of admission alone. And on a sadder and more morose note, all three of the singers, Sam Cooke, Donny Hathaway and Paul Williams would all die early tragic deaths, cutting short their infinitely bright careers.

The Line Forms On The Right Babe

2005-04-08T16:00:00.000-07:00

Bobby Darin: Beyond The Sea (Live In Los Angeles 3/11/73)
from A&E Biography: A (Musical) Anthology (Capitol 1998)

Bobby Darin: (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher (Live In Los Angeles 3/11/73)
from A&E Biography: A (Musical) Anthology (Capitol 1998)

Bobby Darin: The Curtain Falls
from The Curtain Falls: Live at the Flamingo (Collecters Choice Music 2000)

If ever there was a person who defined the image of a Vegas style showman it would have to be Bobby Darin. His live shows always included a playful interaction between himself, his band members and the audience and because he crossed so many musical genres his performances would always cover the spectrum of his career. Although capturing the raw energy of being there at a show is sometimes a difficult thing for a live album to reproduce, Bobby's live performances are often the exception to the rule. A meticulous performer, he was always able to jump in and out of the different aspects of his career, whether it was singing folk ballads, improvising comedic acts or just belting out the classics that he was known for, his shows were always performances in the finest sense of the word.

The first track is a live rendition of one of his most famous songs and comes from his last concert performance before his death. As a testament to his performance prowess, Bobby takes a three minute song and extends it to over eight minutes with playful banter, renditions of old classics, timely commentary on Burt Reynolds near nude Cosmo pictorial and even penis humor and never once does the song drag. In the actual video of the song you can even see him do him his best James Brown performance and get down on the good foot. Done in front of a live television audience the atmosphere is still just as energetic as his performance in front of a Vegas show crowd.

The second track is from that same concert performance and is his rendition of the Jackie Wilson classic. It's amazing to hear the energetic output from a man whose heart defect would take his life just nine months later. Despite the cheesiness that the wah-wah guitar adds to the song, Bobby and the backing chorus infuses the song with a lot of the elan that Jackie brought to the song. By the time the first chorus comes in, Bobby has full control of the song and never lets it stop, his voice riding along with the backing singers and the horn section to a soulful ending.

The third track is from his 1963 concert performance at the Flamingo Hotel and Casino and was meant as a sort of swan song for his retirement from concert performances because of health concerns and so he could concentrate on a Hollywood career. The album itself is full of wonderful Bobby moments including a nine minute comedic act where he masterfully impersonates everyone from W.C. Fileds to Cary Grant to Dean Martin, but it's the last track that takes the cake. An appropos song, much in the same way that My Way is associated with Frank Sinatra, it's a shame that this song and in particular this live rendition isn't as widely known as his other songs. Bobby's performance, from his eager anticipation to get the song started to the abrupt ending is done so well that it's only appropriate I end this post with it.

Empty Pockets Don't Ever Make The Grade

2005-03-31T14:12:00.000-08:00

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

2005-03-25T10:49:00.000-08:00

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

2005-03-21T14:48:00.000-08:00

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?

2005-03-18T22:24:00.000-08:00

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

2005-03-15T18:06:00.000-08:00

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

2005-03-10T15:43:00.000-08:00

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

2005-03-03T17:20:00.000-08:00

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.

This Time Make It Sweet

2005-02-26T12:39:00.000-08:00

The Moments: With You
from Moments With You (Stang 1976) and The Best of the Moments (Rhino Records 1996)

Ray, Goodman & Brown: Inside Of You
from Ray, Goodman & Brown (Polydor 1979) and 20th Century Masters: Millennium Collection - The Best of Ray,Goodman, and Brown

Two different names but essentially the same group. The change of names didn't mean that there would be a change in style as the sound of The Moments were essentially the same sound as their latter namesake although in Ray, Goodman & Brown a more playful 50's doo-wop style tended to pervade their songs.

The first joint, "With You" is classic 70's soul. From the heavy waltz time bass-line accented by the airy, resonant keyboards, the strings quietly creeping in on the second verse and the engaging bridge with that mock laugh and its crescendo into the chorus, the song will sound vaguely familiar and yet wholly unique. When compared to modern day slow jams this song lacks sophistication and brazen sexuality but more than makes up for it in innocence and a gushing sincerity that borders on naivete. When Harry Ray sings "loving you is easier than breathing" he lifts the lyric (in other less capable hands it would just be a lyrical platitude) and makes it sublime soul. The songs simplicity is actually its greatest strength, because its effectiveness lies in its ability to quickly capture the listener and tug at their heartstrings. A quick note about this recording that I offer, for some reason it sounds awful on QT player, so if you use that to play your mp3's I suggest that you switch to another player for this song.

The next cut "Inside of you" is from their Ray, Goodman & Brown days. Leaving the Stang label, they used their own names for their group, their former label owned the rights to The Moments name, and infused their music with a little more polished harmony and yet still retained that Moments sound. Probably better known for their song "Special Lady" which reached #1 and #5 on the R&B and Pop charts respectively, Inside Of You (a double entendre of a title if ever I've heard one) is for me a more memorable song. While the playful harmonies aren't as pronounced as Special Lady, but belive me there's no mistaking that they're still there, this I think is it's strength as it allows for the lead vocals to shine more. Harry Ray again takes the lead and carries the song capably. and when the falsetto kicks into high gear, you know it's over. This song and the aforementioned Special Lady are probably best known for their intros, where they fine tune their harmonies, and for their codas where the music fades and all your left with is their acapellas. You would think that over 20 years later Ray, Goodman & Brown would be a footnote in the canon of soul music but surprisingly (or maybe not so with how divergent R&B has become) they're still around and still relevant. Despite the death of vocalist Harry Ray, they still put out albums and have even done backing vocals for Alicia Keys.

Like A Pound Or A Key

2005-02-22T21:28:00.000-08:00

Al Green: Belle
from The Belle Album (The Right Stuff 1977) also on Greatest Hits (Capitol 1995)

Every once in a while I'll discover a song and find myself so enamored with it I'll constantly play it to the point of exhaustion. I might return to it after a while hoping to rediscover that initial feeling that struck me when I heard it for the first time. Most of the time, I'll find out that my obsession with the song was a superficial one. It might have been a catchy melody or a witty line or the context in which I heard the song (being drunk at a club can be especially deceiving for judging the value of a song), but for whatever reason my obsession is just an ephemeral one. The songs which stay with me forever, the ones that I can come back to again and again and not find my interest dwindling are sometimes the ones that have to grow on me. At first I might find myself simply enjoying the song, but with each listening I find that initial feeling of the discovery of the beauty of the song growing instead of diminishing.

Case in point, Al Green's "Belle." Recorded after the Willie Mitchell production era (an era that produced all of his most famous songs), this song captures the spiritual rebirth that had occured several years earlier. Just as much confession as a song, Belle still retains the Willie Mitchell sound which only helps to emphasize the theme of the struggle between the singers secular and his spiritual yearnings. Everything about this song works perfectly. The introspective keys of the piano complements the warm bass line, the reluctance in Greens voice as he delivers the line "seems so easy to me/ to try to act naturally" or his confidence when he sings "He brought me safe thus far/ through many drunken country bars" and when the synthesizer kicks in on the second verse, it's perfectly prefaced by the pithy line, "It's you I want but it's Him that I need." By the time he breaks it down at the end of the song it almost sounds as if the tug-of-war is one sided, but just as the song fades out, it becomes evident that the struggle is much longer and deeper than you might have previously been led to believe.

See Me Cocoa Might Go Pop

2005-02-22T21:19:00.000-08:00

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.

And Drrrroooooop!

2005-02-22T21:06:00.000-08:00

Day 1 of many more to come.