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Pop Rock Nation

Author: Money Mike

  • In the Holiday Spirit with Rahsaan Patterson

    One of the biggest crimes in the music industry is that Rahsaan Patterson is not a bigger star. A gifted songwriter (having written for artists like Brandy and Tevin Campbell) and an exquisite vocalist (think about the love child of Chaka Khan and Stevie Wonder), it galls me that his former “Kids Incorporated” castmate Stacy (Butterface) “Fergie” Ferguson has #1 singles and million selling records and Rahsaan doesn’t even have a major label contract.

    That said, Rahsaan has built up quite the cult following over the past decade and change. He’s released four excellent studio albums and I just discovered his 2008 Christmas album “The Ultimate Gift”. I haven’t listened to much holiday music over the past couple of years (for no good reason), but the combination of the strong writing (6 of the 10 songs are originals written or co-written by Rahsaan), the genuine emotion (this doesn’t seem like a contract filler at all) and that soulful voice put me in the mood for good cheer almost as soon as the Thanksgiving turkey got cold!!

    The track I’ve posted here is his version of Paul McCartney’s 1978 chestnut “Wonderful Christmastime”. While Macca’s version will remain a classic, Rahsaan updates the track with some serious use of the Linn drum machine, a staple of all those classic Prince tracks from back in the day. Makes you wonder what the Purple One would have done with a happy, uptempo holiday song (because, quite frankly, I LOVE “Another Lonely Christmas”, but that song makes me want to slit my wrists. Enjoy!!

    P.S., it doesn’t look like Rahsaan’s main site has been updated recently, but be sure to check out his MySpace page.

     

  • New Releases 12/1/09: R. Kelly, BlakRoc & More!!

    After the deluge of releases over the past two weeks, it’s only right that the industry takes some time to chill out. The list of major releases is pretty thin this week. Here are the highlights.

    Blakroc “Blackroc”-This is one of the more interesting projects to be released this quarter, or even this year! Blues rock duo The Black Keys have joined forces with a host of hip-hop artists to make what I hear is a quite entertaining record. Scary fact: this album was co-spearheaded by one of my least favorite people in the whole world, Damon Dash. Anyway, the list of guest artists is pretty superb: Mos Def, Q-Tip, Pharoahe Monch, RZA & GZA (along with a posthumous ODB appearance) and…Jim Jones. Hey, you can’t win them all.

    R. Kelly “Untitled”- This is Kells’ first album since being acquitted of child molestation charges last year, and it’s hard for me to even believe that this is in stores, considering the fact that this has been moved around the release schedule more than any other album I can think of in recent memory. Anyhow, this album has zero buzz-the single “Number One”, which featured Keri Hilson, barely scratched the Top 10 on Billboard’s R&B chart, and something tells me this album is going to be a huge flop. I haven’t been more excited to see someone’s career go down the toilet (pun intended) since 50 Cent caught a brick last week.

    Allison Iraheta “Just Like You”- Truthfully? I can’t even remember this broad. I suppose she finished third behind Glambert and Kris Allen, but I seriously can’t recall one song the lady sang. Either way, she managed to score a record deal with Simon Fuller’s 19 Recordings (not a prerequisite for every 3rd place finisher). Unfortunately, she’s also releasing the album in a year when the winner generated weak sales and even the runner-up had to basically sell his ass on network TV to get noticed. Sorry, Allison.

    Juvenile “Cocky & Confident”-Juvenile is still around? At this point in time, fans of New Orleans rap care about one dude and one dude only: and he is NOT Juvenile. He better make up with Baby and them and either have a Hot Boys reunion or jump on Weezy’s next album. I don’t think *anyone* cares about this album outside Louisiana.

    The Bravery “Stir the Blood”- I’m gonna try this without hitting Wikipedia. I believe this is The Bravery’s third album. I’ve actually owned each of the first two, and can’t remember a single thing about them other than the fact that I no longer own either one, so that should tell you a little bit about what I think of the band. These guys are completely anonymous, although I read a good review of this album somewhere. If you’re a fan, you’ll be happy. If you’re not, there’s probably no reason to become one.

    And that’s more or less it, folks. Get the complete list of new releases from our friends at Pause and Play by clicking here.

  • Oh Noes!!: The Pussycat Dolls Split Up

    Please join me as we bow our heads and say goodbye to a group gone before their time. Not since The Beatles broke up in 1970 has the music world been more affected by a band’s split. Yes, ladies and gentlemen.

    The Pussycat Dolls are no more.

    Of course I’m being sarcastic.

    The completely anonymous chicks who danced behind Nicole Scherzinger have decided to bounce. I’m not quite sure why, seeing as they have the cushiest music biz job not held down by the third guy from N.E.R.D.

    Let’s face facts here, Nicole was the face of the group, and allegedly she sang not only lead vocals but ALL vocals on the overwhelming majority of the two albums PCD put out. So who cares where the other hoes go? Just find four random chicks, put them behind Nicole and still call them the Pussycat Dolls. No one will know the difference.

    If this causes a problem for anyone, it’s the PCD’s label Interscope and its’ president, Jimmy Iovine. A couple years back, the label tried desperately to break Nicole as a solo artist (which, if successful, would have probably deaded the PCD right there). Three or four singles were released, none of which made an impact, and the album’s release was shelved. Apparently, the PCD brand was more recognizable than Nicole’s name (don’t you think they could have gotten homegirl to change her name? It’s almost as unpronounceable and unwieldy as mine!!). However, in the grand scheme of things, their ship may have already sailed away. According to Soundscan, the group’s first album, 2005’s “PCD” sold 2.9 million copies (I would assume that whatever percentage of that album was purchased by members of the male persuasion wound up with the cover being used as masturbation material). The follow up, last year’s “Doll Domination”, has sold 374,000 copies, or about 15% of what their previous album sold. Yikes.

    So, assuming anyone out there actually cares about this: you heard it here, the Pussycat Dolls are no more. How will the music industry recover from this loss?