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  • The Infatueighties Countdown: #97: “At This Moment”

    It was spring 1987. Me and a bunch of my idiot friends decided that we’d try out for our middle school talent show. After scribbling a few notes, me and some other people (I seriously don’t remember who they were) did a half-assed comedy routine, mainly just for laughs. I knew then that my future was not going to be as a comedian.

    However, this kid Marshall, who was one of my best friends at the time, got in front of this classroom of kids and with all the heartache a 12-year old heart could possibly muster, sang the shit out of Billy Vera’s “At This Moment”. I remember staring at my friend slack-jawed, completely unaware that he could sing like that. It was also the first time I’d actually paid attention to the lyrics of the song, which had just wrapped up a stint at #1 on the singles chart.

    The cover of Billy Vera\'s \"At This Moment\" 45

    Plenty of people who were watching the NBC sitcom “Family Ties” paid attention to “At This Moment”, sending the song to the pop summit after it was featured in several episodes revolving around the romance between the characters Alex and Ellen (played by Michael J. Fox and his soon-to-be real life wife Tracy Pollan). The sitcom’s usage of “Moment” turned a six year old song from an obscure artist (OK, let’s be charitable and call him a journeyman) into a hot commodity.

    And its hotness was deserved. It served as the soundtrack to many a prom due to it’s swaying tempo, Vera’s blue-eyed soul vocals (is it me or do Vera and Daryl Hall sound especially similar?) and the most “Eighties” sax solo this side of “Careless Whisper”.

    This performance video shows Vera doing maybe a bit too much vocal hotdogging at the end of the song, but he reveals quite the sense of humor during the question and answer session at the end.

  • They Put Me In The Mix – JSlo 3

    After I created the Jam Slow mixtape, I was thoroughly impressed with how it turned out. Thus, I wanted to do it again. However, because Jam Slow had all of my favorite slow jams from that time and place on it already, the second one would have all the secondary tracks. And it turned out horribly. Jam2Slow was the worst slow jams mixtape ever created. I think I listened to it back once and then tossed it aside. Sometimes, I’ll hear songs that were on that mixtape and have to turn them off because it reminds me of Jam2Slow. Maybe my favorite on that tape was a song called It’s Over Now by a young man named Danny Boy. Danny Boy was actually on team Death Row and was the hook singer on Tupac’s I Ain’t Mad Atcha and Toss It Up. It was a rather boring song, but Babyface wrote it and Danny Boy had a pretty decent voice. I wonder what Danny Boy is doing today. He does have a MySpace page if anyone is interested. Give Danny Boy some love. You can see him in Pac’s classic video below.

    Since Jam2Slow was so bad, I waited a bit and then created the third tape, titled JSlo3 (yes, without the W). It was far better than the second one that I threw away, but still didn’t quite match the first. But there was still good material on it.

    JSlow3 (circa 1997)

    1. Dreaming Of You – Selena
    2. My All – Mariah Carey
    3. Cupid – 112
    4. Every Time – Janet Jackson
    5. Never – Boyz II Men
    6. Never Make A Promise – Dru Hill
    7. Don’t Leave Me – Blackstreet
    8. All Cried Out – Allure featuring 112
    9. Nobody Knows – The Tony Rich Project
    10. Doin’ Just Fine – Boyz II Men
    11. Where Are You Now – Janet Jackson
    12. Place Where You Belong – Shai
    13. On Bended Knee – Boyz II Men
    14. I Care ‘Bout You – Milestone
    15. The Beautiful Ones – Mariah Carey
    16. I Just Can’t Stop Loving You – Michael Jackson
    17. All My Life – K-Ci & JoJo

    My tastes certainly haven’t changed all that much. Actually, during this time, I was buying a ton of CD singles as I was a poor college student, but would soon enough buy all the albums of the singles that I bought on CD on this set.

    • It was all about the dude R&B groups back then – Boyz II Men, Dru Hill, Blackstreet, Shai.
    • I think I OD’d a bit on the Boyz II Men, but Doin’ Just Fine is still great today.
    • Who was Allure? A group on Mariah Carey’s old imprint who didn’t eventually make it. Though of course, the Lisa Lisa and Full Force version is much better, I bought this single and enjoyed the Allure/112 version.
    • The video to On Bended Knee was fantastic for the cameos featuring the beautiful Lark Voorhies (Lisa Turtle from Saved By The Bell – could Wanya really get her?) and Kim Fields (Tootie! – could Nate really get her?).
    • Who was Milestone? For the movie Soul Food, a fictional R&B group was created (K-Ci and JoJo, and the Edmonds brothers including Babyface) called Milestone and the boys together released a song for the soundtrack.
    • I remember having to cut about half of Mariah’s version of the Prince tune The Beautiful Ones (Mariah’s version featured Dru Hill) because the song was long and I was running short on time. Remember, this was audio tape.
    • All My Life was my favorite song at the time and became “our song”, when Carol (former wife, current best friend) and I started dating. Yikes, that was like 11 years ago.

  • “Jockin’ Jay-Z”: Mmm…Not So Much

    I love Jay-Z. There’s a lot to be said for the guy’s business acumen. From releasing his debut in 1996 on an independent label to serving as the president of Def Jam and owning everything from vodka brands to clothing lines, the man has definitely parlayed the little he was given into a hell of a lot.

    Plus, the guy’s talented as shit. Unfortunately, a problem that’s plagued him since the beginning of his career is that he’s like the smart kid in class who is going to get “A”s and “B”s regardless, but doesn’t really apply himself. He doesn’t really challenge himself and the end result is that you end up with a talented kid turning in mediocre work. That’s Jay in a nutshell. For every “99 Problems” or “Kingdom Come” (the song, not the album), there’s something like “Blue Magic” or…well, half of “The Blueprint 2”.

    …and the first leaked track from the upcoming “Blueprint 3” (Jay’s last before he departs Def Jam for Live Nation and a shitload of greeenbacks) is a shining example of a great rapper making shitty records. First off, considering Jay is pushing 40 and sitting in executive suites, it’s time to stop thinking that his art has any sort of resonance with young kids in urban communities. He’s out of touch. It’s time to grow his sound and his lyrics up a little, something that he showed a glimmer of on both “The Black Album” and “Kingdom Come”. I think “Kingdom”‘s relative failure rattled Jay a bit, because he seems to have regressed lyrically. The braggadocio and hustling talk needs to be put to a stop. Period.

    Thankfully, there’s a delightfully minimalist Kanye West beat to keep the song from being completely unlistenable. However, this song does not bode well for Jay’s Def Jam swan song.