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  • The Sunday Seven 2/1/08: Make Sure You’re Sure

    Congrats to the Steelers for winning what was one of the most exciting Super Bowls in recent memory. That Springsteen guy wasn’t bad either. Let’s throw the iPod on shuffle and see if any Boss comes up:

    01: The Grand Finale by The D.O.C. feat. NWA (1989): A car crash ruined what The D.O.C.’s once promising career, shattering his vocal cords and turning his booming baritone into a rasp. While the Doc has gone on to success as a ghostwriter for the Death Row camp (and one of a laundry list of Erykah Badu baby daddies), his debut No One Can Do it Better remains one of the best debuts in hip-hop history. Ice Cube, MC Ren and Eazy-E all join The D.O.C. on this track, a classic all-time posse cut…over a live band, to boot!

    02: Make Sure You’re Sure by Stevie Wonder (1991): Can someone tell Stevie that he needs to do a standards album? This jazzy piano ballad is one of the highlights of the “Jungle Fever” soundtrack. Considering Stevie’s personal release schedule, though, it’s unlikely we’ll see any new music from him until 2016. I love me some Spike Lee, but I have never seen “Jungle Fever” (although considering my own personal dating tastes, maybe I should). I’ll rent it someday.

    03: The Happy Song (Dum Dum) by Otis Redding (ca. 1966): It’s hard to believe Otis Redding was only 27 when he died, not because he made so much music in his few short years as a musician, but because he SOUNDED so much older. The man had the soul of someone 10 if not 20 years older, as evidenced by the fact that he sings the shit out of a song that’s pretty inconsequential lyrically like this one.

    04: Daddy Called Me Niga ‘Cause I Liked to Rhyme by Young Black Teenagers (1990): YBT, contrary to their name, consisted of five white kids. Discovered and produced by The Bomb Squad, they released two pretty decent albums. The subject matter of this song is apparent from the title. Strangely, there wasn’t much of an outcry in the media when these guys came out. Can you imagine the ruckus this would cause if it were released now? Talk about progression (yes, I’m being sarcastic). Most of the YBT returned to civilian life after their 15 minutes were up, but their DJ, Skribble, wound up becoming a fixture on MTV for a while, and his latest mix CD debuted in the Top 20 on the Billboard charts earlier this year.

    There’s no video for “Daddy…”, but if you want some YBT flavor, here’s a video for you. This was the jam back in ’93.


    05: Good Thing by Fine Young Cannibals (1989): This good-natured Motown rip was a huge hit in 1989. Two things I always wondered about FYC: 1) what planet did Roland Gift come from? (he looked like a bloody alien) and 2) how come their huge album “The Raw & the Cooked” (which contains this song) never got followed up? Such are the mysteries of the music world. Anyone remember the skit from “In Living Color” called “Old Train”, where one of the Wayanses as Don Cornelius mangles the name “Fine Young Cannibals”? Finally, did Barry Gibb ever call Roland Gift and tell him he wanted his voice back?

    06: She Needs My Love by The-Dream (2007): Some producers are better off not making their own records. I’m still on the fence about The-Dream, who’s written and produced songs for Usher, Mary J. Blige, Britney, Celine Dion and Rihanna’s “Umbrella”, among others. Dream’s no great singing talent, but the 80s-tastic production (similar to modern-day Timbaland) redeems this and many of the songs on his album “Love/Hate”. This song would be just as good as an instrumental.

    07: Sleep All Day by Jason Mraz (2003): Mr. A-Z’s a little too precious for my tastes sometimes, but this remains one of my favorites from him, maybe because sleeping all day is one of my favorite things to do. This song is actually the perfect soundtrack for a mid-afternoon summer nap. I can picture the hammock now…

    As usual, I’m taking submissions from anyone who would like to participate in a Sunday Seven someday (say that five times fast). Enjoy your week!!

  • Chart Chat 2/1/09: Taylor Swift, Kelly Clarkson, Mariah & More!!

    kellyIt’s been a while since we’ve done one of these: enough for the usually slow-moving charts to change appreciably, thank goodness. Anyway, here’s the latest action on the singles and albums chart, with the charts (as usual) used courtesy of the good folks at Billboard magazine.

    Top 20 Albums:
    1) “Fearless” Taylor Swift
    2) “I Am…Sasha Fierce” Beyonce
    3) “Dark Horse” Nickelback
    4) “808s & Heartbreak” Kanye West
    5) “Twilight Soundtrack” Various Artists
    6) “A Different Me” Keyshia Cole
    7) “Circus” Britney Spears
    8) “Intuition” Jamie Foxx
    9) “Notorious Soundtrack” Various Artists
    10) “The Ballads” Mariah Carey
    11) “Now That’s What I Call Music 29” Various Artists
    12) “Noble Beast” Andrew Bird
    13) “Merriweather Post Pavillion” Animal Collective
    14) “David Cook” David Cook
    15) “Funhouse” P!nk
    16) “Blood Bank (EP)” Bon Iver
    17) “Freedom” Akon
    18) “Paper Trail” T.I.
    19) “Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack” Various Artists
    20) “The Fame” Lady GaGa

    Top 20 Singles

    1) “My Life Would Suck Without You” Kelly Clarkson
    2) “Just Dance” Lady GaGa feat. Colby O’ Donis
    3) “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” Beyonce
    4) “Heartless” Kanye West
    5) “Love Story” Taylor Swift
    6) “Gives You Hell” The All-American Rejects
    7) “Live Your Life” T.I. feat. Rihanna
    8) “You Found Me” The Fray
    9) “Circus” Britney Spears
    10) “I’m Yours” Jason Mraz
    11) “I Hate This Part” The Pussycat Dolls
    12) “Let it Rock” Kevin Rudolf feat. Lil Wayne
    13) “Hot ‘n Cold” Katy Perry
    14) “Dead & Gone” T.I. feat. Justin Timberlake
    15) “Womanizer” Britney Spears
    16) “Sober” P!nk
    17) “Untouched” The Veronicas
    18) “Whatever You Like” T.I.
    19) “Mad” Ne-Yo
    20) “Gotta Be Somebody” Nickelback

    *First thing I notice is that the amount of artists who repeat themselves on the singles chart has decreased significantly. Only T.I. (three songs) and Britney Spears (two songs) have more than one song in the Top 20.

    *Taylor Swift spends a seventh consecutive week at the summit of the Albums chart, the longest run in quite a few years (I think the last album to spend that much time at the top was Usher’s “Confessions”). Springsteen’s debut next week will end that run, but either way that’s Pretty impressive.

    *Check out Andrew Bird, Animal Collective and Bon Iver in the Top 20…making a great showing for indie music and artists.

    *Kelly Clarkson zooms to the top with “My Life Would Suck Without You”. Jumping from 97-1, it’s the largest move to the top in history. It’s also Kelly’s first #1 single since her debut, “A Moment Like This”. It also means Clive Davis is in an office somewhere, smiling smugly.

    *Who are The Veronicas?

    *Well, I was right in assuming that they were an all-female band. Let’s hear it for educated guesses. They’re not very good, though.

    *Mariah makes an impressive showing at #10 with a collection of older ballads. Only one track on this compilation dates from this decade, proving in the light of the blah chart showing of “E=MC2” that folks still love Mariah, they just love her more when she’s making good music.

    *Err…I got nothing left. Enjoy the charts,the videos,and the Super Bowl! No titties this year!!

  • Friday Throwback – Doin’ Just Fine

    Boyz II Men peaked with their second album II. It was larger than life and they would never be able to duplicate that success. You could say that album was a gift and a curse at the same time. They sold tons of records, were on top of the music world, but by the time their third album dropped, they couldn’t keep the momentum going. But who could? With Evolution, they tried to stay relevant as the R&B group that everyone could love. They also tried to keep up with the times, but because music is so trendy and fast moving, by the time the album came out, what was hot when they were recording, might not’ve been hot at the time of the album release. Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs produced a handful of tracks, with one of them actually being a nice dance song. But you can’t really blame it on old Diddy. Boyz II Men were stuck with what they were good at and that was emotional ballads that allowed them to show off their fantastic harmonies. Part of the reason this album started their downward trend is because it’s simply uneven. But also, lead single 4 Seasons Of Loneliness failed to create the necessary buzz for the album. It was a fine song, just not a lead single. I’m not sure if there is a lead single on this album, but the Shawn Stockman produced Doin’ Just Fine was probably their best bet. It’s really an underrated Boyz II Men song and might be my favorite BIIM song ever. I didn’t even know there was a video for it. At the very least, it should’ve been a single.

    – Hey, matching white suits. We’ve never seen that before.

    – Didn’t Nate have the lead single to the soundtrack of Shaquille O’Neal’s movie Kazaam?

    – “Now you say that you made a big mistake. Never meant to take your love away. But you can save your tired apologies. Cause it may seem hard to believe, but I’m doin’ just fine.” You tell her Nate! I just did a fist pump the equivalent of Tiger Woods at the US Open.

    – Shawn is my favorite of the BIIM crew, but never in this man’s life should he be shirtless in a music video. If you have to, at least do some push ups man.

    – A kiss in the wind and her love was gone. It was long gone. Like a whisper in the wind.

    – Is Mike wearing some high waters?

    – Ok, remember what I said about Shawn and being shirtless? Same goes for Wanya, but for different reasons.

    – By the way, where’s Brandy in this video?

    – “So unfair to me girl, you’re no longer my world, and I ain’t missing you at all!” Sing it Wanya, sing it! Wait, if you ain’t missing her, why all the emotion bruh?

    – I like how Wanya rhymed his own name with “someday”.