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  • Viva Le Jacko: The Ultimate MJ Mix

    Michael Jackson's Off The Wall

    Here at MHW, we have two absolutely diehard Michael Jackson fans on the team. Aside from almost sharing a birthday (we were born 48 hours apart), me and GG have a shared Jackson obsession. That’s why, when he threw down the challenge for me to make the ultimate Michael Jackson mix CD, I accepted it with relish. I knew he understood that trying to narrow down my favorite MJ songs would be like trying to pick my favorite kids…if I had kids.

    Can you narrow Michael Jackson down to 80 minutes? Well, I tried my best. Out of something like 160-something MJ songs in my iTunes (cobbled together from his Motown anthology and all of his Epic albums, including the hits compilations and the box set…and various guest appearances), I deleted, organized, organized and deleted until I felt I’d come up with the perfect Michael primer. I also searched Youtube for a couple of cool clips instead of posting the standard videos.

    So…how much of an obsessive am I? A month or so ago, rummaging through the used bin of a local record store, I found a copy of “Off the Wall” on CD. Not just any copy, mind you, but a copy of the CD with the original cover (which Michael eventually changed, I guess because he didn’t to be reminded of his original skin color). Needless to say, I bought it. This despite the fact that I already own three copies of the same album (1 each on vinyl, cassette and CD). If I found an 8-track copy somewhere, I’d probably pick that up too.

    Oh, AND I have the “E.T” Storybook Soundtrack. Neener.

    Anyway, I stretched out the time limit a bit, but here’s my Ultimate Michael Mix. Scream at me about what I left out in the comment section. Oh, and I decided not to include any J5 or Jacksons stuff-that’s another mix for another time.

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  • “Why Don’t You Stay?”: Does This Mean There’s Gonna Be a “House Party V”?!?

    Ha. And how many of you knew that there was a “House Party 3” or “4”?

    Anyway, I was home on Saturday evening, flipping through channels while waiting for a friend to drop by so we could go to dinner. As I flipped through the video channels (MTV2, MTV3, VH-1 Soul, Fuse and VH-1 Classic are all next to one another), I recognized a very familiar face.

    It was Christopher Reid, AKA “Kid” from Kid ‘n Play, the rap duo who scored a hit movie with “House Party” back in the day (and briefly had their own Saturday morning cartoon..I remember watching the New Kids on the Block cartoon and then flipping over to Kid ‘n Play. I think “Hammerman” started a year later).

    At any rate, while Play soldiers on in gospel plays (he’s a born-again Christian), Kid had carved out a reasonable career as a stand-up comedian. However, the music bug came calling again…

    …and lo and behold, it’s not that bad? While KNP weren’t the greatest of emcees during their heyday (even catching a couple of disses from Vanilla Ice), Kid’s sound is refreshingly old-school (which it should be…after all, the dude is 44).

    How come Full Force isn’t singing the background vocals on this?

  • New Music In Stores & Online: 7/8/08: Beck, Yaz, Billy Joel & More!!

    Looks like the dog days of summer have arrived early, because there are very few releases of note this week. Let’s jump right into it.

    Beck's Modern Guilt

    Beck-Modern Guilt: Beck switches it up on his first album in two years, installing Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley) into the producer’s chair. On paper, the two seem like a perfect fit, and the album has gotten pretty good advance notice. Then again, do you remember any Beck album that didn’t get good reviews? Critically, he’s as much of a sure bet as any artist out there.

    http://www.modernguilt.com/

    Alison Moyet-The Turn/Yaz-In Your Room: Our very own Paul wrote a column a couple of weeks back on British synth-pop duo Yaz and their return to the concert stage a quarter-century after their split. In order to commemorate that tour, we have “In Your Room”, an exhaustive box set containing basically every note the two played and sung together. Yaz’s vocalist, Alison Moyet, also sees the U.S. release of her latest album, “The Turn”, which was released in the U.K. last October.


    Billy Joel-“The Stranger: Legacy Edition”: “The Stranger”‘s probably Billy Joel’s best-loved album, with hits like “Only the Good Die Young”, “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)”, the title track, and “Just the Way You Are”. This thirtieth anniversary edition of the hit album is remastered and comes in two versions: one adds a second disc from a Carnegie Hall concert, while another includes the concert and a DVD from the old British musical variety show “The Old Grey Whistle Test”.

    Home

    Um…after that? Crickets, pretty much. Strokes frontman Albert Hammond Jr. releases his second solo album, entitled “Como Te Llama?”, and there are a couple of interesting collaborative efforts out today: one from Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis (there’s a joke in there somewhere that I can’t quite figure out), and the other from Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Patti Smith and My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields. “Country Sings Disney” finds the likes of Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts and Brad Paisley tackling some of the Mouse’s favorite songs, while in the “curiosities” section, there’s a new album from Devin Lima of former C-List boy banders LFO. Yay!!

    Enjoy that Beck CD!!

    A full list of releases can be found here: http://www.pauseandplay.com/cdfront.htm