Hey, we took a break for a coupla weeks and now we’re back. The music industry is slowly shaking out of it’s slumber, and while there aren’t any superstar releases for a couple weeks still, there is some interesting niche-y kinda stuff getting released. We’re gonna roll with a new format this year and see if it sticks.
The big deal this week is the release of the Notorious B.I.G. biopic Notorious on Friday, and a few days in advance of the movie’s release, we have the soundtrack. This will be the 4th compilation of B.I.G.’s material released since his death. There’s fairly significant overlap between this CD and the Greatest Hits album Bad Boy put out two years ago,with the exception of a couple of demos, and one song featuring B.I.G.’s 12 year old son. Let’s hear it for exploitation!!
Not much else going on. Jam band lovers can rejoice because the Derek Trucks Band is releasing their new album, Already Free today. On the R&B side, we have new releases from the bluesy Syleena Johnson and former Broadway star Heather Headley, whose first gospel album comes out today. All you jazziacs can take a listen to the new Ravi Coltrane and Joshua Redman releases, and late 90s fetishists can pick up the new (hed) p.e. album.
A few interesting things going on as far as reissues. The Now That’s What I Call Music series turns its’ attention to Motown just in time for the pioneering label’s 50th anniversary with a track listing remarkably similar to the Motown #1s CD that came out about half a decade ago. Odessa, one of the Bee Gees‘ earlier efforts, gets the 2-disc deluxe treatment today, and Sony’s environmentally friendly Playlist series has a ton of new entries, ranging from Run-DMC and The Jacksons to Van Morrison and Dan Fogelberg.
Thanks to my buddies Kyle and Paul for the guest columns they provided for the past two weeks. I’m back like spinal cords, however, taking you on another tour through my music collection. It’s keeping me from watching my Giants play, but considering the score right now, that’s OK. Here’s what we get when we shuffle:
Track 1: “Hip Hop” by Mos Def (from “Black on Both Sides”, 1999)
Damn, what happened to Mos Def? He’s a legitimate triple threat as a singer, rapper and an actor, but he’s wasted his talent lately on half-baked albums (remember “Tru3 Magic”, the album that was released without a cover?) and mediocre movies (“Be Kind Rewind”). He’s got a new album scheduled for release next year. Hopefully, it’ll bring back the Mos we knew and loved, before the baby mama drama and the punching out photographies.
Track 2: “Dr. Heckyll & Mr Jive” by Men at Work (from “Cargo”, 1983)
Um…if you check yesterday’s posts, you’ll see that I just talked about Men at Work yesterday. This is an interesting little kowinkydink. When I was a kid, I loved this song. I’m honestly not sure I’ve given it a full listen since I was 7, though. Still a pretty good song. And it has a video. Wanna see it? I thought you’d never ask.
I’ll drag up a Police comparison once again and say while the Po-Po made better records, MAW made better videos.
Track 3: “Crack (demo)” by Run-DMC (from “Tougher Than Leather-Expanded Edition”, originally released 1988)
Remember back in the days when everyone had to do an anti-drug song? This was obviously before selling drugs became cool in hip-hop circles. This song is typical Run-DMC back and forth, but the most intriguing thing about “Crack” is the rumor that the song was supposed to be recorded with Michael Jackson, but Run, DMC and Jay found Mike weird and couldn’t relate. You don’t say, guys.
Track 4: “Why You Wanna Trip on Me” by Michael Jackson (from “Dangerous”, 1991)
I swear to you this was totally coincidental. This song was track 2 on “Dangerous” and finds the KOP bitching out the press for focusing on his…uh, pecularities while there are more urgent issues going on in the world. The man had a point. This was at the beginning of MJ’s new jack swing stage and stands as one of the better tracks on “Dangerous”, featuring a thumping beat and those signature MJ harmonies.
Track 5: “Flake” by Jack Johnson (from “Brushfire Fairytales”, 2002)
This is one of only a handful of tracks I’ve been able to tolerate Ben Harper on. For some reason, I’ve always thought of him as a poor man’s Lenny Kravitz and I just can’t get into him. This is also the song that introduced me (and most people) to Jack Johnson. I could definitely use anything that reminds me of summer now that I’m buried under 6970989 inches of snow in Massachusetts.
(and I’ll completely ignore the fact that the song is called “Flake”).
Track 6: “Bleeders” by The Wallflowers (from “Bringing Down the Horse”, 1996)
I will say this and watch any musical integrity I ever had completely evaporate: I enjoy hearing Jakob Dylan sing more than I enjoy hearing Bob Dylan sing. That said, I wish Jakob would come up with material as consistently well-written as his dad has. “Bringing Down the Horse” remains The Wallflowers’ only essential album. “Bleeders” sounds kinda like old-school Springsteen as sung by Tom Petty. It’s probably the best of the set’s non-singles. Now I feel bad for completely ignoring Dylan’s solo album from earlier this year. Has anyone heard it? Is it any good?
Track 7: “Reasons” by Earth, Wind & Fire (from “That’s the Way of the World”, 1975)
This is one of EW&F’s most memorable songs, despite the fact that I don’t think it was ever released as a single. I think I may have mentioned “Reasons” in a Falsettometer article a while back, and the high notes Philip Bailey hits on this song are pretty awesome. Even more awesome is the fact that Bailey can probably still hit the majority of those notes. Pretty amazing stuff. Here’s some old concert footage. The man is bad ass.
On that note, I bid you all a very smooth good night. If anyone wants to fill in next week, please let me know!!
Every year around this time, the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame nominating committee submits their list of finalists of which five artists will be selected for future induction. I always get excited each time but then always forget that the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame is a fuckin’ joke. Instead of inducting bands that have truly made an impact on popular music, what seems to happen is that Jann Wenner and his cronies go with the bands on their personal favorites list. If they don’t like the artist, accomplishments like album sales and influences on other artists still won’t matter. Jann Wenner is such an egotistical bastard that he even inducted himself into the Hall Of Fame. I won’t discredit his contributions as founder and editor of Rolling Stone, but shouldn’t he be inducted when he’s bit older, or maybe when he’s dead? I understand that listening to music is very subjective, and we all love to argue about who’s deserving to be in the hall of fame as much as we do about best songs of a decade, or greatest guitarist, etc. But of any shrine to an art form or sport, the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame has totally missed the boat. I respect the following artists, but of any bands in the Hall Of Fame, they are the best examples of musicians whose overall impact is questionable: Traffic, Frank Zappa, Buffalo Springfield, Sex Pistols, and The Talking Heads.  Traffic introduced the world to Steve Winwood, but have they really ever produced a meaningful song? Frank Zappa might have been innovative, but for a guy whose best known song is Valley Girl, does he really deserve to be in the hall? Buffalo Springfield only had one album with Stephen Stills and Neil Young and have only one relevant song (For What It’s Worth)! The Sex Pistols are also known for one album, and it’s a fact that Sid Vicious wasn’t even good enough to play bass, so he performed without his guitar even plugged in. I personally like the Talking Heads, but they are more known for their unique videos on MTV than their actual music. Only the creme de la creme should be in the Hall Of Fame: those that no sane person could argue such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Michael Jackson.
Hey, we took a break for a coupla weeks and now we’re back. The music industry is slowly shaking out of it’s slumber, and while there aren’t any superstar releases for a couple weeks still, there is some interesting niche-y kinda stuff getting released. We’re gonna roll with a new format this year and see if it sticks.