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Tag: The Commodores

  • The New Music Files 1/27/09: The Boss is Back

    bruceWelcome to the first “big-name” release date of 2009. There’s something for everyone this week, whether you’re an indie snob, a meat and potatoes rock ‘n roller, or a nostalgic hip-hopper. Here’s a quick taste of what’s new and interesting.

    Bruce Springsteen Working on a Dream: There was apparently a wealth of good material that didn’t make the cut on Bruce’s last album, 2007’s Magic, so he and the E Street Band have cobbled the rest of those moments up, polished them a little, and voila. Working on a Dream is here. With Bruce’s usual intense character studies, anthemic rockers and political message, The Boss’s legion of followers is sure to be satiated.

    Franz Ferdinand Tonight!…Franz Ferdinand: The Scottish foursome scored a huge smash with “Take Me Out” a few years back, but their follow-up didn’t fare as well. Album #3 promises more of the dance/rock sound that brought the band fame, with a little bit more emphasis on the “dance” side of the equation. This could be the sleeper of this week’s releases.

    The Bird & The Bee Ray Guns are Just Not the Future: I discovered this mellow duo via their ethereal cover of The Bee Gees’ “How Deep is Your Love”, and picked up their self-titled debut as well as Please Clap Your Hands, the EP that contained said cover. Album #2 should blow them up, hopefully to the status of kindred spirits like Feist. Someone hook these folks up with an iPod commercial, stat.

    Hoobastank For(n)ever: Crappy title, generic band, quite probably the end of their career, unless lightning strikes again and the band comes up with another “The Reason”-type hit.

    Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes Eye Legacy: Why a Left Eye solo album is being released seven years after her death is totally beyond me, especially considering her solo debut (which was released overseas but canned by her label here in the States) was widely available as an import (hell, I own it…). Even more galling is the fact that this album contains plugged-in guest verses from the likes of Missy Elliott, Chamillionaire and Bobby Valentino. This is one I’d definitely say stay away from, or at least tread carefully.

    Elsewhere, Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante releases his latest solo album, The Empyrean, which features a guest shot by bandmate Flea. James Ingram tries his hand with gospel on Stand (In the Light), a collection of spiritual songs. Jayhawks frontmen Mark Olson & Gary Louris team up for Ready for the Flood, while my man Duncan Sheik continues his exploration of theater with Whisper House. And for those of you who are up for hearing Steve Martin play and sing, you might wanna check out The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo, which is sure to be more exciting than “The Pink Panther 2”.

    On the reissue/compilation tip: Grammy Nominees 2009 arrives in stores just a little under 2 weeks before the big show, and Motown celebrates Valentine’s Day with Love Songs collections from The Commodores, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight and the Pips and The Jackson 5. Speaking of the J5, the albums Destiny and Triumph are being remastered (finally!) and re-released, from their later days as The Jacksons. Six Alan Parsons albums also get the remaster/reissue treatment, while Kylie Minogue and Rihanna both come out with remix albums. Finally, in the “we never asked for this” column, there’s a 20th Anniversary Special Edition of…Tone Loc‘s Loc-ed After Dark, for those of you (all five of you) who care to delve beyond Wild Thing and Funky Cold Medina.

    Happy shopping, folks. Get your complete list of this week’s releases here.

  • The Sunday Seven: I Love Girls, Girls, Girls, Girls

    Money Mike has been looking for some volunteers to do their own Sunday Seven column and I raised my hand this week. I’m actually anticipating what’s going to come up because I bet there are going to be songs that pop up that I haven’t heard in forever or songs that are a part of full albums that I may not even like. Since I only buy music from the iTunes store now, my iPod is full of entire albums and thus, stuff that I don’t even really listen to since I’m a big play list guy.

    For those who don’t know, the idea of this column is to take your iPod (or whatever else you use to listen to your music electronically) and put it on shuffle. The next step is to list the first seven songs that come on and list them here.

    Here goes:

    Track 1: The Water Bottle by Bill Cosby

    Aha! The first track isn’t even music. It’s a quick skit by Bill Cosby from his album I Started Out As A Child about children drinking from the water bottle when their parents aren’t home and then leaving just enough in the bottle so they don’t have to refill it. The track is less than a minute long and let’s just say that it’s not his best skit. I have a ton of Cos on my iPod.

    (By the way, I love the fact that on my iPod they actually have “Shuffle” as one of the selections from the main menu. I used to hate having to click a few times to get the shuffle going.)

    Track 2: Let’s Be Friends (Skin To Skin) by Bruce Springsteen

    I love his post 9/11 album The Rising so much that before every semi-pro baseball game after it came out, I listened to it on the way to the ball park. I’m not sure if Bruce only wants to just be friends or not with the skin to skin reference, but hey, he’s Bruce.

    Track 3: Not Gon’ Cry by Mary J. Blige

    From the soundtrack to the movie Waiting To Exhale, this song captures the feeling of the Angela Bassett character Bernadine Harris (thanks IMDB) perfectly. Yes, I think I’ve seen the movie at least once.

    Through sickness and health ’til death do us part
    Those were the words that we said from our hearts
    So now when you say that you’re leaving me
    I don’t get that part

    Word.

    Track 4: Don’t Cry by Jordan Knight

    A few years ago, Jordan Knight released The Fix which was an EP that I only saw on iTunes. It wasn’t bad. But this wasn’t necessarily one of the better tracks. It’s an uptempo song that features, “Don’t cry mama, shake that mama,” as a part of the hook. And that’s one of the better parts of the song. I won’t tell you about the part of the song where he starts talking about her thong.

    Track 5: Girls, Girls, Girls by Jay-Z

    I love girls, girls, girls, girls, girls I do adore. I love this song for all the one liners. From his most famous album, Blueprint, he raps about all kinds of different girls. It’s a fun track, even if he stereotypes them all.

    I got this ho that after twelve million sold
    Mami’s a narcoleptic, always sleepin’ on Hov’

    Track 6: Just To Be Close To You by the Commodores

    The iTunes program that grabs the album art thinks this is supposed to be on the Jackson 5 The Ultimate Collection album. You know it’s a good day when Lionel just starts talking in his songs. He just lays down a soliloquy at the top in a funny accent before saying that he was a lonely man without direction or purpose and no one to love. Of course, that was before he found the girl who made his jagged edges smooth. I have one word that describes this song. Outrageous!

    Track 7: Little Sister by Elvis Presley

    Remember that Elvis hits album that came out several years back and sold like hot cakes even though anyone and their mother who even liked Elvis just a little bit had almost all the songs? Well, they released a sequel called 2nd To None that didn’t sell as well. This song is on the second album. The song is catchy as hell. Elvis, as the mack daddy of all mack daddies, is singing to the little sister of someone he used to date. He used to pull on this girl’s pig tails. But instead of singing her a love song, he’s scolding her.

    Little sister, don’t you kiss me once or twice
    Then say its very nice and then you run
    Little sister, don’t you do what your big sister done

    Thankfully this isn’t the Sunday Eight or else I would’ve had to write about the WWF version of The Land Of 1,000 Dances where the Iron Sheik says that you have to learn to move like the Sheik. That might’ve been a bit embarrassing. Also, I’m going to lose some street cred by only having one hip hop song on here. Sorry guys, I swear I have a ton.

  • Introducing the Falsettometer: Part 1: Philip Bailey


    Welcome to The Falsettometer, where we will look at Great Moments in Falsetto History. Please keep all glass objects out of reach when reading this column or playing one of the videos embedded in a falsettometer column.

    Of course, we have to begin with one of the All Time Falsetto Greats. Someone whose voice can hit notes so high, 5 year old boys look at one another in awe and ask “How did he do that?”

    At any rate, here are the three things that come to mind whenever I think of Earth, Wind & Fire:

    1) No one must have been getting paid in that band, because there were about 64 members. Anyone remember seeing them on Merv Griffin or Mike Douglas back in the day? There were literal *tiers* of members.

    2) Maurice White has one of pop music’s all-time biggest foreheads. Put him and Peabo Bryson together and you basically get a 10-foot tall skull.

    3) Philip Bailey’s voice was so high, he didn’t even sound like a girl. He sounded *unnatural*. Whether the song was “Can’t Hide Love” (“bet-TAH!!”), “September” (“bow-de-ow-de-ow-de-ah!!” or his own “Easy Lover” (if you don’t love “Easy Lover”, something is wrong with you), there was no doubt who was singing. I would say the man’s testicles up and ran away at some point during the Seventies, but Mr. Bailey has *several* kids. God bless him.

    Anyway, EW&F were one of the best at synthesizing pop and funk back in the day (although I’ll admit that they were a bit sanitized for my tastes-even Lionel Richie and The Commodores were grimier than EW&F), but their calling card was ballads. The combo of Maurice White’s ethereal growl and Philip’s falsetto was a hell of a two-pronged attack. And when it comes to slow jams, there are very few better than “Reasons”, which is all Philip. Enjoy, and stay tuned for future editions of The Falsettometer!!