LP Classics: Quincy Jones, You’ve Got It Bad Girl

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Jan 312009
 
Quincy Jones - You've Got It Bad Girl  

Summer In The City
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Manteca
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“Sanford & Son” Theme
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Chump Change
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Album: You’ve Got It Bad Girl (1973)

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To mark the one month anniversary of Ye Olde Blog, I’ve got a new feature that I hope you will enjoy: LP Classics, a tribute to the best records in my collection. The rules: each selection must have a few 4- and 5-star classics, and it can’t be a compilation or live album.

I’d be hard-pressed to come up with a more auspicious debut for this feature than the LP I selected: Quincy Jones’s You’ve Got It Bad Girl. Released in 1973, it’s rarely mentioned among Q’s triumphs, but I’ve played and enjoyed this record countless times. I found it at a San Francisco sidewalk sale for $2, a deal that still makes me smile some 15 years later.

As you can see from the tags I assigned to this post, Quincy showcases his eclectic tastes on this LP. A few tracks originate from movies or TV shows, others are creative interpretations of other artists’ songs, and the liner notes detail several legendary session players providing support throughout the album.

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 Posted by -G. at 9:26 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Crate Diggin’: Cody Chesnutt, The Headphone Masterpiece

 Crate Diggin'  No Responses »
Jan 202009
 
theheadphonemasterpiece  

Smoke And Love
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The Seed (Rock N’ Roll)
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Blackman vs. Batman
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Album: The Headphone Masterpiece (Promo, 2002)

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Back in 2002, I had a standing DJ gig at the Hudson Hotel in NYC. It was probably the highlight of my short, professional DJ career. The hotel was hipster central, I could play whatever I wanted, and I met tons of beautiful people. I even got a hug from Ed Lover.

Every once in a while, some hustling musician would try to slip me a CD in the hopes I would play one of their songs. I am kind of a purist about vinyl, so even though the Hudson provided CD players along with turntables, I politely gave him or her a thanks but no thanks.

One memorable evening, some dude graciously gave me the LP you see above. He was cool and laid-back, suggesting I should listen to it at home, preferably with headphones. The record looked totally ghetto, with a partially hand-written label. The cover was a standard white cover sleeve with an ugly pink/aqua textured spoke pattern. (Click on the image above to see it in gruesome detail.)

But I liked the dude’s low-key style, and gave The Headphone Masterpiece a listen. What I think was intended as the single was eh, but there were a couple of tracks on the B-side that had woozy, appealing charisma and catchy melodies. The recording quality was lousy, but I think that was by design. Cody Chesnutt (though I’m amused by the spelling, I’m not buying into the alt punctuation… ChesnuTT?) wasn’t quite fully formed, but he was original.

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 Posted by -G. at 6:03 am  Tagged with: , , , ,

Live On Wax: Talking Heads, 1977-1981

 Live On Wax  No Responses »
Jan 172009
 
 

New Feeling/A Clean Break (recorded in 1977)
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Air (recorded in 1979)
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The Great Curve
(recorded in 1980 or 1981)
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Album: The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads (1982)

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Though many are familiar with Stop Making Sense, the seminal 1984 concert film directed by Jonathan Demme, it only came a couple of years after Talking Heads released the concert diary The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads. This record chronicled 6 performances over a 5 year span over the course of 4 sides. Listening to the album from start to finish reveals the breathtaking evolution in Talking Heads’ songwriting and musicianship, as well as the explosion in the number of fans in the audience and musicians on stage.

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 Posted by -G. at 7:53 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Musical Cousins: Wu-Tang Clan & Syl Johnson

 Musical Cousins  1 Response »
Jan 132009
 
The W  

Wu-Tang Clan
Hollow Bones
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Album: The W (2000)

Is It Because I'm Black  

Syl Johnson
Is It Because I’m Black
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Album: Is It Because I’m Black (1969)

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Introducing Musical Cousins, where I take two or more tracks that relate to each other in some way. The most obvious application — including this one — will be to pair a modern-ish song with the original beat it samples. But I may latch on to other, more esoteric pairings as well.

For the inaugural edition, I’ve chosen a joint from the uneven Wu-Tang Clan record, The W. Verses from Raekwon, Inspectah Deck and Ghostface flow beautifully in a track that is made for headphones (but not for the dancefloor).

Contrast it to Syl Johnson’s original and witness RZA’s minimal, yet effective, sampling methodologies. He doesn’t utilize any sounds that aren’t part of the original song. He just increased the tempo, looped a few bits, and sprinkled on a few effects.

Though lyrically, the two tracks are markedly different — Johnson is wailing on the dehumanizing effects of racism while the Wu deliver intricate, crime-themed wordplay — they share an underlying despair and a driving force to persevere regardless of the bleak circumstances.

 

 Posted by -G. at 7:04 am  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,

Crate Diggin’: Oliver Sain, Bus Stop

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Jan 112009
 
busstop  

Bus Stop
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Laid Back
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Album: Bus Stop (1974)

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Introducing Crate Diggin’, where I’ll digitize some tracks from my neglected record collection. I’ll try to focus on music that is still unavailable on CD and artists you may not be familiar with. This feature will be heavy on soul/funk/jazz from 1970-1975, since that’s what I was into when I was on the vinyl tip.

To kick things off, I’ve unearthed a record I picked up when I lived in New Orleans, Oliver Sain’s Bus Stop. Oliver was a big name in the St. Louis R&B scene, not just as a sax player, but also as a songwriter and producer. Each year, he organized an annual Soul Reunion, which just celebrated its 45th anniversary (even though Sain died in 2003).

Bus Stop was his second LP as a solo artist and focused on Oliver’s songwriting and sax skills. The record is a mixture of funk, blues, and the unfortunately-titled track, “Blowing For Love.”

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 Posted by -G. at 7:19 am  Tagged with: , , , , ,
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