Archive for the ‘Musical Cousins’ Category
February 28th, 2010 | No Comments »
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Kool G. Rap & D.J. Polo
On The Run (Dirty Untouchable Remix)
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Released in 1992
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Ray Bryant
Up Above The Rock
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Released in 1969
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I had a thing at work recently where I was overdramatically quoting (sotto voce) that psycho De Niro speech from The Untouchables:
That same day, my iPod shuffle randomly selected a remix of Kool G. Rap & D.J. Polo’s 5-star classic “On The Run,” which samples that very same quote. Funny how the universe works sometimes.
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January 31st, 2010 | No Comments »
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Common (w/Kanye West & John Mayer)
Go
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Album: Be (2005)
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Linda Lewis
Old Smokey
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Album: Lark (1972)
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Common has had quite the inconsistent career. But when Kanye West came knocking, Common stepped up his game, resulting in the pretty darn awesome LP Be. I fear Be may end up being the apex of Common’s recording career, but I’m still rooting for one of Chi-town’s finest.
Though Be has a number of enjoyable tracks, I’ve been surprised by how much its third single, "Go" has stuck with me. I think it’s the contrast between the mellow beat and the risqué lyrics that keeps it in rotation.
Kanye makes an able hype man and as for John Mayer, I think his contribution is limited to the echoed "Go" that is looped every two bars or so. (And he gets a songwriting credit?)
I hadn’t heard the Linda Lewis track Kanye sampled in "Go." To be honest, I hadn’t heard of Linda Lewis. But "Old Smokey" is a sweet, feel-good song that is ideally suited to a Sunday morning. Whatever led Kanye to isolate the short electric keyboard breakdown that appears towards the end of the song is a mystery to me, but I’m indebted to Yeezy for leading me to this rare groover.
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September 16th, 2009 | No Comments »
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Barbra Streisand (w/Barry Gibb)
Guilty
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Album: Guilty (1980)
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Tanya Morgan
Stay Tuned (Sunset Version)
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Album: Sunset (EP, 2005)
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A couple of months ago, I was diggin’ in the dollar bin at Amoeba and came across Guilty, a Barbra Streisand/Barry Gibb duet album from 1980. My Mom totally had this record, and played it frequently enough that the title song came back to me instantly. As I stood hunched over the crate on the floor, I wondered what other beats might lurk within the dated airbrushed sleeve. For a buck, I could satisfy my curiosity and prevent lingering back damage.
I had thought about featuring Guilty in a new gBlog feature dedicated to cheesy pop, but couldn’t find enough tracks on the record that were bad-good enough to share. Oh well. At least the title cut — which won a Grammy and features the brothers Gibb (aka the Bee Gees) on background vocals — entertained me enough to rip it and upload to my iPod.
I had pretty much given up on the idea of blogging about the record. But a few weeks after I had put it aside, I heard a familiar sample in a podcast from The Sound of Young America. It was included in a 2006 performance by an unknown rap group with a misleading name: Tanya Morgan. (According to their MySpace profile, “THE NAME MEANS NOTHING…AND EVERYTHING. JUST ENJOY THE MUSIC! THATS AN OLD QUESTION PLEASE DONT ASK IT ANYMORE! LOL”)
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August 4th, 2009 | No Comments »
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Elton John
Bennie And The Jets
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Album: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1974)
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R. Kelly (w/T.I. & T-Pain)
I’m A Flirt (Remix)
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Album: Double Up (2007)
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In this post, I feature distant Musical Cousins R. Kelly and Elton John. They don’t have any obvious connection but somehow it’s clear to me that R. Kelly had “Bennie And The Jets” in mind when he wrote “I’m A Flirt.” The bouncy, driving piano lines that feed both tracks result in vastly different songs, but both are 5-star classics to this listener.
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April 16th, 2009 | No Comments »
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Nostalgia 77 (w/Alice Russell)
Seven Nation Army
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Tender Forever
My Love
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B.Cause (w/The Whitefield Brothers & The Dazz Band)
Let It Whip
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I’m gonna switch things up on Musical Cousins. Usually, I do a modernish song that contains a sample from a slightly less modern song. Not this time. The tracks offered up in this post are all cover versions that sound as if they were released before the original. Allow me to demonstrate.
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