I Want You Back (Z-Trip Remix)
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Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough (Original Demo)
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I Can’t Help It (Tangoterje Remix)
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Rock With You (House Remix)
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They Don’t Care About Us (DJ Lt. Dan Remix)
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Don’t get me wrong. I had only a grain-of-sand sized belief that Michael Jackson would ever be relevant to my life again, at least from a musical perspective. Certainly, the tabloid drama that was his life continues to enthrall, but it never overshadowed the breathtaking catalog of recordings that he drove into creation.

It’s only been a week since he died, but I already feel everything has been said about the impact Jackson had on the culture. But when I hear “ABC” or “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” or “Off The Wall” or dozens of other classics, I can’t help but think back to my DJ days and the countless times Jackson saved my ass by energizing the dancefloor. The soul sickness that caused his life to devolve into an overdose of painkillers will soon be a distant memory.

The tracks I selected are not meant to be Michael Jackson’s greatest hits. But given that most people already have the entirety of Off The Wall and Thriller on their iPods, I thought I would share some outtakes and remixes of his work.

First up is a remix of “I Want You Back” that was on the Motown Remixed comp from a few years back. Normally, I’m not much of a Z-Trip fan, but he deftly tweaks the construction of this track, adding a new drumbeat but leaving the underlying groove intact. This version really highlights the interplay between 10-year old Jackson’s passionate vocals and his brothers’ smooth background harmonies.

A demo of “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” that appeared on an Off The Wall reissue provides a glimpse into Jackson’s recording process. Musically, the song lacks the lavish disco strings and brass overdubs, and Jackson was clearly still figuring out the lyrics. But you can hear this version and know it’s a hit song.

“I Can’t Help It” was written for Jackson by Stevie Wonder. This mellow remix by Tangoterje was pointed out to me by my Berlin-based friend, Pepe (thanks amigo, see you in a couple of weeks). Unlike Z-Trip (who had access to the original master recording), Tangoterje is working off the completed recording, yet he figures out a way to turn this lush mid-tempo ballad into a soulful, percussive booty-shaker.

The white-label remix of “Rock With You” is one of those dirty house records that I happened upon in my crate-digging days. Every once in awhile, I’d have a gig where I worked with a house DJ. This was always a bit stressful for me since I had a pretty limited selection of house records. This track satisfied the jaw-grinding set while staying true to my funk/R&B/hip hop roots.

The final track is also the strangest, and the only one I enjoy more than its original. “They Don’t Care About Us” is not one of Michael’s best songs, and the ill-worded “Sue me, Jew me… Kick me, Kike me” lyric is amongst Jackson’s stupidest moves. But this chopped and screwed mashup hits on so many levels. This remix style is often associated with downers (specifically, codeine-laden cough syrup), which is resonant given the cause of Michael Jackson’s death. And though his vocal style became increasingly staccato as his career progressed, slowing it down and marrying it with that addictive Dead Prez “Hip Hop” beat is just plain tough. Finally, laying on a quote from attorney Mark Gregaros in response to Jackson’s child molestation charges adds an ominous justification for the song’s bitter lyrics.

Hope you’re finally at peace, MJ.

You Make Me Feel So Young
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All Of Me (Instrumental)
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Angel Eyes
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Album: Sinatra At The Sands (1966)

It’s been awhile since I’ve spotlighted my collection of recorded live albums, so I’ve dug up a killer LP from the legendary Frank Sinatra. As if that wasn’t enough of a draw, he’s accompanied by Count Basie and his orchestra, with songs arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones. Wow, that’s a lot of talent in one room.

Recorded in early 1966 at Las Vegas’s Sands Hotel (Sinatra had an ownership stake in the Sands until Howard Hughes bought it a year later), this was Sinatra’s first live album. Sinatra, Basie, and Jones had previously collaborated on the studio album, It Might As Well Be Swing, which produced the huge hit, “Fly Me To The Moon.

As you can imagine, Sinatra in Vegas was a huge event, and the packed crowd is ecstatic. As expressed by Stan Cornyn in the liner notes for Sinatra At The Sands, “Two thousand knees with nowhere to go.”

The first track I selected was “You Make Me Feel So Young,” which your Mom totally loves. This song exemplifies the swinging, effortless style that Sinatra is known for. He makes it look so easy, but Sinatra spent decades perfecting his craft.

You can’t have Count Basie as your bandleader without showcasing his immense talents, and Sinatra was no fool, letting Basie and his orchestra let loose on the standard “All Of Me.” Jones’s inventive arrangement gives Basie all the room he needs, and the emphatic, buoyant horns provide a big band counterpoint to Basie’s mellow piano boogie. Since this track was recorded from vinyl*, you can clearly hear the murmur of the crowd in the background; listen as they “wake up” when the horns blast for the first time.

The last selection from this fine record is the ballad “Angel Eyes.” Simply performed with his long time pianist, Bill Miller, Sinatra’s phrasing on this track is nothing short of perfection. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Sinatra’s hilarious intro (“It’s boozin’ time!”), which is in stark contrast to the melancholy song that follows.

For years, my image of Sinatra was molded by Bar Mitzvah classics like “New York, New York” and “My Way.” I was really blown away after I heard this record, and it inspired me to seek out more from this dynamic personality and deeply adventurous singer.

*If you want to hear an example of the superiority of vinyl, compare the version of “Angel Eyes” above with this version ripped from the CD. Yeah, the LP version has some popping, but doesn’t Sinatra’s vocals sound warmer and more intimate?

MF DOOM
Rhymes Like Dimes (Edit)
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Album: Operation: Doomsday (1999)

Quincy Jones (w/James Ingram)
One Hundred Ways
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Album: The Dude (1981)

MF DOOM may be my favorite rapper at this point in time. He is one of the best rhymers in the game, and the combination of his cryptic lyrics and hoarse voice makes him stand out from other MCs.

Formerly known as Zev Love X, MF DOOM first came on the scene as part of 90s underground hip hop group KMD, until the group came to an untimely end after his partner Subroc died tragically in a car accident.

Many years after KMD fell off my radar, I started hearing tracks from MF DOOM with no clue that he was Zev Love X reborn. Me being an obsessive sort, I started looking into this talented rapper/producer only to be confused by all the different names he recorded under. Was he MF DOOM? Viktor Vaughn? King Geedorah? It didn’t really matter, all incarnations were dope. (And big up to Wikipedia for helping me sort through all of MF DOOM‘s personas.)

One of the recordings I picked up was, Live From Planet X, a ferocious live set from 2005 that included a selection I hadn’t heard yet, “Rhymes Like Dimes.” As usual, MF DOOM’s rhymes and phrasing were amazing (e.g. “Classical slapstick, rappers need chapstick”), but what really got me pumped were the snaky keys. Where did I hear them before?

I racked my brain but couldn’t place them. It wasn’t until I was cooling out with my iTunes “chill” playlist that I recognized the sample source: the mellow solo from 5-star classic “One Hundred Ways.” How did I not peg that classic Quincy Jones sound?

The “One Hundred Ways” sample is way more obvious in the recorded version off MF DOOM’s debut, Operation: Doomsday, as the (overlong) outro from DJ Cucumber Slice (aka Bobbito) features a direct quote from the originating track. Considering MF DOOM raps for two-and-a-half minutes and Bobbito does his hype thing for an additional couple of minutes, I chose to fade the track after MF DOOM completes his verses.

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)

To mark the one month anniversary of gBlog, 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.

The track that leads off the LP is also among Quincy’s most revered: a cover of “Summer In The City,” which takes The Lovin’ Spoonful’s 60′s anthem to euphoric and jazzy new heights. It won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement, but is probably best known for it’s opening loop, sampled in The Pharcyde’s magnum opus, “Passing Me By.” Various bits of the song have been sampled in lots of other tracks as well. Jones’s version is a mystical brew consisting of trippy grooves, sultry solos, and soaring vocals (provided by Valerie Simpson, of Ashford & Simpson).

“Manteca” is an aggressive update of a Dizzy Gillespie track from the 1940s. I love the tone shifts between the ridiculously tight horn section and Jerome Richardson’s breezy sax passages. I always feel so sophisticated when I hear Bob James’s jumpy electric piano solo. I kinda wish Q didn’t let the track’s propulsive energy spiral into chaos towards the last couple of minutes of the track, but this is still a total jam.

The final two selections are both themes to TV shows. Everyone knows and loves the “‘Sanford & Son’ Theme,” (aka “The Streetbeater”); how Quincy Jones manages to compose a perfect musical counterpart to the junkyard in which the show is set is beyond my comprehension. Sorry for the skips, but I’ve played this cut down to the bone!

Less known (and thus, slightly less pleasurable) is the theme to two different Bill Cosby shows, 1972′s The New Bill Cosby Show and a game show from 1974, Now You See It; neither made it past their first season, but their theme song endures. Little know fact: Q co-wrote the track with Cosby — Bill is one talented dude.