February 8th, 2010 | 1 Comment »
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Beyond Belief
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Shabby Doll
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Man Out Of Time
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Almost Blue
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Released in 1982
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Elvis Costello is a great all-around songwriter. His work features creative and catchy melodies, deftly honors a range of musical genres, and delivers lyrics that can be both narrative and poetic.
Imperial Bedroom is among his better LPs. Elvis’s artistic restlessness often results in his albums lacking in cohesion. But Imperial Bedroom succeeds due to its diversity and craft; no wonder it is regarded as one of Elvis’s best.
Released in 1982 — his seventh album in five years — Elvis teamed up with a new producer, Geoff Emerick. Emerick was an engineer on many of The Beatles’ later records (the first track he engineered was “Tomorrow Never Knows”), and his influence on Elvis Costello & The Attractions’ sound is clear.
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Published in Crate Diggin', Music |
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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Published in Music, Musical Cousins |
March 26th, 2009 | 3 Comments »
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Viet Nam
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Cohesion
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The Glory Of Man
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Jesus And Tequila
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Album: Double Nickels On The Dime (1984)
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How to define punk rock? Is it the sound (electric guitars, hard drums, screaming vocals)? The lyrics (anti-establishment)? The attitude (do-it-yourself, be different)? In a lot of ways, the rise of punk was later mirrored by the explosion of hip hop — it’s as much a cultural movement as a musical one.
Growing up, I can’t say that I was heavy into music that would be neatly categorized as punk, but the punk ethos inspired the bands that I loved (e.g. Talking Heads, R.E.M., The Cure). When I heard Minutemen’s Double Nickels On The Dime towards the end of my high school years, it really opened my mind to how liberating punk rock — and, for that matter, music of any genre — could be. My appreciation of this record has only grown in the two decades since I first heard it.
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Published in LP Classics, Music |
February 28th, 2009 | No Comments »
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Kid Cudi
50 Ways To Make A Record
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Album: A Kid Named Cudi (Mixtape, 2008)
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Paul Simon
50 Ways To Leave Your Lover
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Album: Still Crazy After All These Years (1975)
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One of the benefits of sampling other artists’ songs is that I get to rediscover music that I haven’t heard in a while. Such is the case with this edition of Musical Cousins.
One of the many (too many) year-end “best of” lists I read was The 10 Best Mixtapes of 2008 (all free, by the way). Most of them were not of interest to me, but I checked out a couple. The freshest was from Kid Cudi, a Cleveland singer-rapper who, as a result of his mixtape, became a protege of Kanye West.
Cudi has a laid back flow and a respectable singing voice. But what really brought a smile to my face was a throwaway track, a semi-cover of Paul SImon’s “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover” which he reworked as “50 Ways To Make A Record.” Yeah, the new lyrics are insidery and on its own, this track won’t move the needle for Cudi’s burgeoning career, but hearing that militaristic drum line took me back instantly.
I probably hadn’t heard Paul Simon’s version for at least 20 years, so after listening to Cudi’s track I downloaded the original immediately. Wow, what a great song (a 5-star classic, fo’ sho’). The song shifts — both musically and lyrically — from the wistful realization of dissatisfaction in the narrator’s relationship to the buoyant catharsis of letting go and finding relief through freedom. Simon is that rare artist who is equally skilled as a songwriter, singer, and musician and this classic is a testament to his talents.
Thanks, Kid Cudi, for shepherding me back to this song after all these years.
Published in Music, Musical Cousins |
February 6th, 2009 | No Comments »
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Steely Dan
The Fez
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Album: The Royal Scam (1976)
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Bizzie Boys
For Those Who Slept
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Album: Droppin’ It! (1989)
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This time out on Musical Cousins, a minor Steely Dan hit begets an even more obscure hip hop track.
“The Fez” was included on The Royal Scam and though it doesn’t have quite the lyrical depth as most of Steely Dan’s hits (“I wanna be your holy man”?), the track’s driving rhythm has kept it in fans’ memories some 30+ years after its release.
One of the earlier hip hop acts to come out of the south, North Carolina’s Bizzie Boyz didn’t make a huge mark, but their album Droppin’ It! had heads nodding throughout the underground in the late 80s. The producer/rapper, Willski (who went on to become Ski Beatz, producer of Camp Lo’s awesome Uptown Saturday Night LP), doesn’t diverge too far from the Steely Dan original: he sped up and looped the intro, added a respectable DJ Premier-inspired scratched “chorus”, and a bouncy rap.
Published in Music, Musical Cousins |
