Here we go again:
First of all, ego-stroke time. Here’s my first result from composing in Reason, which I posted about here. I’m fairly happy with how it turned out. I’ve got a few more things in various stages of completion. I think this one is finished….I think. @nubis – “Begin.”
OK…now that’s out of the way—Here’s something to get you moving. This is a trance track from the Global Deejays, built around an extended sample of “If You’re Going To San Francisco,” which nicely re-invents the song for a new century, and more accurately reflects the current feel of the city: Global Deejays – “The Sound of San Francisco (Short Progressive Edit)”
More and more songs protesting the continual outrages perpetrated by the Bush adminstration are being released. I’ve got a couple of them here, which are both new, and which stand not only as political statements, but some pretty nifty music as well. First up: Late 70s music star Ricky Lee Jones (“Chuck E’s in Love”—which is one of my faves, I’ll have to post it some time) teamed up with the members of the neo-swing band Squirrel Nut Zippers, and produced this retro-30s-sounding piece: Ricky Lee Jones – “Have You Had Enough?”
Second — neo-soul artist Ben Harper has a song on his newest album which absolutely blasts the government for, among other things, the criminally incompetent response to Hurricane Katrina, and manages to make it a damn near perfect early-70s-style funk-soul number, full of righteous anger and wakka-chikka guitar: Ben Harper – “Black Rain.”
The 30s riff of “Have You Had Enough” puts me in the mood for some music from that period, so here is a modern recording of one of the best songs of the era. This one is taken from the soundtrack to Swing Kids, a jaunty little film about smart hip people watching their country descend into fascism….Hmmm…. Janis Seigel – “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen.”
More international hip-hop for
More hip-hop. I’m fairly certain that I probably posted this waaaaaaaaaaay back at the beginning of Friday Music, but it’s one of my all-time favorites, and it’s a great way to show geeks that a lot of these rappers are geeks too. This is Tribe Called Quest, who allowed a group of young rappers called Leaders of the New School to guest star on this single….so this marks the debut of one Mister Busta Rhymes. He displays his geek cred on this track with the line “Raaah Raaah, Like a Dungeon Dragon…” and then went on to become a star. Tribe Called Quest – “Scenario (feat. Leaders of the New School)”
Completely switching musical styles — here is one of my favorite orchestral soundtrack pieces: the “alternate theme” for James Bond that John Barry composed for the second bond film From Russia With Love, and which was used in several films which followed. I’m dying to do a dance remix of this. John Barry – “007.”
Lastly, we have what I consider one of the best songs from Prince’s later period. It got enough airplay and video exposure to be included in his Greatest Hits collections, but it’s nowhere near as well-known as his earlier work. Love the harmonies on this (and the zills, courtesy of his then-wife Mayte). Prince – “Seven.”
Enjoy.
“Seven” is my all time favorite Prince song. A great thing to come to on this ridiculously harried Friday afternoon!
I really, really like 7. I’m not huge into Prince, but he really did well with that one.
“Have You Had Enough?” sounds like it was adapted from the Squirrel Nut Zippers’ “Put A Lid On It”. Nice tune.
I can’t believe somebody also likes “the scenario” (here we go-yo,here we go-yo). I heard TCQ at a time when a lot of friends were not into hip-hop, and walked around for days with the choruses of this one, “Bonita” and “Left My Wallet” stuck in my head…which was very inappropriate for a boots and leather industrial punk biker type.
Most of the stuff I listen to is political to some degree. I find all the lovey crap out there just makes me wanna puke after some time.
I was always a Harper fan, but his new CD in nice. It has been given some mixed reviews- but I find it nice. Ahh Yeah.
That’s the hardest thing that I’ve tried to convince many friends of……that most of the *good* hip-hop stuff is the same energy as the alternative, punk and techno that they’re into, just coming from a different cultural background.
Or, as Ice-T said, when discussing his hardcore side project, Body Count: “Get all the pissed-off black kids and pissed-off white kids in the same place, and maybe they’ll realize that they’re pissed off about the same shit.”