I suppose I should be happy that a beloved former Cardinal found work again, but in that uniform? Why don’t you run over my dog in your Ferrari while you’re at it, Jim?
And what are Cubs fans to do now that the man they loved to hate is on their team? Will they now cheer for what they once lustily booed: his uppercut swing, his flair for the dramatic, his frosted tips? At least now, Cubs fans won’t have to deal with him killing their pitching anymore.
There’s apparently no truth to the rumor that Carlos Zambrano drilled Edmonds with a fastball when Edmonds walked into the clubhouse.
So I was doing a little research just now, trying to find some album artwork, when my travels took me to AllMusic. Imagine my surprise to see its Album of the Day:
The Brand New Heavies‘ “Heavy Rhyme Experience, Vol. 1″ is the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup of music: Two great tastes (rappers and a live funk band) that taste great together. If there’s any album that is right in my musical wheelhouse, it is this one. The only low points are the two tracks that feature dancehall MCs (one of them, Jamalski’s “Jump n Move,” was on the “Happy Feet” soundie a coupla years ago). The music on those tracks is good; I just can’t stand that style of rapping.
While this album did have a few of the Brand New Heavies’ Delicious Vinyl labelmates (e.g., the Pharcyde and Masta Ace), this was no mere promotional vehicle, as some of the off-label artists included Main Source, Black Sheep and Gang Starr, whose “It’s Getting Hectic” is playable below.
Unfortunately, the “Vol. 1″ verbiage in the album title is a misnomer, as nearly 17 years later there’s yet to be a second volume. Just think of the possibilities Vol. 2 could bring: You could have modern-day rappers like Mos Def, Blue Scholars and Common Sense as well as reunite groups like A Tribe Called Quest and Digable Planets. Whoever has that power, make it so.
Before we begin with Part 3, I’d like to include one song meant for Part 2 that I totally spaced. I had a “wrist” song and a “finger” song but totally forgot the “hand” song. So here is…
“Hand in Your Head,” Money Mark – Perhaps best known for his work with the Beastie Boys during the 1990s, Money Mark also has dropped several solo releases. This track originally appeared on his first solo LP, which was mostly just his voice, his multitudinous keyboards and a drum machine. The version you’re listening to is off his second full-length release, which featured an actual band: Mark on keyboards and vocals, Sean Lennon on guitar and bass, and Russell Simins (of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion) on drums.
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Part 3 of Music from Head to Toe will include songs that reference the naughty bits. If you are offended by such words, then you’re probably not reading this Web log anyway, so suck it! As always, right-click to steal download.
“Monkey Hips and Rice,” Dub Narcotic Sound System – For some, the vocals of Calvin Johnson (formerly of Beat Happening and a founder of legendary indie label K Records) render Dub Narcotic unlistenable. I tolerate his “singing” only because I like the music so much. While this song isn’t their best example, DNSS’s whitey-funk can get you moving.
“Ms. Fat Booty,” Mos Def – Once considered the “little brother” of groups in the Native Tongues Posse, the multitalented Mos Def dropped his solo debut in 1999 on which this song appears. He’s also appeared in several movies (”Brown Sugar,” “Italian Job,” “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”) and will portray Chuck Berry in the upcoming “Cadillac Records.”
“Flies On My Dick,” Ween – As much as I enjoy Ween’s “White Pepper”-and-later era of more cohesive songwriting, I did become a Ween fan from their oddball, lo-fi and beautifully profane earlier work. “Flies On My Dick,” from 1992’s “Pure Guava,” has all those qualities in spades.
“Moist Vagina,” Nirvana – This song was released as the B-side to the “All Apologies” single from 1993. I can’t imagine why it wasn’t included on “In Utero.” Seriously, though… I think this is the perfect Nirvana song: soft/loud dynamics, AB song structure and minimal lyrics screamed repetitively. Plus, it’s called “Moist Vagina.”
“Pubic Enemy,” A Tribe Called Quest – Back in the late 1980s, many rappers cared enough about their listeners to remind them to always “pack the plastic,” if you will. “Pubic Enemy” describes the consequences of not wearing (or requiring Mr. Right Now to wear) a “Jimmy hat,” as it were:
Suddenly, she’s been distracted
By something that has been attracted
She poked and poked and smacked at it
Then she broke down and she scratched it
The original version appeared on ATCQ’s debut LP; this version is a remix that uses the bassline from “The Adventures of Super Rhyme.”
“Pink Eye (On My Leg),” Ween – I suppose this song could have worked for Part 1, too. If you have a dog(s), you might want to get them out of the room before you play this, lest they start barking, too.
“Eight Feet Under,” NIL8 – It really is a shame that NIL8 didn’t become a nationally known rock band. Beloved here in Springfield, NIL8 are well-known around the Midwest but couldn’t quite break through nationally. It wasn’t for a lack of effort on the band’s part, though. Shameless name-check alert: In high school, the rock band I was in had the good fortune to open for NIL8 on many occasions, including the 1992 Hobgoblinspookadelic at the Hilton, of all places.
This installment finds us moving south from the head and neck. Click the link above for those parts, and right-click the tunes to steal download.
“Break My Body,” the Pixies – This is sort of cheating as well, as I have no songs with “thorax” in the title. But this is one of my favorite songs off “Surfer Rosa” and is the first song I ever taught myself on bass, so it just begged for inclusion.
Lo Boob Oscillator,” Stereolab – The lyrics are in French and the song is about 3 minutes too long, but damned if it doesn’t lift you up and put a smile on your face. (NOTE: Quality of this file is pretty bad. I hope to have a better one up soon. Better-quality file up now.)
“Dyslexic Heart,” Paul Westerberg – This insanely catchy tune is off the “Singles” soundtrack and is among Westerberg’s first solo efforts following the demise of the Replacements.
“My Iron Lung,” Radiohead – The intro features the unmistakable sound of the Digitech Whammy pedal, a foot-controlled pitch-shifter and one of the most fun-to-play-with musical toys ever invented. Right, Steve?
“Belly Dancin’ Dina,” Jungle Brothers – The JBs were more or less the founding members of the Native Tongues Posse but have received the least amount of fanfare compared with De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. In fact, Q-Tip’s first appearance on record came on the Jungle Brothers’ 1988 LP “Straight Out the Jungle.” The JBs also pretty much pioneered mining jazz records for samples during a time in which James Brown loops were all the rage.
“One-Armed Scissor,” At the Drive-In – This is the first single off ATDI’s final LP, 2000’s “Relationship of Command,” after which the singer and guitarist went on to form The Mars Volta. The lyrics on this song (and the rest of the album) make no sense to me, but Cedric Bixler-Zavala is a good screamer and the music and production are both excellent.
“Chesley’s Little Wrists,” Pavement – For this track, I think the engineer surreptitiously pressed record while the band was warming up during the “Slanted and Enchanted” sessions.
“Soul Finger,” the Bar-Kays – I don’t want to oversell it, but “Soul Finger” is one of the greatest songs in all music history. It was a staple of the early 1990s-era Southeast High School (stand tall, Spartans) pep band, during which yours truly rocked the funky beat on the drums. As much as teenage white boy could get funky, anyway. “Soul Finger” also was the tune the marching band played in front of the judges during parades. It’s surprising that we won so many awards, because half the band was totally shitfaced during those parades. Good times.
Last week, I finally figured out how to make Audio Player work, and since then I’ve been trying to come up with a way to implement it here.
When I walk Basie, I usually have my headphones on. This morning, a particular song shuffled up on my iPod and it gave me an idea: a playlist based on parts of the body. These are all songs in my iTunes library that have some sort of bodily feature in the title: head, eye, arm… you get the idea. Click on the player at the end of each entry to hear the rockin’ tracks. You also can right-click the song title to steal download. Enjoy!
“Dead Head Blues,” Backwards Day – One of my favorite bands from back in Springfield’s late 1980s-early ’90s alt-rock heyday, Backwards Day lament the teenagers who would rather emulate what their parents did as kids than participate in their own culture:
I guess this generation
is starving for sensation
Can’t they come up with their own?
I got the Dead Head Blues
“Hair,” P.J. Harvey – A wispy British musician whose songs rock hard, Polly Jean has a penchant for appearing naked on album and magazine covers. Awesome.
“I Set My Face to the Hillside,” Tortoise – I have a difficult time describing Tortoise when people ask what my favorite bands are. Their music is brilliant but impossible to categorize.
“Eye Know,” De La Soul – It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly 20 years since this song came out. I’d still take this over 98 percent of today’s hip-hop.
“Ear Drums Pop,” Dilated Peoples – I took a chance on this album when I saw it at a Delete Sale several years ago and was rewarded for it. Imagine… a modern hip-hop group that doesn’t reference guns, violence or the crack game. Who knew? One of this song’s lyrics particularly meshes with my delicate sensibilities:
I’m buildin’ with the science that De La dropped
That means it might blow up, but it won’t go pop
“Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now,” the Smiths – OK, I sort of cheated on this one. I didn’t have any songs with “nose” in the title, so I substituted “knows.” Like a bulldog that’s so ugly it’s cute, Morrissey’s voice is so irritating but so perfect for Johnny Marr’s jangly, reverby guitars.
“Syringe Mouth,” Mercury Rev – I’m a sucker for sheets of guitar noise, and this song, like the rest of the “Yerself is Steam” album, has it in spades.
“Protect Ya Neck,” Wu-Tang Clan – When you have the GZA dropping metaphors like “[Nuhs] so stingy they got short arms and deep pockets,” you know you have a hip-hop classic.
Stay tuned for more body parts from artists like Ween, the Pixies and Mos Def.
It’s been awhile since I last posted one of these, but this song will more than make up for that.
“Groove is in the Heart” by Deee-Lite is built around the bassline of “Bring Down the Birds” by Herbie Hancock and features a verse from Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest on the break and an appearance by Bootsy Collins, all ingredients for a classic track. Enjoy!
I’m one of those music curmudgeons who complain that Music Was Better Back Then. For me, music (meaning alt-rock and hip-hop) reached its zenith in 1992, slowly declining before falling off a cliff in the late 1990s.
Fortunately, I’ve found a blog that indulges my close-mindedness. When They Reminisce… offers links to classic records from when hip-hop was still considered art rather than commerce. I’ve found albums such as Main Source’s “Breaking Atoms,” which has been out of print for more than a decade; Ed O.G. and Da Bulldogs’ “Life of a Kid in the Ghetto,” from which “Bug-A-Boo” was a staple on The Box back in 1991; and UMC’s “Fruits of Nature,” an excellent, light-hearted party record that I had no idea even existed when it was released in ‘91.
If you like hip-hop, you need to bookmark WTR. It’s right in my musical wheelhouse, which helps me overcome the ethical quandary of “downloading” music.
For the second year in a row, the music world had lost one of its greats at Christmastime. This time, it’s legendary jazz pianist Oscar Peterson.
When I first started getting into jazz many years ago, Oscar Peterson was one of the first artists I listened to. One year in college, my roommates and I went to a record sale fundraiser for WSIU-FM. Dear friend and A.C. commenter Eric and I loaded up on jazz records.
Since Eric had a turntable, we listened to his records first when we got home. Among them was one with Peterson and vibraphonist Milt Jackson, “Very Tall” if I remember correctly. I was so impressed with the record that I would sneak spins of it when Eric was at class. (Sorry, dude). I’ve been a fan of Peterson’s (and Jackson’s) ever since.
I’m currently listening to the Rev. Al Green’s interpretation of “You Are So Beautiful,” originally recorded by Billy Preston and somehow made popular by Joe Cocker.
In it, the Rev sings:
You are so beautiful… to nobody but me.
What is he implying here? Is it a testament to her stupefying ugliness, that she has a face that would make a train take a dirt road? Al must really appreciate her great personality if that’s the case.
Or is he just really possessive? Maybe there are lyrics that he left out but implied, such as: “You are so beautiful, to nobody but me (You got that, bitch? I said NObody but me, and if you try sneaking around I’m gonna smack your ass up).”
I just want everyone to recommend their five favorite new songs from the past year. Now when I say new, I don’t mean to restrict your selections to cuts that were released in 2007. What I’m looking for our songs that first garnered great status, in your estimation, within the last year.
I’ll gladly participate. Talking about music is one of my favorite things. That, and ripping off other people’s blogging ideas. I’ve noticed that none of these songs actually is from 2007. I’m so lame it hurts. I’ll include videos if I can find them.
(Related aside: I would just embed the music using Audio Player, a fantastic plugin for WordPress, but my host *coughYahoocough* apparently prohibits such exercise of common sense. Assbutts.)
In alphabetical order:
“Alfie,” Lily Allen – I could have picked any song off of “Alright, Still,” but this one encapsulates everything I like about the album: catchy vocal melody, charming (but possibly fake) Cockney accent, tight production, etc. Plus Lily Allen is the most adorable woman ever.
“All For U,” Aceyalone – I’d been familiar with Aceyalone only on the strength of his guest appearances with groups like Dilated Peoples. When I saw “Magnificent City” at this year’s delete sale, I had to get it. Combine Acey’s flow with the soul-powered production of RJD2 and you get a funky, danceable (if you are into that kind of thing) hip-hop record sans references to crack, guns and various luxury brand names. The video I found is a live version shot in what amounts to a collection of frame grabs.
“Blue Flowers,” Dr. Octagon – So it took me a decade to finally own this album. Sue me. A true hip-hop classic (think “Paid in Full” or “Low End Theory”), “Dr. Octagonecologyst” also undoubtedly is Kool Keith’s finest work. In it, Keith takes the form of Dr. Octagon, a time-traveling gynecologist from Jupiter, and in “Blue Flowers” he drops lyrics that make no sense literally but fit like a snug glove rhythmically around producer Dan the Automator’s eerie, string-heavy beat. Add in the incredible turntable work by DJ Q-Bert and you have an integral piece of the hip-hop canon. The guy from McSweeney’s liked it, too.
“One Man Wrecking Machine,” Guster – See this post from several weeks ago.
“Sookie Sookie,” Grant Green – Older music fans may be familiar with the Steppenwolf version of this song. On Blue Note’s “Blue Break Beats” compilation, soul-jazz guitarist Grant Green just takes the main riff and turns it into 11 minutes of pure groove. It’s impossible to not start buggin’ out when Green kicks off his first solo. Unfortunately, I can’t find any video. You’ll just have to be content with the snippet.
I suppose I should be happy that a beloved former Cardinal found work again, but in that uniform? Why don’t you run over my dog in your Ferrari while you’re at it, Jim?
I’m currently listening to the Rev. Al Green’s interpretation of “You Are So Beautiful,” originally recorded by Billy Preston and somehow made popular by Joe Cocker.
