Handsome Boy Modeling School - Class System (Ft. Pharrell Williams and Julee Cruise)

ORIGINATION White People
LAST LISTENED TO last week
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT goody gum drops
RATING

Another from this popular album (round these parts) and it is again of the downtempo ones. This time the guest vocals come from Julee Cruise, who takes the part of a society bride. The standpoint of the part takes a pretty viscous swipe at that class of person. Williams' soulful chorus and provides a good contrast to the nastiness. One of the high points of the album.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give It Away

ORIGINATION Blood Sugar Sex Magik
LAST LISTENED TO last month
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT not high
RATING

This is the last Chilis album that i bothered about. It was their funky prime and i've not heard any evidence that they've managed anything like it since. Give It Away is one of the funkiest tunes from what is a very funky album. Such lovely bass. and guitar! The backwards solo á la The Beatles! And those lovely rolled 'r's. Who'da thunk something so funky could've been made in the '90s.

AC/DC - Sin City (again)

ORIGINATION Powerage
LAST LISTENED TO yesterday
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT very, very high
RATING

Find the frst time .http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifhere

The Specials - Enjoy Yourself

ORIGINATION More Specials
LAST LISTENED TO a few days ago
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT damned good
RATING

On their second album, 2-tone ska revivalists The Specials incorporated more disparate influences into their sound. Lounge, soul, spaghetti westerns, all these and more where thrown into the mix. The result was a far more adventurous album, that is an equal to their barn-storming first set.

Enjoy Yourself is the joyous opening track and is a cover of an old chestnut from 1940. Rollicking piano, easy organ, the happiest brass you'll ever hear (short of Herb Alpert) and the sound of a whole bunch of people in a studio having a ball. Listening to this will brighten up even the most miserable of days. Especially when they change up a key for the finale. In fact, the chance are good that you'll be singing along with it before the end, even if you've never heard it before.

Public Enemy - 911 Is A Joke

ORIGINATION Fear Of A Black Planet
LAST LISTENED TO last month
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT not all that high
RATING

At the end of the ‘80s, their were few groups as influential as Public Enemy. Their mix of politically strong rapping with a funky, dense sound collage practically re-wrote hip hop over night, as well as having effects felt throughout rock. Their focal, at least on record, was (and still is) Chuck D, the main rapper. Live, however, Flavor Flav, the second rapper and partly comedic sidekick tended to take the centre stage, with his demented demeanour and penchant for wearing large clocks (to signify what time it was).

In 1990 they released their third album, Fear Of A Black Planet. It was both a critical and commercial success. On 911 Is A Joke, Flav takes centre stage, with a rap spotlighting the deficiencies in the emergency services when it came to helping those in poorer neighbourhoods. Whilst it doesn't have the two-voice interplay that was one of PE's trademarks, it lacked for nothing in its punch. The rap is every bit as hard hitting as Chuck D's, albeit coloured by Flav's skewed take and rhymes. It is also musically one of the high points on an album that has barely a weak second.

James Brown - Hell

ORIGINATION Hell
LAST LISTENED TO some months back
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT are not good
RATING

It seems unfair to give James Brown 2 stars, but it is a comparitive thing. If this track was by someone else, it would probably rate higher. But we all know that Mr. Brown can do much better than this. Even with the lovely solo by Maceo Parker, i can't in fairness raise this to 3 stars, because then i'd have to raise the ratings of the songs that are better than this and i dont go better than 5 out of 5.

In short, it is a consious-raising piece of mid-tempo funk from 1974. Choppy guitars. Horns. Female backing. "It's hell down here and we've got to make a change." Maceo's solo. James screams. Still can't go better than 2 stars, though. Shame.

Freak Power - Rush

ORIGINATION Drive-Thru Booty
LAST LISTENED TO last night
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT fairly good
RATING

What a nice piece of mid-'90s funk. It comes on like an updated Sly & The Family Stone tune, but with some underlying dance elements that just weren't known back in Sly's heyday.

All of this is hardly a surprise when you realise one of the main hands behind Freak Power was the multi-pseudonymed Norman Cook (best known in his Fatboy Slim guise). However, don't make the mistake of thinking that this is solely a Norman Cook-style enterprise. There are others onboard this ship and it tempers things differently. It really is more funk than dance with not only a full vocal and backing vocals but other nice touches such as the live bass (Mr. Cook himself if i'm not mistaken) and the light and airy flute loop that drifts in and out throughout the track.

Happily, this fun little tune isn't even the best thing on offer on this CD. You really ought to get a copy.

AC/DC - Sin City

ORIGINATION Powerage
LAST LISTENED TO a few days ago
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT good
RATING

There is something pretty primitive about AC/DC. Their formula that they have perfected over more than thirty years is pretty simple: basic 4/4 drums, classic rock-screech vocals and giant, giant chords. Where their particular appeal lies is in how they weave these most basic of rock elements together, which they so do in a way that combines exciting, charged dynamics with space and air.

In many ways Sin City is one of the best examples of that style. It begins with large chords, before turning into a typical mid-tempo AC/DC head-nodder. Soon the guitar cuts back to choppier chords as the vocal comes in and the rolling bass becomes more noticable. There is air and space through this verse, that flows over the dynamic tension of guitar and drums. Shortly, however, this space is lost when the guitar comes back in full, building the the verse to the chorus, which in turn builds to a guitar solo that takes things even higher.

From this height almost everything is stripped away, leaving only the bass, hi-hat and vocals. The space left is great and yet is quite tense as it's certainly only a matter of time before a huge guitar comes crashing back in. Which it does and it is wonderous.

Many other artists have used a similar technique to this in the past, but few with quite as much success as AC/DC had here. They recorded this in '78, on their (depending on who's counting) fourth LP. That they are still at it today is a testament to AC/DC who, in their thirty years, have seen pretenders come and then go, but have never really been challenged as Kings in the land of hard rock.

Handsome Boy Modelling School - I've Been Thinking (Ft. Cat Power)

ORIGINATION White People
LAST LISTENED TO last week
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT fair
RATING

This is a nice piece of downtempo hip hop. There is some nice atmosphere in the loops and the vocal is fine. But it's not as strong as other tracks on the album and consequently, seems rather uninspired. It'd probably be a better track taken on its own merits.

The Blackbyrds - Do It Fluid (again)

ORIGINATION Night Grooves
LAST LISTENED TO mid February
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT small
RATING

This one popped up back here.