8.27.2008

Rippity-Do-Da

Recently, I got a shit-ton of records. So many that I haven't even gotten to listen to most of them yet. And books: always records, always books...

I am throwing up some titles here to wet your whistles
(or is it 'whet', like you whet an appetite? ANSWERS, SIRS)
for the upcoming 'madness lacking badness'.
I will take something and talk about it sooner, if you make a please-and-thank-you request. Just holler, hit me up, or harangue me:
I make things happen, ya know?





Oh, those? Those are some shoes of mine. Quick Facts about the shoes:
They say best on them 7 (seven) times. 7x on EACH shoe. (Does that clarify who the best around here is?)
They are from a martial arts academy. (I can kill you with my feet in these shoes.)
They make me look like a ninja; this probably is related to the above.
They are too small (this helps with the Ninja-look), and since they are black (Ninja-black), they look really really tiny.
They have no laces.
They did have laces.
But I took them out. I like to customize (it's called Ghetto Fab-rication!)

Oh yes, the records.....

These ones have been put on the hard-drive already.

Lou Rawls: Soulin'
Lou Rawls: Sit Down and Talk To Me



Chubby Checker and DeeDee Sharp: Down To Earth

Bad Brains: Live (Thanks PUNKROCK FLEAMARKET!)

Aretha Franklin: The First Twelve Sides (i.e. the first twelve songs she released!)

X-Terminator Selections: BOOM Reggae Hits Volume 4



25 Great Country Music Artists Singing Their Famous Original Hits (that is a lot of adjectives for an album title). Stone Cold Classics: Bobby Bare, Patsy, Cash, Owens, Williams, and some lesser-known folks: Johnny Bond, Lefty Frizzell, Pee Wee King, Kitty Wells, Tex Ritter... don't the names give you a little taste of THE GOODNESS you have coming your way?

Commodores: All the Greatest Hits

To-Be-Ripped:
Melissa Manchester: Hey Ricky (eighties pop with a pretty lady)

Luke: Work It Out! (a 12", from Luke of 2 Live Crew. this will be epic! 4 different mixes! Clean and dirty!)

Hank Snow: The Old and Great Songs (old country business: titles include "Brand on my Heart", "In Memory of You Dear Old Pal" [his horse maybe?], "My Sweet Texas Blue Bonnet Queen", "Let's Pretend", and "Wanderin' On")

Spandau Ballet: Through the Barricade (under these stones, the sea)

Deborah Washington: Any Way You Want It



Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, read by T.S Eliot (Whuh? I am really not sure either. But let's all admit that we are excited to hear the track titled "Growltiger's Last Stand", and let's all try to be patient too)

Motown Story: Some very well-known songs off of Motown, but the twist: there are historical introductions to the songs, and !THE REAL ORIGINAL ARTISTS! talking between songs! Stevie Wonder talks about getting discovered! Marvin Gaye sounds like a nerd when he's chatting about the ladeez!)

Trammps: no title (OMC OMC OMC OMC a philly disco act. SIGMA SOUNDS represent! This cost 4x what I normally pay and I barely cared! So hott they had to name themselves The Trammps! Two Ms = Too Much!)*

Jean-Patrick Capdevielle: Planet X (this is the other Frenchman who will be dueling soon with Pierre Rapsat! Excellent: Get Psyched for some Franco-Epicness!)



*OMC - Oh My Chris - is my new replacement for OMG. For an explanation, see here.

Here is one more ME picture. It's my bathroom; the newest edition to the chalk art we have been throwing up there for months.



Okay. See you soon: in the bathroom.

8.23.2008

Female Rap Battle

Yes yes yes! If you thought my post about Def Dames was good...
sheeeeit, you ain't heard anything yet:
Come on and Get Some!

(Download "Come on and Get Some".mp3 by the Cookie Crew here!)

This is the first in an ostensible series
called:

___x___ BATTLE!!!

('x' is a variable, so it changes, but the battling aspect remains. Next time, I swear that I am shitting you not, is 'French pseudo-New Wave' Battle! EEEEP! Get excited OH WAIT you ALREADY totally are!)

Since I've already given you a taste of some Def Dames, and I just got this other record recently, the scene is set for an EPIC Battle between.....

Cookie Crew !!!! ((Some Very Bad Girls!))
Bad Girls (Rock the Spot).mp3 - Cookie Crew

and Def Dames !!!! ((They're 'bout to Set it Off!))
Set It Off.mp3 - Def Dames

Another well-sniffed out piece of vinyl!
The hints this time were:

A) it's on the ffrr label
(which I recalled put out LTJ Bukem's classic: Logical Progressions)




----- 1) And then I learned that ffrr was founded by none other than Pete Tong?!?! Hey Koob!!
----- 2)and also learned that ffrr stands for "full frequency range recordings"
----- 3) and that both the label's logo and it's name were both bitten from Decca!
:Stealing is fun!)

B) has a track called "black is the word"

C) has a track called "Dazzle's Theme"
(which you can download on mediafire

or stream from this little fella:



----- 1) which, as a "theme", must be the DJ's own special little jam. DJ's are one of the OFFICIAL pillars of hiphop (which broader than rap- rap itself is 'just' a pillar ), and so a Crew that is paying homage to their DJ understands the roots of hiphop. They get that you can't just spit rhymes, however good, over stupid beats.
Over STOOPID beats, yes, sure. That would be good, to do that.



Watch Cookie Crew on Youtube, that is, if you want to see some more of the above circa '90 "fashion":



D) had the same tracks on both sides (sort of...*), which means that it is a record meant for DJs. Lots of rap records have the same tracklisting on both sides. When you see duplicated tracklistings, you should assume that the vinyl is either
----- 1) a party jam (so that you can throw it on right-quick without looking for the right side) -OR-
----- 2) vocal tracks on one side, and the same tracks as instrumentals on the other (or, one side is Radio-edit [no cursing!] and the other is the LP version [shit-tons of cursing!])
----- ----- a) which demonstrates that you are holding some SERIOUS DJ shit in your hands...

*Sort of... it turns out that they just glued the same label on both sides!... which, since this was released on VINYL and CASSETTE only

(at least Stateside- did I mention that Cookie Crew is BRITISH?!? which makes their rapping skills that much more impressive. As I've said before, the British, despite speaking the very same language as Americans, could not figure out how to rap for the longest time! Go ahead and name 3 British rappers: see?)

means that I almost could not find out what the first side's tracks were. BUT someone commenting on amazon listed the tracks, and although they were for the British CD, and thus were still not exactly right, I made do. YOU ARE SO LUCKY that I put in that effort, huh?

Aw, you're welcome, you old so-and-so.

Now, Def Dames respect the DJ too. They gave him his own track too, wherein they query, "Do You Wanna Battle Tomkat????"


----- 1) the answer would be no, you do not want to Battle Tomkat ("Don't be a fool!"). He'll take your title, you sucka DJ!



Born this Way - Cookie Crew

There, now you tell me:
who won this here Battle?

8.17.2008

Dirty Ol' Men

Dirty Ol' Men:
They're everywhere.

Jerry Lee Lewis was one.




(But this post isn't about Jerry Lee- that will be another post- his older records are Mellow, Christian, and Country. I've got a pair, and I'll toss up some of that surprisingly great stuff. Later, later: patience Friends!)

They are even on records that I have.
Dirty Ol' Man.mp3 by The three Degrees
If and When.mp3 by The Three Degrees

The other day I was picking through some records, and I came across a slab of vinyl without any cover. It was by The Three Degrees: "Who are they?": I'd never heard of them. But at the Second Mile Thrift, records are just a quarter, so you take a Second look at things, even if (especially if?) they appear innocuous at first glance.

I saw a few song titles that seemed fun. One was "Dirty Ol' Man". Here's a Youtube of a live performance of that song, on Japanese television (!!!!):


Watch the video: it has Tennis! Coronations! A Mallet!
"You're a Dirty Ol' Man; You can't keep your hands to yourself! Yeah! You're a Dirty Ol' Man; Go mess around with somebody else!"

When the sleeve is missing, you don't have as many clues to go by. No pictures, no listing of who might have produced it, etc. You go by band name, track names, and your gut.

(most people's guts have shit for brains -get it?- but not my guts. No, I'm your favorite cultural detective; I can sniff out little clues and make a picture out of them. You'll see...)

It's like a peepshow- pay a quarter, take your chance, see what it is that you can see.

It turns out that The Three Degrees are on Philadelphia International Records- home of the Philly Sound. Yeah! I didn't notice this at first, but then I saw 'K. Gamble and L. Huff' as the songwriters, and then, I could hear them too. Gamble and Huff produced/wrote tons of 'the Philly Sound' bands.
Very smooth RnB, around the time when disco mixed with other sounds in a pretty dynamic way. Usually, this mix involves some of the funk and fun of disco; but with the regal pomp, drama, and cooled-out style of rhythm and blues and soul.

Ooh, I'm tellin' you- if you don't know, now you know.
Evidently, Gamble and Huff were also producing at a time when so-called "Women's Lib" was a topic of convo; here are some of the spoken lyrics to The Three Degrees' "I Like Being a Woman":

"You know, women's liberation
It's cool.
I mean, it's got its good points
and its bad points.

But you know sometimes, i just want to be loved
And that's when i become your slave.
I don't want to be your equal, i just want to be a part of you."

Right!
And on the topic, these were some sharp looking broads. If you haven't seen the youtube clip above (shame on you then!), here's a pic:



Hot to Trot, right?





They told me that "A Woman Needs A Good Man" to be a good woman.



A Woman Needs A Good Man - The Three Degrees