4.26.2011

High On Jello

For a mix I'm putting together, inspired by The Cosby Show, called Hello Jello!



My lady friend Margeaux loves The Cosby Show, so I am making this mix for her. Still crafting it though: I will post songs that have the right sound here first, until I shove the full, fully finished mix on you.

And what is that "Right Sound?" It will be dentist-office funk: smooth (or even shmoove) jazzy things. Describable as slinky maybe. "Easy, not Cheesy." (that should be trademarked, yeah?)
The songs are having fun, without being outright silly. Loose-limbed, they will make a nice background as we shift into early summer.
Sade could go on there, although maybe she won't. Why?: because I want it to sound Cosby-era, so 70's and 80's gems.
( Although technically Sade's 1st US single came out at the end of 1984*, to me, Sade feels like 90's music. And although technically Cosby show started just a few months before that**, since I don't remember watching it much [although I did watch it plenty- when I watch it now, I can recall the plots as they are unfolding], it feels 70's-80's to me. )


* had to look it up
** also had to look that up, believe it


Enough about the mix; how about the song and band?

The Commodores do "Brick House": you know that song. It would totally play at a wonderful summer wedding reception:





The Commodores also had Lionel Richie in their band for a minute. Weirdly, after he left, they got more mellow. Once he was gone, they started to sound, well, like Lionel Richie. Before that, they were this hard-driving 'fonk' machine.

De La Soul sampled this song, on the Stakes Is High album. That is a feloniously undervalued record, like all of their records (except for 3 Feet High... And Rising: that gets about the right amount of praise).


( First De La album I ever bought- a little late to these fellows... 2000? also, I have it on vinyl, AND, after the above Commodores song, De La Soul came next on my iTunes random. F'serious! )


What I was initially leaning toward putting on Margeaux's mix was the Commodores song, "Girl, I Think the World About You" (obv), which I will:
1) maybe still put on the mix
and
2) maybe put up on to Youtube, where it cannot yet be found. Can it really be all that tough to post to YouTube?


De La also sampled"Girl, I...", for "Hey Buddy;" so you can see where their heads are at, right?
Tricky sampled The Commodores too!: info for the samples got drawn from this detailed site, Sample Spotters. 19 songs- nineteen- are listed for sampling (just the drums) from a single Commodores track.
Wow.