Santigold - Master of My Make-Believe (2012)

My prayers were answered in January when I was on Twitter and asked when will there be a new Santigold album for us to partake in. Someone replied that I wouldn't have to wait too long but that wasn't reassuring.  I posted the video to her single and waited.

In the same week of Santigold's second album dropping, two friends brought her name up in our discussions.  It appears that I was not the only one peeping the calendar. 

The Montreal Mirror gave Master of My Make-Believe a 6/10 rating which immediately got me on alert.

Before I continue, I must state again that Santigold's debut is one of the best albums released in the past decade.  I have not heard an album as brilliant as her debut in a long time. When the chance to buy the CD was presented to me, I seized the day, chance and of course the disc.  I have yet to own the vinyl but will try to correct that shortly. 

After reading the Mirror review and my first listen of  Master of My Make-Believe, I can understand why it was graded as such.  I did what I could to listen to the album with objective ears and not those of one expecting Santigold to blow my mind with her music again.  It was slightly difficult to not have flashbacks of the previous album and compare cuts.



Big Mouth didn't really grab me at first listen but it grew on me just like L.E.S. Artistes years ago.



I saw the Disparate Youth video minus the music.  It is my favorite song from the album.  Even after the second listen of the album the next day, it is quite similar to Shove It, my favorite from her debut, in tempo which could explain my affinity to the song. 



I say again that I love Santigold and her music.  Her originality and creativity intrigues me and peaks my own when I hear her.  I, like most of her fans, waited four years for Master of My Make-Believe.

Billy Paul

I always knew him as the singer of Me & Mrs. Jones but cared little about either because it was a ballad.  

It would take me years to understand the musical and thematic implications of the song. 

For whatever reason, Me & Mrs. Jones was the only song I knew of Billy Paul for most of my life.  There is a strong chance that Billy Paul’s  me & Mrs. Jones 7” single was the first might be the only one I’ve ever seen of his that I had ever seen in my life. 

I had seen the 360 degrees album cover but heard nothing else from it or Billy Paul. I would later see the album 360 degrees of billy Paul and consider it to be the only reason to own the album.

In the late 1990s/early 2000s when the crate-digging movement to find soul and funk originals of hip hop songs was developing in Montreal, compilations were treasure maps to astute students.

The first Stand Up & Be Counted compilation introduced me to Billy Paul’s track East. 

The Stand Up & Be Counted compilation introduced me to East, my favorite billy Paul song. 

Considering all I knew of him was a monstrously successful ballad, East was a refreshing and invigorating chance of pace.  The driving pulse of the song is right up my alley.  

It blew me away because it was a far cry from the Mrs. Jones jam.  I had not thought or heard the song until Christian Pronovost played the song during his 24 Hours of Vinyl set at Death of Vinyl record store.  I have yet to find the album with East in my crate digging but found his Let ‘Em In album.

The success of his Me & Mrs. Jones single may have caused me to reduce Billy Paul to a one-hit wonder but time proved that he has a few gems in his catalog to check out.

Michael Jackson

I believe Michael Jackson set a trend that saw followed throughout the 1980s.

I use Michael Jackson and the 1980s because as I’ve stated before, they are the basis of my popular music knowledge and cultural experience.

I saw Michael Jackson dominate the popular music world with his Thriller album. From that point onward, I have watched musicians, singers and bands have their own Thriller-like sequel level of success.

In second grade, a classmate brought an album to school for either a regular party or our end of the year party. That album would be the most important album of my life.




The album cover was of a young black man in a white suit, leaning on his left side with a black background.

At the back, it informed me that the nine songs were produced by Quincy Jones.

One or two songs from it played and I was mesmerized. I opened the album to see the young black man posing with a tiger cub. I knew from that day I had to have a copy of it.

I remember writing my mother a letter describing the album cover and title. I drew the album cover and mentioned the tiger cub too. I possibly talked to her while she was at the record store and she told me she couldn't find an album with a man and tiger cub inside. I told her to follow the drawing I put in the letter. I saw my Mom opening the door with a Sherman Records store bag in her hand! I greeted her and took the record from her hands. I ran up the stairs, grabbed a knife and sliced the record open with the precision of a surgeon. I had to calm myself down to avoid scratching the record or cutting the sleeve. I ran to my room and played Wanna Be Startin' Something. I remember my Mom saying something to the effect of that record was not for me, but I knew it was bunk. Who else asked my Mother to buy that album and went through the pain-staking detail to draft her the letter?

 

That album symbolized the transition in my life from Disney, Passe-Partout and Fat Albert & Cosby Kids albums to the world of 1980s pop music. No longer could I continue with children's records. It was a turning point that I didn't know was upon me. I was getting older. I was entering the world of my best friends' older brothers and sisters. I was starting to walk the musical path of my parents and their friends.

Thriller would go on to be the biggest-selling album of 1982-84 and open doors for Lionel and Prince to follow as the most influential artists of my life.

I am old enough to say that my earliest knowledge of Michael Jackson was from seeing him play The Scarecrow in The Wiz with Nipsey Russell and Diana Ross.

I knew the name from my mother's 45rpms. Michael Jackson was a little boy on some of those songs. I saw his picture on the Destiny and Triumph albums. I remember it from Off the Wall. I didn't place the man on the cover as the same person from all those other albums and songs. It seemed like I was experiencing him for the first time, but yet I knew him all along.

The morning after his death, I watched Canada AM and I saw footage that really brought it home for me. They repeat their news stories and footage every morning, every few minutes and every time I saw that footage, I felt it. It was footage of three to four young men dancing in the street to Don't Stop Til You Get Enough.



I cried when I saw that because the man who created the music that united the world was dead. The Seinfeld finale had a montage using that song as the music to several dance sequences. I not too long ago realized how that song's production is incredible.

Speaking of Michael Jackson, Prince squeezed in a mini-Michael tribute. Although Prince did not sing the Michael songs personally, it was well-received by the groove-hungry crowd.



Michael, thank you for your music, dancing and influence on popular culture. You were extremely influential in my life. You were the older brother I never had. You are strongly responsible for the blog. my radio show, my DJing, as well as my musical knowledge and taste. I am writing this sooner than I would have liked, but it has to be said.

We love you Michael and always will. R.I.P.

The biopic is scheduled for release in Canada today. 

Dream Warriors

DJ Rocambole brought Dream Warriors: Anthology A Decade of Hits with him for our last show together.



The Dream Warriors track was the most retweeted of all the songs played that night. That is a true tribute to the song's universal appeal that my listeners reacted relatively unanimously to the single.

I thought it was a big deal that Dream Warriors recorded with Gang Starr. I have reached for I’ve Lost my Ignorance in all of its forms or remixes at any chance I could over the years of my radio show.



Weeks prior while talking to Mulekick’s Oil Can Harry & One Love about the My Definition Of Boombastic Jazz Style video, I learned one of them had not seen the video.

For those that have not seen or know of the video, press play and enjoy one of Canadian hip hop’s greatest exports.




Dream Warriors were doing the eclectic, afro-centric hip hop thing before many, possibly even Americans. I was big into the afrocentric hip hop in the late 80/early 90s and loved tracks on their And Now the Legacy Begins release. The video for My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style was crazy to me with the energy and vibes of hip hop's most creative period. They have a song called Follow Me Not and there were many times I couldn't follow their meanings. They sort of lost me with their later work but the glory days of their debut is firmly planted in my mind.

Roy Orbison

When I was growing up, learning about the popular singers of the day were around for a lot longer than I was aware they fascinated me.

They fascinated me even more when black & white footage of them from the 1950s & 1960s.

The black & white footage of him performing Oh Pretty Woman fascinated me.



That meant he had been singing around the time my parents were younger and still old enough for me to know of him.

Such is the case with Roy Orbison.

I was old enough to remember that he was a member of The Travelling Wilburys before he died. However it would take me my 20s & 30s to really respect the value of the group members' music.

I'm not an Orbison aficionado but I believe no less than 20 of Roy Orbison's biggest singles in one spot is a great place to start and end where Roy Orbison is concerned.



As much as I thought he was old, I wanted that Roy Orbison hits collection. The other songs I knew of him like Dream Baby, Blue Bayou, Only the Lonely and Love Hurts made it a given that I'd be making a worthwhile purchase.

The CD of that Roy Orbison collection crossed my record store shopping path years ago.

As mentioned in previous posts, compilations and greatest hits packages fascinate me as well. I remember a Roy Orbison package with some 20 of his greatest hits advertised on television.

I less remember that he worked with K.D. Lang on a duet.



You Got It was Roy Orbison's last big hit before he died. 

The Jackson 5

I had not thought or seen anything related to The Jackson Five cartoon in over 20 years.

It was a pleasure to learn the group joined the ranks of other vintage musical cartoons

The biggest surprise of the Cartoon Rock Party presentation was discovering The Osmonds not only had their own animated series but by the same animators as The Jackson Five!

I discovered I once again had the good people of Blue Sunshine as well as Pop Montreal to thank for the vintage cartoon presentation.

Hopefully there will be another round of rock cartoons.

Bahamadia

Bahamadia was down with the late Guru and that meant I was down with her.

I made sure to get her debut CD when it was released.



I believe Three the Hard Way is the song that made the most impact on me because of the beat and she had 2 other strong female MCs on the track with her.

For some reason, I think of that posse cut as the female version of Clones to some extent.

On a recent record excursion, I found her early 2000s CD with Special Forces on Goodvibes.

Bahamadia is one of the credible voices for females on the microphone.

The Suite Delight new time slot is Tuesday morning 2-3am EST on www.ckut.ca & 90.3 FM.

If you haven't already, please make yourself familiar with the link below for more of your favorite show and mine.

Below are some podcasts to bring you up to speed.  Click here to download them and more.

The Suite Delight - March 11, 2014 Playlist:

1. The Roots - Proceed III feat. Bahamadia
2. Maestro - Stick To Your Vision
3. Classified - Quit While You're Ahead
4. Marco Polo - Back to Work feat. Artifacts
5. Moka Only - The Taste
6. DJ Format - The Place feat. Chali 2Na & Akil
7. Miles Jones - Coast to Coast feat. Kae Sun
8. Poor Righteous Teachers - Easy Star
9. Das Efx - Kaught In Da AK (Remix)
10. Zion I - We Got It
11. Dujeous - All M.C.'s
12. Substantial - That Damn Good
13. DL Incognito - The Masses

Prince (June 7, 1958 – April 21, 2016)

Prince's last show at Metropolis was my concert of that year and possibly the best concert of my life.




It was also the most expensive concert of my life as well. However, after that Prince experience, money didn’t matter at all that night. That show was worth every penny.



I was ill-prepared when Prince made his last trip to Montreal nearly a decade or so ago. 

It seemed he would breeze in and out of this city without my having seen or heard him. I remembered the show predictably selling out quickly, my inability to have obtained tickets for the show and being intimidated by the Prince ticket price tag. This year, all the stars were in alignment for me to see the superstar live in my city.



The Prince show at Metropolis lasted 4 hours that night. He made multiple returns to the stage due to the crowd’s multiple cries for encore performances.



Another element to the night was Prince being joined by legend Maceo Parker for a number of songs. Although Prince is not outright a jazz artist, I believe Maceo Parker’s saxophone was more than sufficient to compensate for whatever Prince lacked as far as performing in during this year’s Festival International de Jazz de Montréal.



When Maceo Parker performed Pass The Peas, my mind went directly to James Brown. James Brown produced Parker’s Pass The Peas. Brown was instrumental (no better word) in the foundation of hip hop. He influenced Prince as well as Michael Jackson, who too is no longer with us. Seeing and hearing Maceo perform the classic track made my eyes watery. Prince was onstage with his mentor’s main man and I was watching two of my own mentors in front of me.



Speaking of Jackson, Prince squeezed in a mini-Michael tribute. Although Prince did not sing the Michael songs personally, it was well-received by the groove-hungry crowd.



Prince was scheduled to return to Montreal’s Bell Centre not too long after the Metropolis show. I made a conscious and slightly painless decision to not see him again. 4 hours of my life and year were spent with Prince. Heaven knows one minute of Prince, even up in the bleachers, is worth the time and money but I’ve had my fill for a while. I had the luxury of watching him in the rather intimate setting of Metropolis where I consciously suppressed the urge to walk up to the front of the stage. The gladiatorial arena which is Bell Centre won’t allow me that luxury.


Purple Rain celebrated its 30th anniversary recently.  If you're lucky to find the 20th anniversary DVD, you get a bonus disc of classic material from videos to MTV coverage of the film's grand opening.  


To anyone that knows and loves Prince’s music and has not yet seen the movie Purple Rain, must I tell you to gett off your money maker to see it?

History repeated itself when I learned at the last minute he was performing in Montreal days before his death.

The Beatnuts - Intoxicated Demons: The EP (1993)

In 1993, I would learn The Beatnuts would release music of their own.

A DJ friend of mind had the Props Over Here 12” and I was immediately intrigued.

I was just thrilled there was another East Coast hip hop team putting out product.



Their affiliations with artists/crews I respected and admired made me a fan and eager for their full-length.



Although I was happy I would own Props Over Here with their full-length album, No Equal had no equal to me and it was a source of disappointment to not see it on the 1994 CD track listing.

Nas - Illmatic (1994)

Nasty Nas, as I knew him in 1991, dropped the hottest verses of the songs he featured on. My quest to own Main Source’s Breaking Atoms stemmed from hearing its album cuts as well as my desire to have Live at the Barbeque within arm’s reach. Back to the Grill Again broke my heart because it proved 3rd Bass was no longer. I took comfort in the fact that Nas was on MC Serch’s roster. The Zebrahead soundtrack gave us Halftime, reaffirming my love for East Coast hip hop. After those three singles, I was convinced that a full-length Nas album was gong to be incredible. The Source confirmed my theory.



At that time, Illmatic was the only album I had seen receive the coveted classic album status from the magazine. I can’t speak for anyone else but I’ll say that seeing hip hop’s Bible in magazine form give Illmatic 5-mics got me shook. All I knew was that I had to hear and most surely buy that album by all means necessary.


As I mentioned in my Beatnuts blog post, I bought their CD in 1994 over Nas, Organized Konfusion and Jeru the Damaja’s albums when presented with the choice. There was no doubt that I would own them all eventually but I knew I had to get myself a copy of Illmatic even if it meant paying more for it or waiting longer to do so.

Ghostface Killah’s Child Play, Tupac’s Dear Mama and Memory Lane are among my most sentimental songs in hip hop. If Dubny had chosen Memory Lane, I would have lost it. He didn’t, however, and I don’t fault him for choosing Represent. No one can fault him for choosing Represent.



I had been planning a post about Illmatic since late 2011 but never got around to it. That moment among the three of us convinced me the story would have to be told. There are not too many albums, at least hip hop wise that can unite cultures and generations like Illmatic. As different and individual as we three are, there was no debate as to the greatness of the album.   

Record Rehab Revisited

I blogged about how I was becoming immune to the record on vinyl bug.  I named that piece Record Rehab.

That kind of thinking can lead one to feel a certain way about vinyl and result in selling up to three crates of records.  I know from firsthand experience.  Prior to discovering Montreal's Death of Vinyl record store in 2007, I trimmed down my collection.  I sure as hell have brought home the three crates and more in the last few years. 

At that particular point of writing the Record Rehab blog post, I wasn't hungry to buy records. I used to wish I’d find at least one record that interested me when I would go to a store and eventually lost that anticipation. My rationale was that I have a lot of records and most of them haven’t been heard yet.

It made me wonder why I’d be seeking more when I could probably be very surprised by my own collection. I have heard people talking about trimming down their collections and that brought me to ask myself some questions. If push came to shove, which is my most prized record on vinyl? Which are my prized records on vinyl? How many do I really need to own?

I finally learned that I can’t own or play all the music in the world. It’s starting to come together.

I had thought about cutting back, downsizing and curbing my appetite for records on vinyl since starting this blog.  After the two major Montreal record conventions each year, some intense crate-digging episodes during a handful of trips to New York and a few trips to Toronto in recent years, I've been forced to review that stance.

Record conventions like the WMFU Record Fair are right up my alley. There's a beauty in racing against the clock with more choices in records than humanly conceivable and hopefully remembering where/when/how you found those records before the vendors pack up at the end of the night.

The bi-annual Montreal record conventions, including the Puces Pop Record Fair, have been very good to me as well. On many occasions I come back home with a bag bursting with beats. I have found a number of wishlist records as well as others I didn't expect to see.

A local record vendor told me how much he admired my restraint where record hunting is concerned. That's an interest comment to make about me because for someone who practices restraint, I leave record conventions with my bag at the breaking point. I claimed to have wanted to cut down my record buying but have brought home multiple copies of records which I already owned and gave up years ago! What kind of restraint is that?

There are so many records & choices in this world that it can be easy to go overboard.

History has a way of repeating itself. I'm a vinyl man to this day but these days I gotta streamline the collection a bit. Pray for me!

My name is DJ Solespin and I love vinyl!

New York is the Crate Digging Capital of the World

A trip to New York for me is like a pilgrimage to Mecca especially when records are involved.

My cultural and spiritual home of New York is the most influential city of my life even more so than my own hometown.

Big Apple digging in the crates most usually results in me being face-to-face with one of my best finds of the year and highlights of that trip.

 

In 2010, I brought back nearly 2 crates of records from that New York visit.



I probably brought back the same amount in 2011 but the difference was that I found want-list albums and sprung for records that were a bit more expensive, along with some reissues.

The closing of Bleecker Bob's Golden Oldies is a loss of a record store option but there are still more than enough spots with mind-blowing finds.

I can easily make myself at home in a New York record store discount section and find great gems.





There is such a surplus of records in New York that one most often leaves behind a great deal of 12" singles or albums that otherwise may have been brought home if there were more time, money or luggage space.




There is such a surplus of records in New York that one most often leaves behind a great deal of 12" singles or albums that otherwise may have been brought home if there were more time, money or luggage space.



I always look forward to my next New York record shopping excursion.