Eddie Murphy’s impression of Teddy Pendergrass in Delirious or Comedian was my first introduction to what I could expect from the legendary Philly soul recording artist.
I was a boy at the time and the concept of Teddy Pendergrass’ heyday was inconceivable. Who Harold Melvin was or that his notes were blue were details that I had little time or interest for.
It would take me my late 20s to have a vested interest in those details. Audio Architech placed the Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’Black & Blue album in my hands very early upon our meeting each other. That ignited my interest in the Philly Soul sound.
During one of my pilgrimages toMecca, I bought a vinyl copy of the album below minus the album cover just so I could have their version of Don't Leave Me This Way.
I would go on to pick up a number of Teddy Pendergrass albums that crossed my path within the last couple of years.
As the knockout punch, here's one of my personal favorite of his hits.
As proven many times on this blog, I was never the biggest West Coast hip hop fan.
I didn't care for the profanity. I felt they lacked the lyrics, flavors and vibes I was looking for and got from East Coast hip hop. NWA were the epitome of gangsta rap, even more so than Ice-T because there is strength in numbers after all. By the time I learned about the supergroup, I knew they were a force to be reckoned with. To give them credit, my fascination with clans, posses, crews and cliques quite possibly started with the West Coast gangsta rappers.
Straight Outta Compton was no album to be seen with or heard playing in the presence of parents for fear of them cutting off the hip hop music pool circulating in the high school hallways.
I believe the Express Yourself 12” single has one of the images that has stuck with me to this day. Working from memory, Express Yourself was the album’s only radio friendly track. NWA & The Posse are seated at what looks like bleachers of a baseball/football field. Among that mob are about half a dozen eventually-will-be-hip-hop-legends. Dr. Dre and DJ Yella were part of California pioneer hip hop group World Class Wrecking Cru. MC Ren was quite the lyricist. Ice Cube was the quintessential angry young man. Eazy-E was a legend in his own time and group.
The breakup of NWA shook me. My stubborn rationale was that the West Coast hip hop supergroup would dominate their market up to today but alas that was not the case. As with most group breakups, I was saddened by the news and tried to make sense of it. I found myself having to claim a set among West Coast MCs that I otherwise would not have thought much more than necessary about.
The post-breakup NWA album was an interesting listen. There were a few elements I picked up after hearing it a few times. With Ice Cube absent, MC Ren must have felt he had to further step up as a lethal lyricist. For whatever reasons, I feel the most impact from Ice Cube’s departure from Dr. Dre. As cathartic as the album is, the production reveals itself for Dre’s anger and hurt over the dissolution of the supergroup. Ironically in some cases, the production quality resembles that of The Bomb Squad whom Ice Cube employed for his 1990 debut and the Kill at Will EP.
By 1992 the split was evident with MC Ren, Ice Cube and Eazy-E releasing solo records. Dr. Dre would go on to release a classic album of his own that will eventually be written about here.
I was too East Coast to care more than I had to aboutEazy-E.
I did care about his unfortunate death. He didn’t have the lyrics or flavor I needed but I knew he was a hip hop legend.
The California crew are potential Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees.
Scott Hardkissis a name I learned of during my time as one of my former radio station's RPM Director. Last I checked on him, he was busy releasing numerous EPs and singles. I did a little research to learn the name is somewhat legendary among electronic music circles. I’ve since kept my eyes and ears open for anything related to him and his label. Unfortunately, I learned Scott Hardkiss had passed away. Prior to his passing, he discovered my post mentioning him and retweeted it a number of times. Although that was the sum of our exchanges and communication, the news of his passing saddened me. RT@Lovedirtybeats RT@DJSolespin Hardkiss is another name legendary in the electronic music. Eyes/ears open for anything
While digging in the crates at a Montreal record store summers ago, I found a later pressing of Aretha Franklin's Greatest Hits.
I bought it along with some other records to make up the sale criteria.
As a boy, I saw a copy of that album along with some other old records.
I am old enough to remember her Jump to It single when it was released.
I also remember seeing the classic footage of her singing Respect and understood that she was
singing for as long as my parents were alive.
By the time I was old enough to ask my parents to buy records for me, Freeway of Love and Who's Zooming Who were released. The Freeway of Love album would have been one I wanted but I didn't have enough of a connection or desire to add her music to my fledgling record collection.
I knew you were waiting for me was still a hot single but I might have been waiting for something more to gravitate me towards her music.
Aretha Franklin was a singer of my parents' generation. The proverbial script was flipped when she teamed up with The Fugees for a remix to A Rose is Still A Rose.
A close family friend happened to have had theI Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You CD in his collection and I believe it was after I checked the track listing that I realized I could no longer be flip about Franklin's music.
Upon understanding that the album had up to 4 of Aretha's first Atlantic Records classics, I realized that even the songs that weren't hits could be just as good or even more incredible. My quest for Aretha Franklin'sAtlantic Records discography had then just begun.
I have since found all of Aretha'sAtlantic Records releases. I nearly bought a second copy of one of those albums last year at one of my annual record shopping spots. It was the brown, 1974 album with a split sleeve and cheap enough price for me to consider it. I resisted the urge to get and repair it. I decided it best to put that little money towards something new to my collection or nothing at all.
That is my love for Aretha Franklin music, and repairing split record sleeves, on display.
Melanie Fiona’sGive It to Me Right owes a lot of its groove to The Zombies. Years ago, I was at a record store doing some browsing and came across a Best of/Greatest Hits vinyl of The Zombies.
It did not have Time of the Season among its track listing! I placed that album right back in the racks. It would be years later that I would learn Time of the Season was the last big hit for The Zombies.
Their singles She’s Not There and Tell Her No were recorded at the peak of the 1960s British Invasion. No matter the season, Time of the Season is my iconic Zombies single.
As a boy, I learned she had a career before I was born but had no means to conceptualize that fact. Next would be the iconic I Feel For You in 1984.
I had wondered for a good while whether Chaka Khan was already inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame considering that it has been more than 25 years since the release of her solo debut album.
I also had the pleasure of catching her performance at Metropolis for the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal.
Take the time to revisit some classic Chaka Khan when you can, live or otherwise.
It would take my being much older to now own some of her albums and CDs recorded before and after my birth.
I figured that if she is not already inducted, this is the ideal time to honor her and her Rufus band mates.
Her first imprint in my musical consciousness was with Ain’t Nobody.
I desperately needed good hip hop at the time I heard the album. I still do to this day actually. From the moment I listened to Madvillainy,I understood why it made so many Best-Of year end lists when it was released. I and many consider to be the best hip hop album of the decade. If non-hip hop magazines loved that album, then there was something there for me. Ever since then, I've been the biggest Madlib fan that either of us know.
MF Doom had become one of hip hop’s most notable figures and teamed up with Madlib to produce what I and many consider to be the best hip hop album of the last ten years, Madvillany.
I was so discouraged and disappointed at the lack of creativity, originality a the time that I almost didn’t want to hear Madvillainy when it was presented to me. It just goes to show that any artist is capable of turning out masterpieces under the right circumstances.
There was a hope that the next Madvillain project would give even more bang for the buck than the first. Unfortunately, we lost M.F. Doom a few years ago.
From my childhood, I knew that George Benson’s Give Me The Night could rock a party of grown-ups.
I had seen the adults dance to it at parties. As a grown up, I know that the song can rock me and other grownups at a party. That indeed is a quality of timeless music.
As much as Michael Jackson’s Thriller was the first non-children’s record I asked to be bought for me, my remembering the impact of George Benson’s early 1980s music is among my first memories of popular music.
I would not think about George Benson until in the very late 1990s when I was introduced to jazz music, a former coworker handed me two CDs from which I would base my musical education of the genre. One was Thelonious Monk and the other was George Benson.
That compilation of early George Benson music would introduce me to Wes Montgomery and how important he was to George Benson.
I'm not sure if it was a coincidence or not but yesterday while I was on Wellington Street in Montreal, I heard his 1983 track on what was his birthday. If you don't know the one I'm referring to, give below a listen.
I haven't been as excited for a hip hop producer's work since DJ Premier.
During the Jiggy era of hip hop, I couldn't care less who or what was going on. I was frustrated at the direction hip hop was going and sought refuge in classic rock, soul and breaks. I went to where hip hop music started from.
I was reintroduced to the name Madlib who I barely knew of through his connection to Lootpack/Alkaholiks. The unlikely combination of MF Doomand Madlib worked perfectly. It stands to reason that I see them individually and collectively as hip hop hopes. I continue to hope they recreate their magic again.
I love Madlib! I tweetedThank Heaven for Madlib one night during my Suite Delight show and meant it.
There have been debates as to whether Madvillainy is a better album than Champion Sound. For Champion Sound to be pitted against my champion meant I had to check it out. The album featuring the legend-in-his-time Dilla working with my current producer of choice by default would indeed find itself on my Best Hip Hop Albums list.
Madlib's production manges to incorporate my musical past, present and future. I'm hungry for songs using classic samples. I enjoy what he makes now and probably will tomorrow. Just as Theo Parrish embodies everything I want to be as a DJ, Madlib embodies everything I want from a producer. With that said, his sounds are in tune with my frequency or wavelength. Like Pavlov’s dog, all I need is to see and hear his name or that he's involved in a project and my face lights up like a kid on Christmas. His production takes me back to the wonder years of golden era hip hop when the productions were not only creative but innovative.
I'm in awe of his creativity and the sheer output of projects he's involved with. If I were a producer, I'd do what Madlib does, at least in my way. Whether I'm as incredible with my work as him would remain to be seen & heard.
He is quite possibly the only artist in hip hop, with the exception of DOOM, that I look out for. What a coincidence! The two form Madvillain and I'm waiting for their next album together now.
Who said lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place?
The Suite Delight - April 1 Playlist: 1.James Last - Inner City Blues 2.Scrimshire - All I Do feat. Stac 3.Aloe Blacc & The Grand Scheme - The Dark End Of The Street 4.Greenwood Rhythm Coalition - Guajira '78 (Colman Bros. Remix) 5.Omar - Ghana Emotion (Una Mas Trio Remix) 6.Bob Marley & The Wailers – Get Up, Stand Up (Thievery Corporation Remix) 7.Mo Kolours - Bomptious (Shafiq Husayn Remix) 8.Fashawn – The Ecology 9.Jazz Spastiks - Move (Remix) feat. Apani B Fly 10.Moka Only - More Soup feat. MF Doom 11.Fat Joe - John Blaze Ft. Nas, Big Pun, Jadakiss & Raekwon 12.Jadakiss - Why (Remix) feat. Styles P, Common, Nas & Anthony Hamilton 13.Naughty By Nature – Guard Your Grill (Smooth Mix) 14.EPMD - Total Kaos 15.Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Robes feat. Earl Sweatshirt & Domo Genesis The Suite Delight - February 25, 2014 (2) Playlist:
Nas - It Ain't Hard To Tell (Large Professor Remix)
Diverse - Uprock
Jay Dee - Pause feat. Frank-N-Dank
Strong Arm Steady - Questions featuring Planet Asia & Fashawn
I have known and seen Gary Oldman’s work for over 30 years.
I, like most others, saw him as an underground, independent film hero tackling roles that would not usually pack North American movie theatres.
My earliest memories related to Oldman are watching films like Romeo Is Bleeding, True Romance, and Dracula during the early 1990s.Those tended to be films that would leave the audience with more questions than answers by the time the credits rolled.
Later on, he appeared in bigger budget films like Air Force One, The Professional, and The Fifth Element.
None of those films were bigger budget than the revived Christopher NolanBatman series.He was perfectly cast as the dependable, reliable, dutiful Commissioner Gordon.
As much as I knew his name and face in many films over the years, I truly respected him as an actor when I saw The Contender.He transformed himself perfectly into the role of the jealous, antagonist politician to Joan Allen’s character.Ideally, Oldman should have been nominated and received the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his work in the film.Instead, that honor of Best Supporting Actor nomination went to Jeff Bridges.
Gary Oldman was finally nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars ceremony in February 2012.Unfortunately, he lost to Jean Dujardin in The Artist. I hadn’t seen Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy until months later.Oldman again transformed himself into the middle-aged British bureaucrat.
I read an article stating that in the near future there will be a revision of the Oscars and the consensus will be that Gary Oldman should have received the award for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.I haven’t seen The Artist yet but it is obvious Oldman was the artist I was rooting for to win the coveted award.
We didn't have to wait long for Oldman to receive an Oscar for again transforming himself into Winston Churchill for Darkest Hour.
I was thrilled to see DJ Premier emerge as the main man for hip hop production. I was not only amazed at his ascension but his sounds as well. The list of artists he worked with outside of Gang Starr is mind-blowing.
On Masta Ace’s first appearance in Montreal, I met him at Off the Hook during an autograph signing. I didn’t forget to ask him if DJ Premier produced Saturday Nite Live because I knew my chances of getting the answer would be even slimmer afterwards. According to Ace, Premier did the cuts on the cut. I remember Gang Starr performing in Montrealyears ago and I would have asked Premier if he had produced Masta Ace’sposse cut while he was autographing my CDs. I forgot to do so probably because I was too shook from watching him sign the booklets and because I was among a mob deep of Montreal hip hop heads hustling to get his autograph.
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