Look at the above images. What do you think this is all about? What would you get if you combined these two giants of popular music? Not hard to work out.
If you guessed correctly and worked out that this is the vocal track from Jay-Z's The Black Album laid over the musical tracks from Purple Rain by Prince then download it, give yourself a pat on the back and a gold star.
If you guessed incorrectly then you should probably go and sit in the middle of the road somewhere. You don't really deserve to listen to this album or really live amongst normal folk. Idiots.
A prime slice of 80's pop infused funk rock. The Time, assembled by Prince due to some legal billing in his contract and fronted by his long time friend Morris Day, had a string of minor hits in the 80's and made appearances in the movie's Purple Rain and Graffiti Bridge.
Pretty sweet eh? The long hidden truth was that The Time never played any of the recorded songs whatsoever. Prince recorded all the music himself, bar the vocals, but Morris Day had to follow Prince's note by note guide. This often caused much friction between the two acts. The Time would then attempt to upstage Prince every night on tour in a similar situation to how Prince and his band used to try and upstage Rick James when they acted as his opening/backing band.
Anyway, enough chatter, what time is it?
You like Godheadsilo and Enemymine? You like The Murder City Devils? Now, a combination of those worlds would be a pretty good thing to listen to wouldn't it? Well your in luck, such a thing does exist. Created by these three salty dudes below, the awesome, bass heavy, fuzzed out, misanthropy rife rock out that goes by the name Smoke And Smoke and an album called "Love Suffers Long".
Combining the unstoppable rhythm section of Mike Kunka and Dan Haugh and the acidic croon of Spencer Moody, Smoke And Smoke differs from Godheadsilo/Enemymine/Dead Low Tide in its stripped down structures and more to the point force. The bass is monstrous on here. Kunka always knew a thing or two about creating a wall of sound with one instrument but the levels of distortion and range of sounds he whips up from one fretboard and some pedals is pretty mind boggling. You don't really hear it as a bass, more as this wall of distortion/synth devastation washing over everything.
The vocal side is some of Spencer Moody's best work I do believe, far more unhinged than his work in The Murder City Devils. His lyrics seem to switch from finger pointing aggro to stream of consciousness absurdity and nihilistic abandon from line to line.
Now, that's either going to sound like the biggest load of rubbish or the best thing ever, but as they claim on here.... " You're gravely mistaken if you think for a second that Smoke and Smoke give a fuck-fuck-fuck!" Awesome band.
Keep this short. You really can't do justice with words to the quality, creative output of a violent, corrosive and sexy married couple like Ike & Tina. In the immensely slim chance I ever have kids, they are going to be named Ike and Tina I reckon.
This album is one of my favourites. A compilation of a ton of the rockin' 70's stuff the pair blasted out. A whole load of classics and covers. Seriously, this version of "Whole Lotta Love" is hands down the sexiest Zep ever sounded.
Gritty, classic soul/R&B masterpiece. Allegedly the title track was written after being rushed to finish up having a whizz, song writer David Porter responded with "Hold on, I'm comin". One of the finest vocal double acts ever. Without Sam & Dave we wouldn't have no Blues Brothers. And where would we be then?
Final post for this weekend. The super greasy, sleazy and sexy tones of LA's The Bellrays.
This came out at a time when there was a huge interest in that garage rock sound. The White Stripes and The Hives where in the big leagues and lots of labels where looking for bands to latch onto that success, or who at least had "the" before there name. The record shop I used to work at stocked this album. My friend Jason was big time into this Detroit sounding garage rock revival and ordered in lots of albums that had a buzz about them. One of those was "Meet The Bellrays". Of course once the drums-falling-down-a-flight-of-stairs and feedback intro crashed out of the shops speakers we got busted by management and told to turn it off. So we kept listening to it when we could and we realised that they where a million miles away from those other bands. The Bellrays had balls. Big, angry, loud balls that listened to The Stooges, MC5 and old soul and Motown. They had this huge voiced black woman called Lisa Kekaula ( who according to Jason was terrifying when he saw them live ) who sounds like she is channeling Tina Turner and Iggy at the same time.
Better than most bands that mine this vein of music. The Bellrays kick ass.
Been away recording this past weekend. Post recording blues have brought out this album. Long out of print and not as common as some people reckon. I got into this album due to The Boondocks, one of the best Adult Swim shows. There is a scene where two of the main characters fight in a cinema in true Shaw brothers style. The musical score has a sample of Loving You, Losing You. This is what brought Phyllis Hyman to my attention.
Its in no way as upbeat or fun loving as a lot of similar soul and disco from the era. In fact, apart from the lazy disco-lite groove of One Thing On My Mind it has no relation to disco/funk in the slightest. Its a far more soulful record that has a surprisingly bleak outlook. Especially once you read about the late, great lady herself.
Another aquisition from my time at Andy's Records back when I was a kid. What we have here is all the original tunes that many DJ's and producers sampled for the early forays into hip hop. You get Micheal Vinars take on The Shadows classic "Apache", the awesome theme tune from S.W.A.T , some James Brown goodness and the incredibly dirty groove of "Funky Mule" by the legend that was Ike Turner.
There was a series of these compilations and I wish I had stolen a few more when I had the chance as they make superb mix CD's for most social occasions.
Classic in my opinion. Going back to when I was a kid at school and all the places between then and now. I have always listened to rap and hip hop over the years. Like any other genre, the majority is crap. But at certain times in a musical genres trajectory, it drops defining works. These are some of the ones that have always, for many reasons ( at the moment mainly to help recover from the pasting my wallet took in Edinburgh this past weekend ), been played at Turner HQ. Go get Liquid Swords here. That's a classic but seeing as I already posted that one some time ago its not in here.
Instrumental greatness from the brains behind the Beastie Boys. This accompanied many nights out during my younger period. Much sought to borrow by my waster friends.
Nothing further needs to be written about this album. Maybe I shouldn't have been listening to it at primary school. Its all Vultures fault if you want someone to blame.
Teddy Pendergrass March 26, 1950 – January 13, 2010
Maybe I'm a bit slow with this one. Only found out last night. Rest in peace you soulful, smooth bastard you. He made his name with Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes in the early 70's then a solo career that saw him achieve super stardom beyond anything he had done before. He did get caught with a transsexual in a car crash but seeing as he has spent the last 20 + years confined to a wheelchair due to this they let him off with that one. Here's his debut, self-titled album from 1977. Superb R'n'B indicative of the times. And still stands up today. Make sure you brought a spare pair of panties ladies.
