'Dirty Girls'
There's a lady plays her fav'rite records/On the jukebox ev'ry day/All day long she plays the same old songs/And she believes the things that they say/She sings along with all the saddest songs/And she believes the stories are real/She lets the music dictate the way that she feels.
Um, yeah, that was what I intended to say. I went from "I remember NWA and PE in high school" to "I graduated from high school in 1990" to "the later 1990s."
Have I mentioned that I was a lot smarter in high school than I am now? I blame too much listening to cheezy rap music. "I like big butts" has got to kill brain cells.
I have a lot of older-white-guy rap, too (Beastie Boys, Run-DMC, Kurtis Blow, PE, Grandmaster Flash), but I like quite a bit of hip-hop that seems directly aimed at indie-rock nerds. For instance, MF Doom in all his incarnations (that's Viktor Vaughn, Danger Doom, Madvillain, and King Geedorah, that last of which would probably best appeal to Jon, I think). Uh, also Aesop Rock, Cannibal Ox, cLOUDDEAD, Lyrics Born, Latyrx, anything Peanut Butter Wolf puts out. Nerd-hop.
The only rap album I own is De la Soul's "Three Feet High and Rising". Make of that what you will...
I bought a Wyclef Jean album once for "Gone til November", but it wasn't the "white version" of the song that I'd wanted, but I did not cry, because his "Guantanamera" had a sample of the original "Guantanamera" and turned me onto the Buena Vista Social Club, Celia Cruz, Ibrahim Ferrer, and many more amazing musicians as well as falling completely in love with Salsa, Cumbia and other wonderful Latin music.
So, want to bid on the world's greatest music collection? [link]
Wonder why Drew's selling off his music?
I got reviewed at PopMatters.
Cool!
ION, The B-52's - Rock Lobster b/w 52 Girls (original 1978 versions)
These two classic songs were featured on that first, brilliantly fun self-titled LP released by The B-52's in 1979, but these particular recordings are earlier, rawer versions from their first 45 single.
A great little reminder of the band's edgier roots back when 'new wave' was truly new.
The B-52's earliest gigs were in and around Athens, Georgia in 1977.
It was in '78 that the success of that first, independently released single secured them billings at CBGB's and Max's Kansas City in New York, which in turn landed The B-52's their first big record deal.
You can listen or download the mp3s. "Rock Lobster" is... different. It's interesting to hear this more "raw" version.
eta: Huh. I actually like this version of "52 Girls" more than the album version. I think it's the guitar in this version that stands out for me.
Man, that's a great review, David.
Man, that's a great review, David.
I'm pleased with all the reviews I've seen so far (even in the Tom Waits forums) that people really get the structure of the book and the tone. Everybody seems to understand why I took the approach I did and why it was appropriate for this record.