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Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Crossword Puzzle” by Sly Stone
Today’s Song of the Day by Eric Berman comes from Sly Stone’s oft-neglected 1975 album High On You. Yes, it was the beginning of the end for Sly’s relevance, but this album still offers plenty of good listening.
Hip-Hop aficionados will recognize the indelible horn riffs from De La Soul’s “Say No Go” featured on their classic 3 Feet High And Rising album.
As a pimply-faced Jewish teen growing up in a predominantly white New Jersey suburb, my exposure to the black experience was extremely limited. Sure there was Soul Train on TV and disco music on the radio, but the few African-American kids in my middle school mostly kept to themselves.
At the same time, I volunteered at a hospital in predominantly black Newark, New Jersey where my mother was a nurse, and most of the African-American people I came into contact with were much older than me. Being a sheltered 14 year old, I was intrigued by their seemingly hip lifestyle, but knew little about their history or the way they experienced the same world that we shared.
Earth, Wind & Fire gave me an early inkling into the black experience with their Afro-centric kalimba-soaked mélange of jazz, funk and soul, combined with their use of astrological imagery and the funky threads they sported on their album covers. They were the real deal, and a great musical group to boot!
I remember purchasing That’s The Way Of The World when it was a new release in 1975 from Vogel’s Records in Elizabeth, New Jersey, which had the best selection of urban records anywhere in my area. I was already keenly aware of today’s Song Of The Day, “Shining Star” from hearing it on the radio and had to have it.
The album topped the U.S. pop charts for three weeks and the R’n’B charts for five weeks in 1975, however, most people aren’t aware that the album was actually the soundtrack to a film of the same name, starring Harvey Keitel as a record producer and Earth Wind & Fire as the group he produced. The film was a complete flop, but the album was a huge hit. In fact, it was Columbia Records’ biggest selling album of 1975.
The group at this time featured the classic front line of Maurice White, Philip Bailey and Verdine White on vocals, with Larry Dunn on keyboards, Fred White and Ralph Johnson on drums and percussion, Verdine White on bass, Andrew P. Woolfolk on reeds and Al McKay and Johnny Graham on guitar. Their sound was typified by Philip Bailey’s soaring soprano and White’s soulful tenor, a dynamic horn section that injected the funk into their tunes, dazzling instrumental jazz workouts and lots of Kalimba (African thumb piano) interspersed throughout. Their albums also had interesting instrumental interludes between the songs as well.
“Shining Star” was written by Maurice White, Larry Dunn and Philip Bailey, and it won a Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. It was one of the group’s funkiest recordings with its flying horns and tightly wound rhythm guitar patterns, but the song’s end is the real grabber as the band repeats “Shining Star for you to see, what your life can truly be” three successive times, each one with instruments dropping out leaving the last time completely a cappela bringing it to an abrupt cold dry ending.
On the album, the song immediately bumps up against the beginning of the title track to the album, which is one of their all-time greatest ballads. The whole sequence conjures the type of drama and excitement that only EWF were capable of. (“Shining Star” also holds the distinction as the song used in the classic Seinfeld episode where Julia Louis Dreyfus’ Elaine unleashes her spastic dance.)
Another incredible track on this album is “Reasons” which was a vehicle for Bailey’s soaring falsetto, especially on the live version from the Gratitude album. While it never charted as a single, it is considered one of EWF’s signature songs and appears on several of their Greatest Hits albums. The horn-pierced funk of “Yearnin’ Learnin’” and “Happy Feeling” keep the good times going, while “All About Love” features a wigged out instrumental interlude at the beginning and end of this deep soul ballad. “Africano” is a jazz-funk instrumental similar to what the band cut its teeth on in their earlier albums, featuring a blazing sax solo courtesy of Andrew Woolfolk.
The group went on to release a string of indelible singles throughout the 1970s including “Sing a Song” (#5 pop/#1 R&B), “Can’t Hide Love” (#11 R&B), “Getaway” (#12 pop/#1 R&B), “Saturday Night” (#4 R&B), “Serpentine Fire” (#13 pop/#1 R&B), “Got To Get You Into My Life” (#9 pop/#1 R&B), “Fantasy” (#12 pop), “September” (#8 pop/#1 R&B), “Boogie Wonderland” (#6 pop/#1 R&B) and “After The Love Has Gone” (#2 pop/#2 R&B), and over the years they’ve sold over 90 million albums, performed at The White House, have won numerous Grammy and American Music Awards and are members of The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame.
But it was their jubilant sound that gave me insight into a world I barely knew existed back in 1975. Earth, Wind & Fire still continue today and just released a brand new album last week called Now, Then and Forever.
After the release of Elvis Costello’s last two T. Bone Burnett-produced albums, he was ready to throw in the towel on his recording career seeing no point in going back into the studio to create new records that nobody would hear. And as a long-time Costello fan of 36 years who suffered through those albums, I was beginning to sadly think that it might’ve been the right decision.
Fortunately, inspiration struck in the oddest of places while guesting on the Late Night With Jimmy Fallon TV show where The Roots have been the house band since the show’s inception. With a college of musical knowledge and a mutual love and thirst for all things sonic between Costello and Roots drummer, ?uestlove, a collaboration between the two seemed to be a match made in hipster heaven.
So, is this Costello’s hip hop album? Is it The Roots’ foray into punk rock?
Neither is true, but with his fedora tipped oddly to one side, Costello and The Roots have fashioned a narcotized, off-beat and off-kilter record drawing on both artists’ signature sound, while creating a groovy new sonic palate for all to taste.
Elvis: “It seemed like a good playground, a fabulous ride, to go in and play with a great band that has a broad-minded view of music. It felt like anything was possible.” ?uestlove: “We recorded a lot of it in our tiny little dressing room at 30 Rock, not a traditional studio, but Elvis had no hang-ups about that.”
In the spirit of sampling no doubt influenced by The Roots, Costello revisits his back catalog and repurposes lyrics from past songs for Wise Up Ghost’s tune stack. Once the novelty of playing spot the reference wears off, you’re still left with one of his strongest collections of songs in over a decade.
Today’s Song Of The Day (shown here from a the album’s kickoff concert in Brooklyn last week) plunders Costello’s 2004 track “Bedlam” from The Delivery Man and mingles it with the 2006 title track from his collaboration with Allen Toussaint The River In Reverse. “Stick Out Your Tongue” revisits the 1983 Imposter single “Pills And Soap” while incorporating “Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)” from his overlooked 1991 collection Mighty Like A Rose.
In the song “Refused To Be Saved” Elvis spits out lyrics from Mighty Like A Rose’s “Invasion Hit Parade,” as he approaches a rapper’s cadence accented by sharp horn blasts, and the stunningly beautiful urban doo wop of “Tripwire” hearkens back to the song “Satellite,” from Costello’s 1989 album Spike. One of the most beguiling tracks on the collection is “Cinco Minutos Con Vos,” a sinuous horn-infused duet with singer La Marisoul of the band La Santa Cecelia.
Elsewhere, The Roots’ influence shines through on the woozy funk of “Sugar Won’t Work” and the Princely soul of “Viceroy’s Row.” Their use of string arrangements to create a sonic tension in “Refused To Be Saved” and “Wise Up Ghost” create a symphonic funk sound reminiscent of classic Isaac Hayes.
And if to reassert his influence on the proceedings, ?uestlove’s drums introduce many of the album’s songs including “(She Might Be A) Grenade,” “Walk Us Uptown,” and “Viceroy’s Row,” exposing The Roots’ penchant for building songs up from the rhythm tracks first.
Costello and The Roots have created a soulful socially conscious musical bouillabaisse with Wise Up Ghost; a kind of a What’s Goin’ On and Superfly for the twenty-teens…and a record for the ages by both artists.
Hailing from Cameroon, Africa, Manu Dibango established himself as an in-demand saxophone player working with acts as diverse as Fela Kuti, Don Cherry, The Fania All-Stars and Sly and Robbie.
“Soul Makossa,” Dibango’s signature disco smash, was originally released as the flip side to the 1972 single “Mouvement Ewondo” on the French independent Fiesta record label. The song probably would have sunk without a trace if it had not been for Manhattan socialite David Mancuso.
Mancuso was known for throwing exclusive invitation-only loft parties in New York City that served as a precursor to the city’s thriving Disco scene of the 1970s. Mancuso found a copy of the record and gave it a spin at one of his parties where it was heard by DJ Frankie Crocker, who in turn played it on WBLS, New York City’s highest rated urban radio station.
The song became very popular, but the single was so rare that nine cover versions sprung up to fill the demand for the record, before Atlantic Records could rush-release Dibango’s original recording in 1973. As a result of the cover versions, Dibango’s recording only climbed up to #35 on the Billboard singles chart; however the chart position didn’t realistically reflect the enormous popularity of the single.
Later, the song’s “ma-ma so, ma-ma-sa, mako-mako-sa” refrain was featured prominently in Michael Jackson’s single “Wanna Be Startin’ Something,” the lead track from his Thriller album which went on to be the biggest selling album of all time. It was used without Dibango’s permission and he later settled handsomely with Jackson for use of the lyric.
Dibango released an updated version of the track in 1994, and then again in 2011 under the title “Soul Makossa 2.0.”
She doesn’t do windows, and for that matter she doesn’t even clean houses. But the “Clean Up Woman” of Betty Wright’s top-ten hit from 1971 sure ‘nuff cleaned up on the charts!
Bessie Regina Norris (aka Betty Wright) got her start as a three year old member of her family Gospel group The Echoes Of Joy who recorded albums during the early 1960s. By the time she was a young teen, she was scoring minor regional hits including her first Top 40 hit in 1968 with “Girls Can’t Do What the Guys Do” and an album called My First Time Around.
But it wasn’t until the age of 17 in 1971, that Betty Wright scored her signature hit (and today’s Song Of The Day) “Clean Up Woman.” The song was written by Clarence Reid and Willie Clark a became a huge hit (#2 R&B, #6 Pop) which went on to be one of the most sampled records of all time sporting appearances on hit recording by Afrika Bambaattaa, SWV, Mary J. Blige and Sublime.
Throughout the 1970s, Wright struggled to come up with a record as potent as “Clean Up Woman,” but managed to score with a self-penned hit “Baby Sitter” (#6 R&B, #50 Pop) and “Let Me Be Your Lovemaker” (#10 R&B, #50 Pop) that exemplified her ease singing in the whistle register (the highest register of the human voice).
But it wasn’t until she began to release disco records that Wright’s career began its second resurgence with the Grammy Winning Best R&B song “Where Is The Love,” which was co-penned by Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch of KC & The Sunshine Band.
She had greater success overseas, particularly in the U.K. with her 1974 disco album Danger! High Voltage! The album included the hits “Shoorah! Shoorah!” and “Tonight Is The Night,” which charted twice in a studio version and then again as a live version with monologue that climbed to #11 on the R&B charts in 1978.
Wright also recorded a duet with Alice Cooper in 1978 and opened for Bob Marley during his Survival Tour. After success with the Stevie Wonder written hit “What Are You Gonna Do With It,” she also contributed vocals to the Richard “Dimples” field hit “She’s Got Papers On Me.”
In the late 1980s, Wright formed her own “Miss B” record label and became the first black female to score a gold album on her own label with Mother Wit. In 2006, she was appointed by Sean Combs as a mentor on the TV show Making Of The Band leading to work contributing songwriting, backing vocals, production, and engineering work to albums by Gloria Estefan, Erykah Badu, Regina Belle, David Byrne, Jennifer Lopez, Lil Wayne and Joss Stone (whose Mind, Body & Soul album won a Best Pop Album Grammy Award).
Her 2011 album, Betty Wright: The Movie was recorded The Roots and was nominated for a Grammy Award, as was the single “Surrender.” With a glorious set of pipes, and tons of talent to spare, Betty Wright is one “Clean Up Woman” who continues to leave a spotless legacy in her wake.
Yeah Yeah Yeah’s last album It’s Blitz was the group’s most mainstream effort, garnering them a much wider audience than they previously had. In contrast, their latest album, Mosquito is much less dancefloor friendly and hearkens back to their earlier electro trash sound.
Although, the dense, layered atmospheric production makes the record initially far less satisfying than its predecessor, with repeated spins the songs begin to insinuate themselves and you begin to realize just how great this record is.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs consist of Karen O (aka Karen Orzolek) on vocals, Nick Zinner on guitar and Brian Chase on drums. Karen O met Chase while attending Oberlin College and the two formed an acoustic duo called Unitard. O transferred to New York University and met Zinner and the two formed a trashy downtown noise band. After adding Chase on drums, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were born.
They began to gain notoriety by supporting the likes of The White Stripes and The Strokes on tour, and they released their self-titled debut EP in 2001. Their first full length album, Fever To Tell followed in 2003 and included the singles “Maps” and “Y Control,” further establishing them with the hipsters as a cutting edge college band.
Their second album, Show Your Bones was released in 2006 and included the singles “Gold Lion” and “Cheated Hearts.” While Yeah Yeah Yeahs were by no means a mainstream band, their audience began to grow with each new release. After a stop-gap EP called Is Is was released in 2007, they garnered universal acclaim with their 2009 album It’s Blitz. It was their most mainstream record, featuring the dance oriented singles “Zero,” “Heads Will Roll” and “Skeletons” that garnered them radio airplay and a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Album.
Karen O has one of the best voices in rock, and Today’s Song Of The Day features a blissful sonic landscape that encases her enraptured vocals. It is clearly the most beautiful track the band has ever captured on wax, and its radiant beauty makes it stand out from the noise-filled din of the rest of the record.
The whole album has a dark atmospheric undertone and many of the songs plunge you into dramatic sonic soundscapes. “Subway” is underpinned by the ambient percussive click-clack sound of a subway train racing across track as O lays on a hypnotic vocal, and “Under The Earth” is buried in a dubby dance club drone.
With its choral crescendo, the album’s opener “Sacrilege” is vaguely reminiscent of Madonna’s “Like A Prayer.” While there are no surefire radio ready singles on the album, “These Paths” does come close to fitting the bill. However, it’s the title track that flits around like a mosquito in flight as O howls “I’ll suck your blood” over and over, that is the current single.
“Buried Alive” was produced by James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem) who creates a great vibe that is interrupted midway by an awkward and completely out of place rap courtesy of Dr. Octagon (aka Kool Keith). The album comes to a close on an intimate (for them) note with “Wedding Song” which O sang to her husband at their nuptials. It features O’s most straightforward vocal on the album as she sings “In flames I sleep soundly/ with angels around me.”
The albums features production by TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek, Nick Launay, and LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, and while not as immediately accessible or satisfying as its predecessor, it does bear fruit to those whose ears are up for the harvest.
Today’s Song Of The Day is from Stevie Wonder’s 1974 album Fulfillingness’ First Finale which was released shortly after a car accident that almost took his life, making the album an all-the-more-important part of his canon. While on tour in North Carolina in August of 1973, Wonder’s car smashed into the back of a logging truck, and the bed of the truck crashed into the windshield of his car. Wonder suffered head injuries that left him in a coma for four days. He also partially lost his sense of smell and temporarily lost his sense of taste.
The brush with death had a great impact on the tone of the album, bringing a renewed spirituality and an awareness of his mortality to the lyrics. During the first interview he gave at the hospital several days after the accident, Wonder had this to say: “I was unconscious, and that for a few days, I was definitely in a much better spiritual place that made me aware of a lot of things that concern my life and my future, and what I have to do to reach another higher ground.”
At the time of its release, Fulfillingness’ was seen as somewhat of a disappointment following nearly-perfect records like Innervisions and Talking Book. It also didn’t help that his next record was 1976’s Songs In The Key Of Life which was a critically acclaimed double album, leading most people to gloss over this record.
However, upon closer inspection, Fulfillingness’ is a first rate collection of songs that finds Stevie Wonder in transition, but still stands mighty tall amongst his other releases. And any album that can sport classics like “Heaven Is 10 Zillion Light Years Away,” “You Haven’t Done Nothin’,” “It Ain’t No Use,” “Boogie On Reggae Woman,” “They Won’t Go When I Go” and “Please Don’t Go” betters most of the records on the musical landscape circa 1974.
Like on his previous albums, Wonder played almost all of the instruments here, enlisting first class help from Michael Sembello on guitar, Sneaky Pete Kleinow on pedal steel, James Jamerson and Reggie McBride on bass, and on background vocals The Jackson 5, Minnie Riperton, Deniece Williams, Paul Anka, Syreeta Wright, The Persuasions, Shirley Brewer and Jim Gilstrap.
The album was his first to top the Billboard album charts and it spawned two big singles including the funky “Boogie on Reggae Woman” (#1 R&B/#3 Pop) and his indictment of the Nixon administration, “You Haven’t Done Nothin'” (#1 R&B/#1 Pop) featuring background vocals by the Jackson 5. It also won three Grammy Awards for Best Male Pop Vocal, Best Male Rhythm and Blues Vocal Performance (for “Boogie On Reggae Woman”), and Album of the Year.
When it comes to a vibe, today’s Song Of The Day has it all: dreamy atmosphere, lush melody and deeply romantic lyrics. The song features Wonder on lead and background vocals, Fender Rhodes, harmonica, drums, Moog bass and T.O.N.T.O. synthesizer. Crucially, the vibe comes down to the T.O.N.T.O. (The Original New Timbral Orchestra) synthesizer that was the first and largest multitimbral polyphonic analog synthesizer in the world. It was brought into the fray by Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff and used on Wonder’s three previous albums. The female background vocals on the track were supplied by Minnie Riperton, and the song was also covered by Luther Vandross and Kenny Rankin.
Bottom line: the run of records Stevie Wonder released from 1971’s Music Of My Mind through 1976’s Songs In The Key Of Life are an essential part to any comprehensive music collection!
Well, it seems that Stevie Wonder’s recording of “Creepin’” has been blockedon YouTube by thought police (or is that the thoughtless police) at the record companies. So if you have Spotify or this Stevie Wonder album, I recommend that you cue it up and enjoy it while reading this…and if you don’t have it, buy it immediately…and you can thank me later.
So Daft Punk has released a straight-up ‘70s Disco album and everybody is going nuts.
Daft Punk fans are going nuts because there are real instruments and, gasp, real voices on this record. Critics are going nuts because the group has made a ‘70s disco album, and a ‘70s disco album stands out because it’s the antithesis of the loud-soft dynamic of today’s EDM. This gives critics something to write about, which in turn makes them excited, resulting in amazingly positive reviews. Mind you, these are some of the same critics who back in the ‘70s, wouldn’t have been caught dead listening to a disco record.
That said, although Random Access Memories is indeed a departure for Daft Punk, the ‘70s disco left turn works well for them. Under all of the vocodered voices and electronic rhythms, the songs really have heart and emotion. It’s the clash of heart and transistors that is the key to this record, and you really can’t beat the rhythm section of Nathan East on bass and Omar Hakim on drums laying the groundwork for the guitar dynamics of Nile Rodgers funky-Chic style combined with the lighter, jazzier leanings of Paul Jackson Jr.
The record’s power will be in its ability to blend generations of fans, appealing to today’s dance music aficionado and the disco generation alike. This is probably why the record will end up not only being a multi-hit, multi format smash, but also one of the biggest records of the summer.
Nile Rodgers’ fingerprints are all over several of the album’s best tracks including the album’s lead-off track “Give Life Back To The Music,” “Get Lucky, which is sitting at the #4 position of the pop charts this week, and today’s Song Of The Day, “Lose Yourself To Dance,” which no doubt will also climb the charts in weeks to come. (Note: “Lose Yourself To Dance” and “Get Lucky” feature vocals from producer and Neptunes’ member Pharrell Williams.) The influence the man behind “Le Freak” and dozens of other Chic hits from the ‘70s and early ‘80s brings to this album humanizes Daft Punk’s mechanistic sound, as it harkens back to the production sheen he provided for David Bowie’s Let’s Dance.
Along with “Get Lucky” and “Lose Yourself To Dance,” the album’s centerpiece is clearly the Broadway disco showcase, “Touch,” featuring the dramatic vocals of Paul Williams. The song begins as a dark ruminating electronic soundscape and then bursts alive into Technicolor disco with Williams’ dramatic vocals. I can see this track crossing over big time and sending this album into the stratosphere.
“Georgio By Moroder” pays homage to the disco producer behind Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love,” with a nine minute moto-disco track that features Moroder talking about his craft over the music. Other cameos include Julian Casablancas, whose co-written track “Instant Crush” is not too different than the direction The Strokes have taken on their latest record, except that his collaboration with Daft Punk has a great hook which is something his own band has been lacking for a while. Elsewhere, Panda Bear lends a Beach Boy’s flavored vocal to “Doin’ It Right.”
I had the pleasure of seeing Daft Punk at Lollapalooza several years ago, and at the time their act relied heavily on spectacle more than songs. That’s not a slam. I love dance music and have for many years, but their live presentation was amazing, sending the audience into a literal frenzy. (I should know, I was up front for a good portion of their set and it was a crush.) Musically however, they were sonically closer to Kraftwerk than Giorgio Moroder or Nile Rodgers.
So who cares if the French duo of Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter have a penchant for wearing robot disguises and appearing before audiences in a pod, their new musical direction has resulted in a record for the ages from this group, and one I’ll be coming back to again and again.
They were growing up…and the world liked their Jacksons young.
By 1973, The Jackson 5 were becoming somewhat of a spent force around Motown. It had been a few years since the group scored a bona-fide top ten hit, and there was plenty of dissatisfaction to go around.
Brother Michael was no longer the pint-sized dynamo that he once was. He was now a pimply 15 years old geek with a much deeper voice. Motown had been grooming him as a solo star much to the detriment of his singing brothers, and between 1971 and 1973 he scored several substantial solo hits including the top five smash “Got To Be There,” “Ben” which was a chart topping hit about a rat from the movie Willard, a cover of the Bobby Day hit “Rockin’ Robin” which climbed to the #2 position on the charts and “I Wanna Be Where You Are,” which went to #16 on the pop charts and #2 on the rhythm and blues charts.
Meanwhile, some of the other brothers were also branching out. Jermaine released a solo record in 1972 that included a cover of the Shep & The Limelites’ hit “Daddy’s Home” which rose up to the top ten of the charts, and Jackie also released solo record the following year. All of this activity was beginning to play on the dynamic within the group in negative ways.
What the group collectively craved most was more control over what they recorded, and more involvement in the making of their records. While they were writing, producing and playing songs in their home studio, Motown wouldn’t let them play on their own records insisting that they use the Motown house band, The Funk Brothers, or The Wrecking Crew (for West Coast sessions). Not only that, they were only allowed to record songs that were chosen for them by “The Corporation.”
Changes needed to be made, and it was within this atmosphere of disillusion that the group’s father and manager, Joe Jackson began to look for a new record deal for his charges.
The group’s 1973 album, GIT: Get It Together, was the first Jackson 5 album to feature lead vocals by each brother. The album also found the group dipping their collective toes into disco waters by segueing all the songs together in order to provide a non-stop mix of music for dancing.
By far, the best song of the album is today’s Song Of The Day, “Dancing Machine.” The song was an “automatic, systematic” call to the dance floor featuring syncopated funky rhythms and terrific vocal interplay between Michael and the rest of the group who traded off lead vocal lines and sang backup on the track. It was also one of the first songs that Michael employed the vocal hiccup that would end up being one of his lasting trademarks.
Like “Billy Jean” and the moonwalk, “Dancing Machine” also benefitted by an accompanying dance move which helped propel it up the charts. When the group appeared on Soul Train to promote the album, Michael Jackson was seen doing the robot dance resulting in a spectacle that left fans wanting more.
The song was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1975 for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, but lost out to Rufus’s hit “Tell Me Something Good.” While the other seven tracks on the record were less commercial, the title track was a moderate hit that charted at #28 on the singles charts, and “Hum Along and Dance” became a popular favorite in the group’s live act.
Shortly after the release of the album, the group found themselves riding high in the charts again as background vocalists on Stevie Wonder’s 1974 single “You Haven’t Done Nothin’” from his album Fulfillingness’ First Finale.
The group signed with CBS/Epic Records in 1975 and had to change their name to The Jacksons, since Motown owned the rights to the Jackson 5 name. Jermaine chose to stay on at Motown since he was married to Berry Gordy’s daughter, and was replaced by the youngest Jackson brother, Randy.
While the group’s commercial prospects at CBS weren’t much better, Michael eventually scored a huge hit with the 1979 album Off the Wall, and then came Thriller and The Victory Tour, and Jackson mania swept the world again…
“Don’t Call It A Comeback, I been here for years…,” so begins the title cut from the 4th album called Mama Said Knock You Out by James Todd Smith…aka Ladies Love Cool J…aka LL Cool J.
And back in the day in my hood, the strains of LL could be heard emanating from booming systems regularly, as a steady stream of beaters passed by while me and my boyz sat on the stoop…OK, maybe this scenario was not the case in my “hood,” but if you lived in an urban area circa the late 1980s, this was certainly true.
LL Cool J released his first record in 1984 when he was 16 years old after submitting his tapes to two up-and-coming NYU students named Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin who were running a record label from their dorm. They went on to great fame with their Def Jam Records label empire and as producers to the super stars, including LL Cool J.
By the time of this album’s release in 1990, the hip hop pioneer already had three albums under his belt and had a whole host of groundbreaking hip hop hits including “I Can’t Live Without My Radio,” “Rock The Bells,” “I’m Bad,” “I Need Love,” “Bristol Hotel,” “Go Cut Creator Go,” “Goin’ Back To Cali,” “I’m That Type Of Guy,” “Big Ole Butt” and the original version of “Jinglin’ Baby.”
The title cut to his fourth album was a reaction to the comparatively weaker sales of his previous release, Walking With A Panther, and the critics’ contention that LL had gone soft because of the inclusion of ballads like “I Need Love” on his albums. The album was produced by Juice Crew member, Marley Marl, who was also the man behind the knobs for classic rap records by Biz Markie, Big Daddy Kane, Roxanne Shante, Kool G Rap and MC Shan, and the album did place LL Cool J back at the forefront of the hip hop music scene.
Today’s Song Of The Day was one of six singles released from the Mama album. “Around The Way Girl” samples The Mary Jane Girls’ single “All Night Long” and features such verbal gymnastics as “I want a girl with extensions in her hair, Bamboo earrings, At least two pair, A Fendi bag and a bad attitude, That’s all I need to get me in a good mood… She sweet as brown sugar with the candied yams, Honey coated complexion using Camay, Lets hear it for the girl she’s from around the way…” The lyrics highlight what separated LL from all the rest of the pack back in the day, his attention to details — bamboo earrings, Fendi bags, honey coated complexion, using Camay — making the characters in his songs come alive.
“The Boomin’ System” was the first single released from the album and it reached number 48 on the Billboard charts. It perfectly encapsulates the feeling of standing on the sidewalk as cars drive by with their stereo systems a-blast. Such was the sound of urban America circa the early 1990s. As in many of the songs from the album, its samples included elements from James Brown catalog including elements of “The Payback” and “Funky Drummer.” The single also included a sample from “Bring The Noise” by Def Jam label mates Public Enemy.
The album’s title cut was part statement of purpose and part shameless boast that charted at number 17 and won LL a 1992 Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. The track’s popularity was benefitted by a landmark full band performance on the TV show MTV Unplugged and was also memorably parodied by the Wayans brothers as “Mama’s Gonna Kick Me Out” on their TV show In Living Color. Samples on the track include elements of James Brown’s “Funky Drummer,” Sly & The Family Stone’s “Trip to Your Heart” and “Sing a Simple Song,” Digital Underground’s “Humpty Dance” and LL Cool J’s own “Rock the Bells.”
Another single from the album was “To Da Break Of Dawn” which was featured in the Kid’n’Play movie House Party. In the song, LL disses his detractor’s including Ice T., MC Hammer and Kool Moe Dee. Dee responded by releasing the single “Death Blow” from his Funke Funke Wisdom album the following year. “Dawn” also includes a sample of James Brown’s “Funky President.”
Other highlights on the album include the songs “Eat ’em Up, L Chill” (that includes memorable samples from George Clinton’s “Atomic Dog” and the Five Stairsteps’ “Don’t Change Your Love”), “Mr. Good Bar” (with samples from James Brown’s “Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved” and ESG’s “UFO”) and “6 Minutes of Pleasure” (that includes samples from James Brown’s “Funky President” and Doug E. Fresh’s “The Show”).
LL’s TV credits include his own ill-fated 1995 sitcom In The House, plus appearances in the TV series House, 30 Rock and Sesame Street. But he is perhaps best known as Special Agent Sam Hanna whom he has portrayed since 2009 in the series NCIS: Los Angeles. His film credits include appearances in Krush Groove, Toys (with Robin Williams), Halloween H2O, Deep Blue Sea, In Too Deep, Rollerball, Any Given Sunday, Deliver Us from Eva, Mindhunters, and S.W.A.T..
LL continues to record and he recently released his 13th album Authentic last month to positive reviews.
Starting the week of March 23rd, we are going retro – no voice tracks, no safety net – and will be live in the Acid Flashback studios from 10 AM until 2 PM Central Time (11ET, 8 PT). So for folks who have to stay at home during the Covid-19 crisis, you can turn the […]
