Jay-Z dropped his first greatest hits compilation this week and finger on the steam has put together a wish list of five songs we'd like to have seen on the disc; think of them as the greatest misses.
Let us know if we're totally off base with our selection, and what other omissions you just can't do without as part of Hov's musical memoir.
1) "Change Clothes" feat. Pharrell, The Black Album, 2003 - Apparently from Jay-Z's final studio album, this initial single would be his greatest hit until the recent "Empire State of Mind". S'pose he came out of "retirement" to make sure he finally got that #1 single, but it's hard to forget a classic like "Change Clothes".
2) "Girls, Girls, Girls", The Blueprint, 2001 - How does he go about explaining these tracks to Beyoncé? A rather promiscuous tale, this one is just too fun to pass over for some of the lesser material Hova included on his Hits collection.
3) "Takeover", The Blueprint, 2001 - A diss track that took on Prodigy from Mobb Deep before Jay-Z focused his magnifying glass on that other king of NYC rap, Nasir Jones. Forcing NaS to respond on his track "Ether" from the Stillmatic album, the beef would be a launching pad for the resurrection of NaS' previously unmatched wizardry in the booth.
4) "Jigga What, Jigga Who" feat. Big Jaz and Amil, Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life, 1999 - Jigga at his visceral best, with speed to match. Maybe not a club banger, but a stone cold lesson in clutchin' the mic.
5) "Can’t Knock the Hustle" feat. Mary J. Blige, Reasonable Doubt, 1996 - Greatly overshadowed at the time by the belter singing his chorus, Jay-Z was fortunate to get Ms. Blige on wax for his debut album.
The first posthumous album of original material from Michael Jackson, entitled simply Michael, is due out on December 14th, and the lead-off single "Breaking News" has quickly become breaking news across the music world. Several members of the Jackson family have come out publicly denouncing the authenticity of the track, suggesting the voice on the recording is not that of the real King of Pop, but is rather a product of mixing board trickery by a smooth criminal. Okay, lousy puns aside, have a listen and judge for yourself.
Michael Jackson - "Breaking News"
Given that the vocalist on "Breaking News" has yet to be verified, this week's Hump Day Hitslist brings you five superb tracks where we're sure it is not the Moonwalker doing the singing. Indeed, this week finger on the steam presents our favourite cover versions of MJ's biggest hit, "Billie Jean".
1. Aloe Blacc & The Grand Scheme: New soul sensation Aloe Blacc cools it right out on this jazz club version while his hip cat band shows immense restraint.
2. Shinehead: Employing rattlesnake whistles from The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, this reggae stalwart provides us with a cover fit for the dancehall.
3. Scott "One Mand Band" Dunbar: A talented busker gives a compelling open air performance of the danceable hit using found items as his backing band.
4. The Roots ft. Erykah Badu: ?uestlove channels his best impression of Seu Jorge on this samba-inspired version by hip hop collective The Roots.
5. Chris Cornell: Reinterpreting the biggest pop smash of all time into a contemplative acoustic ballad that begs you to focus on the lyrics and infuses the story with strong emotion.
The mid-term elections for Congress and Senate in the U.S. closed yesterday, and official estimates are that campaign spending on these elections will quadruple the previous record spent on a non-presidential vote thanks to the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission; corporate funding of independent political broadcasts is now without limit due to First Amendment rights of free speech, the Court held. There are strong arguments on both sides for the way in which the Court's judgment helps and hurts democracy, but those are discussions not meant for this humble blog. Instead, we will celebrate these heady times by rounding up 5 of the best political songs about America ever written for this week's Hump Day Hitslist. Limiting the Hitslist to all things States-side means there will be no "Redemption Song", "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" or "God Save The Queen", but there's a cornucopia of other delights representing political messages from a variety of genres and from every class and corner of that historic and proud patchwork called the United States of America. Bear in mind that because there are so many excellent protest songs out there, not only are there glaring omissions within the genres selected, but there are whole genres of fertile political ground that had to be left off the Hitslist in the interest of brevity. Feel free to add your other favourites in the comments section, but be sure to let us know why that's the song for you!
Psychedelic Soul Edwin Starr- "War": Originally written for The Temptations on their Motown label in 1969, the song was eventually released as a single with Edwin Starr as vocalist to avoid alienating The Temptations' more conservative fan-base. Breaking all lyrical rules of 'show-don't-tell', "War" is about as in-your-face as an anti-Vietnam War song can get. Reaching number one on the Billboard pop singles chart in 1970, it is one of the most successful protest songs ever recorded. In a rather political move of its on, Clear Channel Communications placed "War" on its controversial "No Play List" following the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2001. Issued to the more than 1,200 radio stations owned by Clear Channel, the list contained 166 songs, including any song by Rage Against the Machine, which dovetails nicely into our next playlist entry.
Rap Metal
Rage Against the Machine - "Killing in the Name": While used more recently in a Facebook campaign to stop the winner of Simon Cowell's t.v. talent show X Factor from gaining the Christmas number one single in the UK, "Killing in the Name" has served more serious purposes since it was released in 1992 on Rage Against the Machine's eponymous debut. With only six lines of lyrics, this recording is one big howling expletive reviling against the American military-industrial complex that justifies killing in the name of, as Zack de la Rocha belts, the "chosen whites".
Jazz Blues Billie Holiday - "Strange Fruit": Billie Holiday possesses oneof the most magical voices in music history, and uses her famed pipes to spellbinding effect on this haunting track. Derived from the lines of a poem by Abel Meeropol in response to the practice of lynching African-Americans in the Southern states, "Strange Fruit" uses its central metaphor to detach the lyrics from their ghastly subject, bringing this taboo subject to the public discourse decades ahead of the civil rights movement.
"Southern trees bear strange fruit/ Blood on the leaves and blood at the root/ Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze/ Strange fruit hanging from the popular trees"
Rock Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Fortunate Son": Where Edwin Starr's protest song is a damning indictment of the entire venture of the Vietnam War, CCR's "Fortunate Son" castigates the American authorities that conscripted the poor to a distant war, and questions the classist foundations of the country itself. Contrasting the individualistic selfishness of fortunate sons born with "silver spoon in hand" against the patriotic generosity of the poor, John Fogerty's leathery voice encapsulated an entire generation's sentiment over music that could be from none other than the heartland.
"Some folks are born to wave the flag/ Ooh they're red white and blue/ And when the band plays "Hail to the Chief"/ Ooh they point the cannon at you, Lord"
Folk
Woody Guthrie - "This Land is Your Land": Though 24 years later Bob Dylan would capture the spirit of the 1960s counter-culture movement with "The Times They are a-Changin'", the archetypal folk protest song belongs to Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land". As a direct response to the jingoistic "God Bless America", Guthrie wanted to write a song that spoke frankly of the real problems facing America after he had traveled the States through the 1930s Dust Bowl exodus. Guthrie used his guitar, famously stickered with the slogan "This machine kills fascists", to tackle the definition of liberty, individual rights and property ownership in this patriotic creed for the Everyman.
Tragically, the world lost a reggae legend this past week with the passing of Gregory Isaacs, treasured elder of the "lovers rock" movement. Popularized by artists in mid-1970s London, lovers rock is a sub-genre of reggae that draws on American soul and R&B to produce a smoother, romance-heavy alternative to the politicized Rastafarian creeds of Bob Marley and company. I became aware of Isaacs from the shout out provided by Mos Def on his delicious story rap "Ms. Fat Booty", and was blessed to find all of these dripping wet dub fantasies about affairs of the heart.
You'll find below the latest installment in the Hump Day Hitslist; a five song lovers rock playlist in dedication to Mr. Isaacs. Unfortunately, my laptop befell a tragic fate this week and so I was unable to upload the necessary tunes to embed the mini-player I know readers have become fond of. In its place, I've been able to cobble together a YouTube playlist. Just press play and all 5 songs will play subsequently, or you can flip through to your heart's content. The mini-player will make its glorious return in weeks ahead.
1. Winston Reedy - "Dim The Lights": Released in 1983, this was Reedy's biggest hit, and one of the all-time lovers rock titles. Typical of the genre, Reedy's lover has told him it's over, but neither can resist their insatiable appetite for each other, and so they are kept on booty call speed dial. Reedy has to beg his baby to stop coming back for more, because, in the end, it's hurting him too bad. We've all been there.
2. Louisa Mark - "Caught You In A Lie": Accredited with being the first lovers rock single ever to hit the mainstream airwaves, Louisa Mark's "Caught You In A Lie" is about getting cheated on, real bad. Apparently the bastard said the other woman was his cousin! Sadly, Mark died last year from suspected food poisoning, but her pioneering work lives on.
3. Gregory Isaacs - "If I Don't Have You": Where Louisa Mark brought the saccharine preserves of lovers rock to the mainstream, Gregory Isaacs tended the plum orchard. Producing the very first lovers rock record with friend Errol Dunkley on his Jamaica-based record label and reggae store African Museum, Isaacs was the grandfather of the lovers rock sound. While it isn't his biggest hit, nor his first, "If I Don't Have You" finds Isaacs sweetly reassuring his lover that she's the one for him, despite his absences touring on the road. It's a classic theme, and one which would be given a well-deserved tribute by The Roots a couple of decades onward with their tale "You've Got Me", featuring neo-soul spellbinder Erykah Badu.
4. Junior English - "In Loving You": Like many of the lovers rock trailblazers, English moved from Jamaica to England to sprout his musical career. After winning a talent contest for which he was given a record contract with Pama Records, English would go on to achieve a Christmas number one single on the UK reggae charts with "In Loving You". This honey dripping ditty is a welcome escape from the fact that, in modern day, the UK's Christmas number one is annually dominated by the winner of Simon Cowell's talent show X Factor, and is blemished by misguided internet campaigns to usurp whatever pop schlock the X Factor produces with Rage Against the Machine's "Killing In The Name".
5. Jack Wilson - "6 Six Street": Jack Wilson is a jazz pianist, and so it is surprising to hear him on a track that sounds like a beef patty and a tumbler of dark coconut rum. Wilson's "6 Six Street" is a cover of Louisa Mark's original "Six Sixth Street". Both versions will get you right in the mood for a bubble bath, but we couldn't let Louisa have all the fun.
The fifth full-length album by Kings of Leon, Come Around Sundown, was released yesterday, and so finger on the steam will help mark the occasion by dedicating this week's Hump Day Hitslist to those southern rabble-rousers. Keeping in line with the five song parameter of the Hitslist, you will find one song from each of the Kings of Leon's five albums in the mini-player below; though you won't find any of their biggest hits, because all of the songs selected are non-singles from the albums. Think of them instead, as hidden gems.
1. "Joe's Head": From Youth & Young Manhood, the debut album that had many critics perking up their ears and re-tooling their top ten lists for 2003, this song is emblematic of the Kings of Leon's early style: from the nearly inaudible southern snark of Caleb Followill's vocals to the always chugging forward rhythm section, "Joe's Head" feels like a bar room brawl. The song appears to be an ode to the mythic folk song "Hey Joe" popularized by Jimi Hendrix. In Hendrix's famous tale, Joe has just killed his lover after he's "caught her messin' around with another man," while the Joe narrated by the Kings of Leon kills 'em both:
"Well he said Fred, I just killed a man/ Caught him laying with my girlfriend/ Now they're both dead/ People can be so cold when they're dead."
2. "Soft": A gloriously fun jam from the sophomore effort Aha Shake Heartbreak that catapulted the Kings to fame, "Soft" sounds too irreverent to be about anything negative; yet, when you stop and take heed of the lyrics you can't help but smirk devilishly. After the first chorus you have to brace yourself and wonder if Followill just said what you thought he said, before he chimes in with "behind the fringe of a whiskey high", and then you know it's all about drunken impotence:
"I'm passed out in your garden/ I'm in I can't get off, so soft/ I'd park myself in your body/ I'd come all over your party, but I'm soft"
3."Ragoo": On their third outing, Because of the Times, Kings of Leon took a sonic departure from their southern rock roots. We know now this album was a study en route to the more U2-inspired anthemic rock of the follow-up smash Only By The Night, but at the time it left the hardcore fans wondering where the band was headed. Regardless of the changes, betwixt the glacial pop and punk-inspired experiments happening on this record were some infectiously catchy tunes that portrayed the Kings' signature booty-shaking rhythm, and "Ragoo" is the finest example among them.
4."Cold Desert": It is nigh impossible to reconcile the lead-off single from the Kings' first record, "Molly's Chambers", with the played-to-death chart topper "Sex on Fire" that took the Kings to new heights of stardom. Both are excellent songs in their own right, but their differences demonstrate how dramatically the Kings of Leon had shed the snakeskin of their past; one in which their childhoods were spent driving through the southern United States in a purple 1988 Oldsmobile, decamping for a week or two wherever their pastor father Leon was scheduled to preach. While the definitive sonic departure of Only By The Night had the potential to alienate existing fans, it was the visceral emotional content, often lacking on previous albums, of songs like "Cold Desert" that would bring a whole new audience to Kings of Leon. Caleb says in a home video that he was very drunk when he recorded the song, and a lot of the lyrics were improvised; stating in retrospect that he would never have sung "Jesus don't love me" if he had been sober. Perhaps it was the truth rising to the surface of this record that made it so engaging, and eventually, such a major commercial success.
5."Mi Amigo": The latest album is just days old, and so "Mi Amigo" could very well become a single in the near future. For now, "Radioactive" is the only song gracing the airwaves. A much more patient and calming record than anything they've done in the past, Come Around Sundown is packaged in a misty photograph of palm leaves swimming in a tequila sunrise; "Mi Amigo" is a boozy, beachy tune that perfectly fits that aesthetic.
Every Wednesday, starting today, we're going to post a 5 song playlist, called the Hump Day Hitslist, to help get you through the despair of the middle of the week. There will still be a wealth of great music coming to you via the regular posts, but this feature is more of a quick dose of happiness to remind you of how beautiful everything is.
On Sunday, one of the greatest soul singers of all time passed away, Solomon Burke, and it is in his honour that this inaugural Hump Day Hitslist is dedicated to the soul music of the 1960s.
Marvin Gaye - "I Heard It Through the Grapevine": Originally recorded by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, this song would become a landmark song for Motown Records when it was cut by Marvin Gaye in 1968. Its cultural relevance is due significantly in part to Gaye's updating of the classic soul sound with late-60s psychedelic undertones. Just two years later, Creedence Clearwater Revival would also make this song a hit with their popular rock version.
Ben E. King - "Stand By Me": The most remarkable thing about this song is that King wrote it for The Drifters, who passed up the chance to record it. With some leftover studio time, King was encouraged to lay it to wax, and the rest is history. Not only did "Stand By Me" become a top-ten hit in 1961, it would reach #1 in the UK in 1987 as well, after the release of the popular movie of the same name and a prominent Levi's ad featuring the song.
Solomon Burke - "Cry to Me": A 1962 ode to loneliness, and Solomon Burke's biggest hit. A perfect song for your mid-week blues..."nothing can be sadder than a glass of wine alone."
Etta James - "At Last": Released by James in 1961, "At Last" was first recorded for the musical score to the 1941 film Orchestra Wives. It became Etta James' signature song, and she'd remind the world by taking ribs at Beyoncé for singing it for President Obama and the First Lady during their first dance at the Inauguration Ball. "I tell you that woman he had singing for him, singing my song, she gonna get her ass whupped."
Sam Cooke - "A Change is Gonna Come": Released shortly after his death in 1964, "A Change is Gonna Come" was only a modest hit by Sam Cooke's standards (see "Cupid," "Chain Gang," and "What a Wonderful World"). However, "Change" is Cooke's most important song, as it extols the emotional toll taken by decades of oppression, while offering a message of hope to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. And boy, can the man deliver a tune.
