Noj

Go Bulls! Go Thunder! Go anyone but the Heat!

Recently stumbled over these at emusic, some really cool tracks on them.

Oh HELL yeah. Anybody mention The Counts yet? Not until you did! I dig The Counts! I have What's Up Front That Counts, good stuff.

In the spirit of what my main man .:. recommended, here's a few other funky recommendations: 24 Carat Black - Ghetto: Misfortune's Wealth Demon Fuzz - Afreaka! Senor Soul - What It Is, Y'All: The Best Of...(1st incarnation of WAR) Black Heat - Declassified Soul (4 albums on 2cds, was a 32Jazz thing, not sure if the individual albums are available) Catalyst - The Funkiest Band You Never Heard (another 32Jazz 4fer) Boscoe - Boscoe Young/Holt Unlimited albums Superfly Soul 2-disc comps on Union Square (compiled by Chas Chandler) Eddie Fisher & The Next 100 Years Gabor Szabo - Belsta River Funk, Inc. albums Cymande - Cymande Syl Johnson albums Luiz Bonfa - Jacaranda

I almost forgot, the Funk Spectrum series was incredible. Anything with Keb Darge or Gilles Peterson or DJ Shadow doing the compiling is top rate. Can't forget to mention the Mickey & The Soul Generation anthology either.

Can't go wrong with Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings or Lee Fields either! The three volumes of James Brown's Funky People are all great too.

I have the first three comps you listed, Van B. They've all got gems on them, the Midwest one is particularly good. All of those State-themed ones are worth getting. I have a lot of the tracks on the Funk Soul Sisters comp too, good stuff. If you're an eMusic subscriber, they have tons of comps on there too, including the State ones. I have a few hundred compilations, many of them are funk-related stuff. For my money, the best ones were made by Soul Patrol Records and say "Natural" down the spine. There was also a great series on Electrostatic Records called Funkaphonix (I have the first six, not sure if there's more). If you ever lean toward the sound library end of things, the Dusty Fingers compilations are unreal, but I think they're bootlegs. As are the Ultimate Breaks & Beats comps. The Westbound Records series were really cool too, some early Funkadelic 45s and other rarities. That What It Is box set on Atlantic is really good too. There's some remarkably solid comps on Charly as well (are those boots?). I really like the funk revival bands, such as The Whitefield Brothers and JD & The Evil's Dynamite Band (Soul Fire Records). The J.B.'s are another level, I agree with JSngry. And following Maceo & Fred to their solo efforts is worth the trip, as well as to the Funkadelic and Parliament albums. It simply doesn't get any funkier. Love the Meters. For another twist, if you like the Fela Kuti and that afrobeat sound at all, the Nigeria compilations on Soundway Records are unbelievably good.

What about when some non-music fan posts a negative review of Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline, leading Noj to want to hunt the reviewer down and laugh maniacally as I choke the life out of him to keep him from polluting the gene pool with bad taste in music?

Having seen All Music discussed at length and universally praised here as an outstanding album, despite Chuck's obvious conflict of interest I think this is defending great music more than it is an attempt to boost sales. I have shopped for quite a bit of music on Amazon, and I've seen all sorts of stupid reviews of what in my opinion are excellent albums. My blood boiling, I was tempted to counter those low ratings and offer a properly sparkling review, because clearly some jackass out there has terrible taste. Yet, there's no accounting for taste. Opinions are like bungholes. Etc. So, I can see both sides of this issue, and at the most I hope the guy who wrote the negative review of All Music reads the other opinions, and finds this thread...so his own blood boils.

I marked the review "not helpful."

Congratulations, Mavericks fans! Clearly the better team won this series, and the Lakers couldn't pull it together. Here's hoping the Mavs or another Western Conference team win the title this year. Or the Bulls. I'll be absolutely nauseous if the Celtics or the Heat win. I hope Dwight wants to continue in the footsteps of great centers such as Wilt, Kareem, and Shaq. Come to LA, Superman!

*considers trip to FLA to pour motor oil in Free's trombone*

The Lakers aren't playing to their strengths, and their bench is being destroyed by the Mavs. The Lakers starters have actually outscored the Mavs starters by 40 overall. It's a team game, and the Mavs look like the better team. Can't really feel all that bad coming off back-to-back titles.

I white-knuckle it as it is on flights, when the plane is flying perfectly. Here's another to avoid if you get airsick, but it's more fun to watch!

Lateef's Hush 'N' Thunder is really uneven. I enjoy parts of it, and the vocals aren't any great revelation. It's a fun album for its unexpected turns. The strongest part for me is still "Destination Paradise," the instrumental song I mentioned earlier.

Evan, to embed a video, click the media button and paste the entire YouTube URL, just like you would paste an image URL in the image tags.

I bought three of the XLs from ropeadope way back when (BN logo, Indestructible, and Unity)--they still fit ok. They're really like a size large in better quality fabric t-shirts.

Those are The New Mastersounds, Bluesnik. I like 'em. I didn't realize there was an original Mastersounds until this thread.

Wow, these look very much to my liking, and I've been meaning to get some Buddy Montgomery based on the track "1000 Rainbows" which marcoliv included in BFT #15.

I used to not like jazz singers. Or I just ignored them because I was so into the instrumental end of things. Then they grew on me, augmented by the realization that they're often singing over really good instrumentals.

In my quest to dig up every original song which was sampled in hip hop, I used to have to spend a long time searching for songs. I'd pour through sources of information, remember things I'd heard and write them down in long lists. I'd go to the record shop or the CD store, and hope to find some weird out of print recording. Some were simply impossible to find...until recently. I found my way to the blogosphere, and was shocked when copies of even the most obscure, long-sought pieces were right there for the taking. Now, there's even a blog which has virtually all the samples, and who sampled them, available in batches compiled by hip hop album. Concurrently eMusic came along, and was so inexpensive at the beginning that it was like a tour of the Prestige/Fantasy catalog. Talk about easy pickings. The magic of it is gone. The work has all been done by someone else. Now there's just sit back and listen to whatever, whenever. Missing something? Have it in five minutes. I have more than I can remember having.

I have Hush 'N' Thunder, I'll have to revisit it and offer an assessment. I recall really enjoying one instrumental track from it, which may indicate I didn't care so much for the vocals.

...and too late for a new owner to make any difference this season.

Beltre always could pick it, and he has a cannon. His bat is...streaky.

Organissimists /joke premise overload