Red, Hot + Indigo

[Man with the Golden Arm]

Just spotted this comp on the Red Hot... site:

Any one heard this set? ... if only for "Money Jungle" as taken by John Patton!

[Big Wheel]

I have heard a couple of clips, the MMW version of Blue Pepper Dub and KB's rendition of C Jam Blues (also with MMW, I think). It's fun, not essential but entertaining.

[ejp626]

I like it quite a bit, but my favorite track is Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me by Mary J. Blige. It does sound a bit like something these punk remixers would do, but she is quite soulful actually.

[JSngry]

Very enjoyable set.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

"Money Jungle" ... with BJ Patton, Carter and Waits

...AND Black Star = mos def and taleb kweli?

I've even heard of these guys but thankfully till now I had never actually listened to them. Couldn't be a bigger WTF! these kids can't even harmonize let alone rap. Mingus would have slapped both upside their off-key lips! quite the spoiler but the rest is very worthy of a nice deduction.

[Noj]

"Money Jungle" ... with BJ Patton, Carter and Waits

...AND Black Star = mos def and taleb kweli?

I've even heard of these guys but thankfully till now I had never actually listened to them. Couldn't be a bigger WTF! these kids can't even harmonize let alone rap. Mingus would have slapped both upside their off-key lips! quite the spoiler but the rest is very worthy of a nice deduction.

Two of my favorite rappers.

[JSngry]

Yep.

[Soul Stream]

"Money Jungle" ... with BJ Patton, Carter and Waits

...AND Black Star = mos def and taleb kweli?

I've even heard of these guys but thankfully till now I had never actually listened to them. Couldn't be a bigger WTF! these kids can't even harmonize let alone rap. Mingus would have slapped both upside their off-key lips! quite the spoiler but the rest is very worthy of a nice deduction.

Before Big John died...I played him the Money Jungle cut off of this CD. His reaction was exactly what mine was... WHAT THE FUCK DID THEY DO TO MY MUSIC. Turns out Patton, Ron Carter and Waits cut the track and left. Afterwards they put the fuckin' rap on it and ruined it. Patton was pissed beyond words.

[JSngry]

Pulled this one out last night, and frankly, I don't understand the vehement reaction against Def & Kweli. They sound all right to me. Far worse a breach of taste is The Roots bluster on Caravan, which seems like so much name/cultural connection dropping w/little interest in doing anything at all related to the original song (something that I definitely can't say about the Black Star lyrics, which seem organic - no pun intended - to the song). Oh well, different strokes and all that....

The real killer on the disc for me, and one that I had completely forgotten about, is the version of Star Crossed Lovers by Propellerheads w/Martha Wainwright. My god what a fresh sounding cut that is. The use of the melody is incorporated in a thoroughly ingenious manner, as a background figure to the vocal hook. It works, and it works well. The lyrics are gentle yet firm, and the whole thing grooves like a mofo.

Don't really know Propellerheads (informed comments welcome), but if this cut is representative of their overall output, I've been missing out.

[Soul Stream]

I think it's a real breach of trust to overdub rap over an existing jazz performance without the artist's consent. If they were all in the studio together and that was the goal, that's one thing. But to take a performance Patton was proud of and drown it out with overdubbed vocals is a drag.

[JSngry]

John should have still been proud of his performance. It was quite a good one.

Questyionable production ethics aside (now that's been a rare problem over the years ), if I hadn't known that that performance wasn't planned that way from the git-go, I'd never have guessed it. I think it's very good "as is" on the record. The rappers seem to quite often be getting their phraseological meter from Patton, so it's got that kind of synergy, which is a good one, because the band is swinging like a mofo. Plus, like I said, the lyrics are relevant to the song. Hard to ask for more than that from this type of thing, no matter how it came to be put together.

It's been said that two things you never want to see being made are sausage and laws. To that list, I might add pop records.

[JSngry]

No matter - that Propellerheads cut is the shit. And one guy played all the instruments and did the rap, so no room for bitching on his part there!

[couw]

Propellerheads

decksanddrumsandrockandroll (1998) is still the most famous and only (?) full disk output AFAIK. Pretty heavy techno stuff with thick beats and some nice surprise cameo samples.

These is the guys that did that famous remake of Shirley Bassey's History Repeating.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

"Money Jungle" ... with BJ Patton, Carter and Waits

...AND Black Star = mos def and taleb kweli?

I've even heard of these guys but thankfully till now I had never actually listened to them. Couldn't be a bigger WTF! these kids can't even harmonize let alone rap. Mingus would have slapped both upside their off-key lips! quite the spoiler but the rest is very worthy of a nice deduction.

Before Big John died...I played him the Money Jungle cut off of this CD. His reaction was exactly what mine was... WHAT THE FUCK DID THEY DO TO MY MUSIC. Turns out Patton, Ron Carter and Waits cut the track and left. Afterwards they put the fuckin' rap on it and ruined it. Patton was pissed beyond words.

I'll stand by my vehemence. and even put them into a litre of Coke for fun.

Tried again to gain some of what JS took here and do see that point as this being contemporary, thoughtful to the tune and all and that if a handful of kids, who probably have no way to even hear this record, go out and pick up 'Gotta Good Thing Goin'', 'Blue Planet Man' or some such then the message has been heard and all is good. But the song is still unlistenable keerap to this now sounding like an old fart who is still not quite that old as to have them babies sneak out without forethought ... (my posts are another story)

[JSngry]

The real killer on the disc for me, and one that I had completely forgotten about, is the version of Star Crossed Lovers by Propellerheads w/Martha Wainwright. My god what a fresh sounding cut that is. The use of the melody is incorporated in a thoroughly ingenious manner, as a background figure to the vocal hook. It works, and it works well. The lyrics are gentle yet firm, and the whole thing grooves like a mofo.

Just finished playing this cut 5 times in a row, and yeah, this cut is the shit. If you got the CD, give it a listen. It's a motherfucker. The attention to minute detail is as immense as the groove is big. And, dare I say it, it's totally Ellingtonian (in the non-literal sense).

Pop music per se is not the enemy.