What You Want Me To Do? I'm Sorry!

I'm back.

[cocky Jay-Z laugh]Eheheheheh.[/cocky Jay-Z laugh].

M&M&M

Guess who's back? It's me, snitches.

Finally got things squared away so we're back in business. Today's post comes from 1975's live recording of the legendary "3 M Concert" from Cherry Hill, New Jersey's Latin Casino. The three M's, of course, are Margie Joseph, Blue Magic and Major Harris. The performance gave birth to a 2-LP vinyl record released the year following the concert, which of course can be found floating around on eBay somewhere. It was the live version of Major Harris's "I Got Over Love" from this record, and not the studio version on Jealousy from the same year, that Just Blaze used to create "I Really Mean It" for the Diplomats. Peep the original demo version of "I Really Mean It" -- originally titled "Don't Go", apparently -- on Just's blog.

Enjoy! Check out how Major shouts out Philadelphia producer Ron "Have Mercy" Kersey, who unfortunately passed away in 2005. (download)

Ape Shit

Now that I am somewhat over the initial shock, anger and disappointment of my f**kin' car being stolen, I suppose I can get back to sharing more music. Don't have a lot of time for commentary today, but fellow DJ Premier stans fans will know that today's entry is the source of the fiiiiiiiyah collaboration between GangStarr and M.O.P., courtesy of the Blade soundtrack from '98. Peep track 12 from this Jimmy Webb-helmed score from the 1973 motion picture The Naked Ape if you don't believe me. (download)

Right On, Time

I hope everyone thoroughly enjoyed the albums I posted a few days ago. Today's post has been brought to you by two of the 5th Dimension's former singers, husband and wife Marilyn and Billy. After much success with the 5th Dimension in the early 70s, the pair left the group in 1975 to establish their own careers, releasing this joint album in the process.

This album from 1976 features the popular cut "Nothing Can Stop Me", which has been sampled ad nauseum on the mixtape/underground rap circuit. Less notably, but certainly just as deservedly, the song was also sampled by Jaheim on his debut single "Could It Be" from 2001. Nice.

The lights are going out in this place real soon. You've been warned. (download)

Please...

...send your prayers toward singer Nancy Wilson today, as she is currently being treated for a collapsed lung. While she is expected to recover just fine, I still would like to send some positive energy her way; as most people who know me know, I am a huge fan of her work and believe she is one of the greatest vocalists of our time. Please keep her in your prayers.

This Little Lite Of Mine

Peep the ill EP from this Bay Area-based collective, originally released in the mid-70s and reissued in 2000 by Ubiquity Records. If you're a fan of Roy Ayers-esque jazz like I am, you'll dig this. (download)

Promises, Promises

Here's another one from the only-copped-it-'cause-a-producer-I-looked-up-to-flipped-something-from-it-that-was-dope-as-fuck files. The Heatmakerz borrowed a tune for Juelz's "One Day I Smile" a few years back, and I copped it the following year when I finally tracked it down. I had just begun to sample a few years prior, and was still going through that phase where I'd buy records that have already been flipped. These days it takes a lot for me to knowingly cop something that someone has already run through. It's almost akin to being young and trying to mack at girls, not minding the sloppy seconds at first -- even seeking them out, in this case -- 'cause that's how you get your game up, but after a while you start wanting your own chicks, yafeelme?

Blah blah blah, anyway the debut record from the UK-based Delegation is a dope LP and y'all should check it out. Holla at a eBay when you see him in the streets. And speaking of Juelz, does ANYONE know the sample used on "Crack" from the Final Destination mixtape? It's been bugging me for years; sorry Madlib. (download)

Riddle Me This

No one likes Afrobeat and funky 90's R&B? Y'all some bums. j/k

Bloodstone's 1974 offering. Give it a listen. (download)

Sista, Sista

I've been on a 90's R&B kick all last week, shout-out to my girl Nately.

A good friend of mine has a bad habit of using hyperbole in almost everything he's describing. When he recommends a restaurant, for example, he'll go overboard and be like "yo fam it's got the best food I ever had in my life, you'll love it". Then I'll go there and the food may actually be decent, or sometimes not at all, but either way I'll feel a tad let down for it not being nearly as enthralling as he makes it out to be.

I tend to scold him sometimes for going overboard with that, but this time I've gotta take a cue for him and say this: the album to your right is by far the best, I wanna say the definitive 90's girl-group R&B album. Yep, I said it. And the craziest thing is that it was never released. Like my instrumental album Dream, Extinguished, it was shelved at the last minute; in their case, due to internal conflict not only within the group but between the label.

Missy Elliott, of whom I used to be a huge fan, spearheaded the Sista quartet during the Jodeci craze of the early 90's. Penning not only the songs for this album, but ghostwriting a few joints for Jodeci and Mary J. Blige as well (word has it she and Timbaland may have helped with some of What's the 411?), Missy got her start in this group, often dubbed as the "female Jodeci", before launching her super-successful solo career in '96. The other three members of Sista disappeared off of the face of the earth once the group dissolved with the rest of the Swing Mob/Bassment crew (Ginuwine, Playa, Tweet, Timbaland & Magoo), who broke from the camp amidst DeVante's shenanigans and started their own careers.

Every. Joint. On. This. Album. Knocks. I hate to use hyperbole but this is truly (to me) the best female R&B album of the 90's. There's only a very small handful of albums I can play front to back without skipping tracks, and this is one of them. I guess it makes it even better that the album unfolds as a sort of story as it progresses, from the Sista clan meeting DeVante for the first time (who sucks his teeth an uncomfortable amount of times throughout the LP) to finding love at the end. For vintage Timbaland beats (he didn't produce the entire thing, though) and early Missy raps (she's been doin' that "my booty go ba-boomp-a-boomp-boomp" stuff for ages, as you can clearly hear), look no further than this lost gem from 1994.

It sucks this album never saw a proper release, but say hey: that's what I'm here for. (download)

Re-Up Gang, Part One

I got it for cheap, word to Pusha T and M. Diddy.

Is there anything I've uploaded previously that you'd like for me to make available again? If so, drop a line in this post.

I'll tell ya this: y'all slept on those Lupin III soundtracks HARD. Easily the best collection of music I've ever heard in all of my 24 years of existence.

In The Face Of Danger

Today's post is another one of those records that I inherited back in my non-sampling days, only to discover its value -- both music-wise and money-wise -- years down the road. At roughly $10-$15 on average, this record is worth every penny, especially if you're into afrobeat. I fell in love with "de rhythms", if you will, ultimately slowing down "Amebo" for the loopy "Danny, Why Hasn't..." on the still un-released Dream, Extinguished album. Short and sweet -- three tracks per side -- Danger leaves you wanting more, as it did for me, forcing me to track down more of the sisters' music, in particular 1984's Double Trouble.

Enjoy! And good luck tracking down any of their albums...much like my music, it's extremely hard to come by unless you know where to look... (download)

Words To The Wise

Ah, Miss Safka.

Most of y'all won't really dig this, but I urge you to check it out anyway. Peep "Summer Weaving", for example, and see if you hear anything familiar. (download)

Time 4 Sum Action

I almost forgot how many of these records I had. And by far, one of my favorite ones in the bunch. 1967's Impact & Action, y'all. (download)

Fragile Rock

All better!

Thanks to everyone for the get-well-soons and tips for fighting this nasty cold I had. In the end, it took a few gallons of orange juice, a whole box of green tea and seventeen sips of Robitussin to get over it. Meh.

Today's post is brought to you by an oft-overlooked singer from the same era -- and songwriting team, for that matter -- that brought you Control and N.E. Heartbreak. The career of Detroit's Cherrelle will probably be remembered best by her duets with Alexander O'Neal, specifically "Saturday Love" (you know the chorus: "Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sat-ur-daaaaaaaaaaaay...") Cherrelle had moderate success in the '80s, with all of her LPs released during that time selling at least gold (remember when people sold 500,000 copies of their album?).

Unfortunately, Cherrelle -- whose cousin Pebbles would later create and manage TLC -- never really attained the same amount of success of her peers; some believe it had a little bit to do with her live performances, which some say would've been so much better if only Cherrelle knew how to dance as well as her choreographed counterparts at the time. Others say she's been on a decline since leaving the Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis camp in the early '90s. Being that as it may, she still put out some great music, with her latest album being released in 1999.

This is one of the few records in my stash that I actually didn't buy; I got it from my mama's collection when I first started pillaging record stores around 2001-2002, and even then didn't actually use it until four or so years later when I flipped "Stay With Me" for Dream, Interrupted's "I'm Not Ready". Fragile would sit in my bin until a year or so later, when I decided to blow the dust off of "I Need You Now" to create "Hurt No More", which made its way onto the never-ever-ever-ever released instrumental album, Dream, Extinguished.

But more than making beats, albums like this remind me a lot of my childhood, when life was carefree and R&B music was still actually of quality. Good luck finding any songs these days that don't reference "humps", "grinding", or "poppin' that coochie". Yeesh. Get a room! Fragile isn't very expensive; cop it from your local mom-and-pop or on eBay for a couple of bones. (download)

All Betts Are Off...or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb

60 dollars on eBay? Oh, word? Get it while the getting is good, folks.

Does anyone -- for the love of God -- know the quickest way to diffuse a cold/flu/whatever it is that I have? Besides a bullet to the head, of course. I tried that. (download)

Perfect Timing

Thanks for sliding me that, err, Marilyn Monroe link, Cosmo. Couldn't have come at a better time! Looks like I've found my newest screensaver.

Speaking of great timing, enjoy this library record from French composers Roger Bourdin and Yan Tregger, released in 1980. In the meantime, let's see if I can put my new screensaver(s) to good use (nudge, nudge, wink). Tim, Fritz and Mr. Anonymous, I see ya! Thanks for supporting the site guys. (download)

Big Mama

Blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah. Don't really feel like typing much today, no one really reads it anyway. Enjoy! (download)

Drop Bombs Like...

After receiving numerous requests for this album, I decided "what the hell" and pulled this gem out from the crates. Hard to believe that this underrated record from 1980 fetches a whopping $120 on (import) compact disc since going out of print several years ago. I was fortunate enough to find it on vinyl when I first starting using samples in '02, and even then I was surprised that it cost me like $18 at the time (methinks the dealer cheated me 'cause the vinyl can still be found on eBay for under $10, if you know where to look). Even though I've always been a fan of fusion jazz, the main reason I picked this record up is 'cause one of my heroes chopped the hell out of the track "Shinto" for "Discipline". After owning this album for like four years I finally went ahead and flipped the beautiful "All I Want" for a super-super rough version of "You're On My Mind", which made its way onto the Dream, Interrupted album and has since been fleshed out into a better quality version that none of youse will ever hear.

This album didn't get too many positive reviews when it first came out, but f**k that...if you're into mellow grooves and albums with kimono-rockin' honeys on the front, Odori -- which is supposedly Japanese for "dance" -- is for you. Get it before it's gone...as much as I don't want to, I stick to the 21-day window pretty well. (download)

Funkin' Around

I'm back from hiatus...between working on this new album, gawking at LOLcat pictures on teh internets and working on this new album I have been tied the f**k up, yo. Don't have time to type too much but I should have this place back up and running real soon.  Today's offering -- featuring "How Do You View You" that was used for Threat's "Lettin' Niggas Know" from 1995's Friday Soundtrack -- is from one of the best bands of all time, Funkadelic. No hyperbole-o. (download)

Dramatic

I've been working for the past two weeks, and them jokers have been mailing my check to the wrong address the whole time. Drama.

Speaking of Drama, enjoy # 1168 from the KPM Library while I go raise a ruckus about my mon-ay. (download)

Full Course Meal

There aren't too many places where you'll find this LP, released in 1983 under Victor/Invitation Records. Just like the Lupin III soundtracks I was gonna post last month, "Full Course" is pretty hard to come by. Which sucks, because the music on all of these LPs -- helmed by the great Yuji Ohno and his fusion jazz outfit the Explosion Band -- are flippin' fantastic. Good luck...the last time I spotted one was on eBay. (download)

Hello, My Pretty

Remember If? I posted their Double Diamond LP a while back but you probably missed it. Well, now here's your chance for redemption: check out their seventh studio album from 1974 and kick yourself in the groin for not checking for them sooner. Then, get some ice for that groin because that shit probably hurt. (download)

'Bye, Polar(is)

It's almost funny, somedays I could give a shit about the lack of responses and other days I'm frustrated. Thus, today's selection -- 1967's Polaris from the De Wolfe library -- has been brought to you by my quasi-bipolar-esque tendencies. (download)

Up, Up & Away

If you're not up on Ferry & Teich', you're either in a coma or dead. Here's 1958's "Blast Off" from ABC Records. Now 'scuse me while I go file my taxes. Pea, what up? (download)

Sounds Like A Love Song...

...to me. Enjoy, kiddies! I'll have this place back up and running before you know it, trust. Good god, did you see Paul's new blog? Amazing. (download)

Twist and Shout

Two wonderful albums. The same unimaginative name. Both released in 1976. Which one should I post?

Oh, if you're wonderin' why I'm Shout-ing, I'd like to inform you all that I am no longer umemployed. Day jobs suck, but I gotta eat!

Happy Happy, Joy Joy

Are y'all still out there?

It's been quiet 'round these parts lately...hmm...I'll just assume you all are still hung over from New Year's. I'll save the mini-paragraph for another time, when people are actually visiting this place again. Without further ado, here's 1970's Happy Novelties. Shout-out to Paul and his new blog! (download)