Lauryn Hill x Maribou State

Lauryn Hill Doo Wop (Pedestrian & Maribou State Remix)

The future-garage, wobbly, bass-heavy edit of the 90s R&B hit can tend to the obnoxious most times, about as subtle as the tidal wave of lazy bMore remixes from the mid-2000s...  And Lord knows, sometimes it's just a safer way to enjoy the sacharine pop confections of yesteryear in a more contemporary format, but that's not the case with this remix, thankfully.

That said, I really wish that, given the possibilities, remixers and producers would take on lesser known songs , you know?  As much as I like this remix, it would be interesting to take something from Lauryn Hill's oeuvre that didn't resonate hit the summer charts and try to make something out of it.  I feel the same way about film remakes...  Why not take a flawed film and re-make it?  Economics, for one, I suppose. Not as easy as taking the scalpel to an immediately recognizable hit, perhaps, but more rewarding if someone could pull it off.

You can grab the Ting in Boots Volume 1 compilation that this was pilfered from courtesy of Push & Run at Fact Magazine.

Some People Are Made of Plastic, Some People Are Made of Wood

The Dramatics Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get

The Dramatics were another workhorse R&B outfit from Detroit that spanned a couple of decades, making a couple of chart appearances, including this great slinky example of 70's soul from 1971 that hit #1 and sold a cool million.  Their first studio album was released after a string of singles, and has a laid-back vocal style heavy on harmonizing, similar to the Temptations, but not without its own charms.  The group didn't boast a voice with the chops and charisma of David Ruffin (how often does he come along?), but there are some competent stabs at salon room balladry and more than a couple great percussive moments - if they weren't layered with so many string sections, vocal theatrics and horn stabs this album would be a breaks classic.  As it stands now, Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get is a marvelous album, complete with an ode to hot pants.

As a special treat, I'll post The Dramatics' spectacularly titled post-Pusherman epic Beware of the Man (With the Candy in his Hand) tomorrow.

Many thanks to Toronto's greatest radio station, G98.7 FM for introducing me to this...

Bay Street Strut

Juicy Sugar Free

S.O.S. Band Weekend Girl

Prince Markie Dee & The Soul Convention Typical Reasons (Swing My Way)

Breakwater You Know I Love You

O.S.T.R. Mówię co widze

In a world beset by climate change and at risk of overpopulation, it's almost highly irresponsible of me to release songs like this... Let's be glad there's birth control, no? Also, this isn't that highly trafficked of a blog. Thank heavens.

The brother and sister fronted group Juicy, named after the oft-sampled Mtume song Juicy Fruit, are probably best remembered to watchers of late-night television as having appeared on the Beat Street soundtrack. But, even acknowledging the heavily derivative nature of this song, 1986's Sugar Free is still a fabulous song.

The post-disco 808-saturated R&B of the Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis-led S.O.S. Band is a treasure trove of many things, including Weekend Girl, the sample base for songs by a great many contemporary artists (Cam'ron, Amerie... Poetic Hustlaz - okay, the last one might be a lesser light in the urban music firmament).

There was Beat Street, and there was also Krush Groove, the 80's hip hop film which featured Prince Markie Dee as a member of the Fat Boys. He also had a career outside of the trio, which produced some diggable gems, including the debut #1 single Typical Reasons (Swing My Way) from his album, Free. The song features an effective disco bassline, a laidback groove and a touch of New Jack Swing, not too far from the ouevre of the recently departed big-guy Heavy D.

Mówię co widze, from Polish MC O.S.T.R. takes as its base Breakwater's You Know I Love You, a triumph of R&B vocal harmonizing. Like most non-Anglophone rappers, O.S.T.R. favours heavy enunciation.

If you're in Toronto for CMW, or for the weekend, or, hey, you happen to live here, why not stop by Sutra tomorrow evening? There's no cover, and I'll be DJing a lot of music that mixes quite well with the songs above.

Summer Jams

ADOR Let It All Hang Out

Souls of Mischief '93 Til Infinity

Given that Toronto's now hanging out in double digit weather, I'll jump the gun and offer up two summer jams. Classics! Pete Rock produced the ADOR track - great choice to sample the Gerald Wilson Orchestra's "California Soul." If memory serves me correctly, this frequently appeared in skateboard videos throughout the 90s. A year later, Souls of Mischief released "'93 Til Infinity" which would dominate boomboxes and Jeep soundsystems alike.

Sanctified Women

Marvin Gaye Symphony
Marvin Gaye Sanctified Lady
Quincy Jones Body Heat
Fonzi Thornton I Work For A Livin'

The posthumous album has one of hell of a bad name (colloquially known as "cash-grab") with just about everyone except record executives, the unscrupulous producers who remix them, and any label-associated young buck who got to spit some lyrics along with Notorious BIG or Tupac, without any of the self-doubt that would come with being matched up with such a towering figure. Guy can't call you out on your weak lines - he's dead!

So, naturally, you gotta be skeptic when you come across an album like Marvin Gaye's Dream of a Lifetime, released in 1985, a year after he passed on to the other side. Thankfully, this is no collection of half-realized songs stretched out, with talentless hacks contributing vocal overdubs and other stylistic . It's a little rough around the edges, yes, but kind of awesome, too. And it's alternately raunchy and tender, with songs like Savage in the Sack, Masochistic Beauty*, and Sanctified Lady (a gospel electro-funk workout initially titled Sanctified Pussy) matched up with a smooth, rolling song like Symphony. And at the helm, long-time Gaye collaborator, Gordon Banks.

Another Gaye collaborator, Leon Ware worked with Quincy Jones on his 1974 sexually charged album, Body Heat, co-writing the title track.

And... From the soundtrack to the (bizarrely titled) film Soup For One, comes a spectacular R&B jam courtesy of Fonzi Thornton, produced by Chic with that same great piano, bass and guitar interplay that's unsurpassed in the genre.

On a similar tip, check out Rilly Guilty and Fiend's R&B and funk mix, hosted by the fine folks at Lookout.

* Sample lyrics: "If you do it right, you get the pipe." "It's my duty, to spank your booty."