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Saturday Singalong: Sample That!

Sampling isn't what it once was: when artists and producers first began using elements of other records, the fear was that the world would end. Dogs would live with cats, creativity would die... that didn't really happen. Sampled elements, as it turns out, can enhance a good song... but they don't make bad songs better, or camoflage the failure to create a song of one's own. Over time, I've realized, the use of samples has become less prevalent, and better hidden. But that shouldn't stop the process, or suggest that some songs aren't real gems because of witty use of sampling. Here, some of my faves. Celebrate the songs, and the samples:

• Rihanna, SOS (Soft Cell, Tainted Love; The Supremes, Where Did Our Love Go). This was the second left field surprise from Rihanna; the first, Pon De Replay, up-ended dance music mainly because the rhythm line was so wildly fresh in comparison what else was out there, bouncy and syncopated and unpredictable. The followup, which also showed up in summer, a great time for dance singles, was also a surprise. It's one thing to use the bass and drum line from Tainted Love - that happens a lot, really - but SOS actually only uses a piece of it, then lopes off in another direction entirely, so that the sample keeps crossing back into the rhythm line, but not dominating it. Brilliant really... just as it was brilliant of Marc Almond to follow the original's bassline into a foursquare cover of The Supremes first hit, mining the song for a new level of desperation.
• Janet Jackson, Got Til It's Gone (Joni MItchell, Big Yellow Taxi). Jackson's use of samples started early - It's Alright contains a much used sample of "It Takes Two" by Rob Base (the "ooh... yeah" section of many dance songs) - and along with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, she kept pushing at the boundaries. Sometimes it was inadvertent - The Velvet Rope turned out to contain an interpolation of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells which had to be credited which no one realized at first - but most were deliberate. And extremely intelligent. Got Til It's Gone weaves a rerecording of Mitchell singing the well known line from Big Yellow Taxi with Jackson singing it... with a whole new song about love and loss. And where Big Yellow Taxi plays the loss of your old man for its sardonic, "everything is terrible in the world!" observations, Jackson sticks with what's small and sad.
• Janet Jackson, Son of a Gun (Carly Simon, You're So Vain). Two albums later, Jackson's progressed even further, collaborating extensively with Carly Simon on a reworking of elements from You're So Vain, particularly the song's opening bassline and Simon's blink and you miss it whisper of "son of a gun." (My pal  J in B always pointed it out to me, though, as genius.) Jackson leaps off into a harsh, angry assessment of her then freshly dumped ex, making Simon's kiss-off more explicit and direct. I have to admit, it also hit me at just the right moment in a difficult relationship, and her anger got me to admit mine. It's not what you say, it's what you do... you're so vain, you probably think this song is about you... don't you... don't you...
• Notorious B.I.G., Mo Money Mo Problems (Diana Ross, I'm Coming Out). Yes, I listen to rap; yes, I actually like a lot of it. And I like that rap was of the main drivers of sampling and relying on previously recorded elements. How else could you get someone to rediscover the joys of that brilliant, syncopated opening riff to Diana Ross' I'm Coming Out, and un-marry it from the so-so song that follows? Biggie's rap about the dark side of success, the weaving of the drums and Diana's vocal with the new lyrics (sung by the brilliant Kelly Price) combine into, clearly, a whole new song, respecting what's come before, but synthesizing something new. What a shame we'll never know what would come next.
• Mariah Carey, Fantasy (Tom Tom Club, Genius of Love). Carey, too, has relied on sampled elements more than most, but not always as brilliantly as this single, which also leaps off from a witty off kilter bassline in a whole new direction, even managing to re-weave the orginal lyrics ("I'm in heaven, with my boyfriend, my lucky boyfriend). Since this is early Carey, there's a lot of multi-octave jumping and showiness, as well as a more straight-on pop feel than she does, these days. But it's a reminder of how, for a moment there, she really could do almost anything, and make it work.

Friday Evening Flotsam

jinb
 

And I Still Haven't Gotten Over You Yet...

As you may have noticed for about a week now... things have been a little spotty on the blog front, not my preferred approach. It looks as though I need a moment to attend to real life, recover from wedding overload, and deal with other life issues large and small.

J in B will (I think) post a floralude today, and I have a song list for tomorrow, but aside from that, I'll be taking a blog break until next Tuesday. See you then.

The Anger Is Real; The Right Wing Revival Is Not.

Off year election season is just kind of weird; in the "24 hour news" age, there's a whole political evaluation machine sitting around, little to do... and there's always a "trend report" needed for the next year.

And of course, there's the off chance that something real is actually happening.

Virginia and New Jersey's races for Governor always serve as the bellweather of their years, since they make easy commutes for northeastern reporters based in the NY-DC axis, and in both cases are the rather disrespected cousins of the neighboring metropolis. And usually, they don't necessarily tell us all that much, since both have fairly unique characters ("unique" is one of those adjectives a New Yorker can love when referring to the world across the Hudson, and that view is even stronger across the Potomac).

Still, with Jon Corzine struggling and Republicans poised to retake Virginia, something's clearly happening. The question is... is it proof of some sort of Republican, or right wing, revival, an indictment of failure so soon after Obama's election?

My own guess... kind of yes, kind of no. There's a lesson in this year's elections for the left... and for the right. But not what I suspect many people think it is.

Silence of the Dudebros

I was struck - but not surprised - by the relative silence over a Sunday front page NYT article about the White House's "DudeBro" problem: the reality that the President is surrounded by the lefty equivalent of the all male "boys club" mentality that can be found many places, including Washington politics.

The president, after all, is an unabashed First Guy’s Guy. Since being elected, he has demonstrated an encyclopedic knowledge of college hoops on ESPN, indulged a craving for weekend golf, expressed a preference for adopting a “big rambunctious dog” over a “girlie dog” and hoisted beer in a peacemaking effort.

He presides over a White House rife with fist-bumping young men who call each other “dude” and testosterone-brimming personalities like Rahm Emanuel, the often-profane chief of staff; Lawrence Summers, the brash economic adviser; and Robert Gibbs, the press secretary, who habitually speaks in sports metaphors.

The technical foul over the all-male game has become a nagging concern for a White House that has battled an impression dating to the presidential campaign that Mr. Obama’s closest advisers form a boys’ club and that he is too frequently in the company of only men — not just when playing sports, but also when making big decisions.

I think the relative silence was in part a shrug of obviousness: this is not new, and really has been dogging the Obama folks since the campaign with Hillary Clinton - who, wouldn't you know it, gets to be cited as the "we don't have a woman problem" example since she is now Secretary of State. I suspect that many feminists are wondering mostly why it took everyone this long to figure out the obvious.

Of course the "DudeBro" problem is a problem; and, of course, it goes a long way to explaining why the Administration has a variety of problems dealing with a number of women's issues and, by extension, the problems that have developed with gay and lesbian activists as well. When you surround yourself, comfortably, with mostly straight guys who share your straight guy interests... you get, well, comfortably DudeBro.

What's remarkabel, to me anyway, is watching the regression of progress I figured couldn't really be shaken; we're re-arguing issues that I feel like should have been settled long ago. The rise in anti-feminist stupidity, not just crassly sexist, but frankly disturbing anti-woman presentations in advertising and media, is deeply concerning. Or the stupefying conversations I've had - most recently at Red's wedding - suggesting that "gays have to be patient" when looking for progress on, say, Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Mustn't rock the boat. Must realize... this could be controversial, And difficult.

There's a sense that we're either moving forward on stuff like this... or slipping back. And, unfortunately, I think it's fairly obvious that the backsliding on progress for women and gays is systemic, and has everything to do with a comfortable, casual sexism that's taken hold, even as we mouth platitudes about progress and "change" since the election. Who cares if the President plays golf with only men? Or sets up basketball tournaments among the DudeBros? Hey... he's way better than that last guy! And his stay-at-home, no career of her own wife? That's her choice!

The point is... these are choices, in the most problematic sense. They are choices to accept the status quo, to not do the hard work - the teaspoon work as Melissa McEwan puts it - of challenging every prevailing notion of sexism and "traditional" expectations. As my female dinner companion - a well connected political woman in DC - told me about her thinking to finally change jobs after several years, she wouldn't contemplate working in the White House - "I like my family and my life too much" she said. That, of course, shouldn't be the choice. And when it is... it's not surprising that women, collectively, opt for alternative choices.

I suspect we're stuck with the DudeBro problem for some time to come; and like a number of entrenched, ignored, and often dismissed observations about a systemic problem with the supposed "progressiveness" of the Obama Administration that state obvious relaities... I also suspect that they're indicative of the growing political rumblings that the Democratic Establishment might consider owning up to, rather than denying. There's a reason that dissatisfaction seems to be growing, why surface notions that "everything is fine, and politics is hard and progress is slow" don't really suffice as defenses of the Obama Administration's weaknesses (and "we're way better than the last guy" is really... just getting old). If we can't admit and face that not everything is golden with this White House, we can't change it. And if we can't change it... then people will look elsewhere for the progress they seek. Bet on that, Dude.

Love Is A Wonderful Thing

It was one of those parties no one really wanted to see end, the one where you don't notice that your feet hurt, or your bra is digging in, or you're running on exhaustion... at least until you get back to your room.

I don't think I've seen Red quite so glowing, floating through the scene armed with the widest smile ever. There's nothing like my redheaded pal when she's happy, but this was waves of happiness emanating outward in all directions, eliminating everything in its path. And that, I realized, was a room filled with love.

Even the usual wedding stresses seemed to vanish - in part because Red, as she does, found a bunch of professionals and simply expected everyone to be on their game - and there was nothing, no cross moment, no moment of high stress, no fainting in the middle of the vows. Planning, clearly is key... as is a vision of what one has in mind.

It was a wedding in the best sense - a real reflection of the couple getting married, all the things they wanted, and pretty much nothing they didn't. It was a big sprawling blended family, traditional in some respects, and completely unbound by tradition in others. I'm not sure I've seen a wedding where the bride dirty danced to Usher one moment, or used Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" for a chaste, romantic slow dance. But that's my Red... and she's unstoppable. And undeniable.

In the end, for me, the whole experience will always be slightly bittersweet; there was too much personal drama in my own life for me to really relax until the festivities began, and the world of bridesmaids - a chance to see the theater of wedding from behind the curtain - wasn't as seamless and fun as I would have liked. Expectations, of course, are everything, and I probably started from a position of dreaming too big. But nothing, really, can overcome the force of a love so strong, the moment when love is all around... and I'm happy to let love rule. Love is a wonderful thing, indeed. Here's to the happy couple, and may they keep spreading joy.

Saturday Singalong: I Can't Wait, I Gotta Celebrate

Like I said a while back... some of these things just write themselves; this one has been with me since I was a kid.

For my pal Red, in whom I found an old soul who lives for... old soul. None of these were played at her wedding... but they could have been (and should have, probably, if we'd stayed past midnight). And of course, for Betty, who made me feel like I'd never been alone, and who knows more than I ever did.

And with that... you too should be dancing... yeah.

• France Joli, Come To Me. Disco warhorses are a hard subject, because you have to separate the overplayed from the atrocious, without losing songs which are, indeed, timeless. Disco's 1978-1980 moment may have been too much, in some ways, but we got there for a reason, and musically, it did grow out of pop and dance elements that had been there all along. The slow build, the swooping strings, the pulsing bassline... all of these are on display here, plus Joli, at the time a teenager newly discovered and shot to instant success. Though we tend to lump all disco into an obvious sexual come on, Come To Me is really more traditionally romantic, a declaration of love for just one person that will always be there, just for you. I still try to sing along - even the soaring high note.
• Cher, Take Me Home. Of all the seventies stars, Cher was probably the best natural fit to disco's showy, sexy aesthetic - she'd already been vamping around in Bob Mackie's showgirl costumes, embodying the dawning feminist awakening that a woman shouldn't have to depend on a man for her own worth or success, and do it on her own terms. She only did one real disco album, but that's all it took: Take Me Home is a near perfect single, and perfect disco (and, lashed into a gold and chains teeny bikini and Valkyrie winged headdress, even Mackie managed to outdo himself). And yes, it does speak to the direct, one night stand, why bother with old conventions approach to sex in the seventies with refreshing directness. Sexy, playful without being tawdry or cheap, the song reminds you that we do like sex (and dancing) because it's fun and brings us joy. I'm in heaven, feels like heaven... so much heaven...
• Donna Summer, The MacArthur Park Suite. In some ways this is a cheat, because it avoids picking one song of Summer's, which is hard... but also unfair: of all the artists of the period, Summer shouldn't be represented by just one song, since the wonder of her output at the time was its variety - with the help of Giorgio Moroder, Summer was rarely the same thing twice. And while she helped define the idea of a disco song, she never seemed bound to "the rules." That seemed especially true with this 17 minute(!) remix of One of a Kind, Heaven Knows and MacArthur Park, the latter a remake of an old jazz standard that rarely worked, but Summer somehow made into an emotional tour-de-force. Unlike many disco hits - even hers - she doesn't belt out the crucial final verse, but builds the emotional intesnity gradually, a reminder that she is, really, an incredible vocalist who can do nearly anything. Still.
• Barbra Streisand, The Main Event. Streisand, too, had a voice made for disco's soaring highs; when she finally gave into the trend, her vocals were some of the best, and not just in the obvious super-pairing on No More Tears with Summer. I always liked The Main Event, a fairly simplistic lyric which Streisand makes her own. And Streisand's usual tendencies to over-emote and go big (always big), actually work better for her on disco than her usual standards, where she can seem shrill and lacking in subtlety. Here, against a big wall of sound, she's got the room she needs to show how versatile her big voice actually is.
• Diana Ross, The Boss. Ross could be just as well represented by Love Hangover, but that song belongs on a different list, one that's more attuned to disco's early relationship to R&B. The Boss is more representative of the strong, independent female singer of 78-80, partly because after some pretty rough years (pretty much from the making of Mahogany until The Boss) personally and professionally, until Ross asserted a more direct role in shaping her own career. Working with Ashford and Simpson, Ross put together one of her best albums, a real statement of personal strength (which is why "I Ain't Been Licked" or "It's My House" also make the point quite forcefully). The Boss soars from its first notes, never looks back, and makes real virtues of Ross' unique vocal abilities, a lighter voice less suited to belting, but which conveys a real yearning, and is well matched with a near gospel intensity in her backup singers. And who can argue with letting love rule the day?

Friday Evening Floralude

 

Congratulations, Red!

jinb 

The Good, The Bad... And The Awful.

It's Red's wedding weekend... and while I had hoped to find some time to blog, stress and various travel plans have intervened. Sorry for the two day break. Posting will be light, I think, through the weekend.

Last night was the rehearsal dinner... and I missed the rehearsal itself - but rehearsals are for actors, and our friend Joey got to stand in as the Justice of the Peace... so I think it all worked out just fine.

The good - as I titled this post - is seeing Red and her MAS so happy and to be a part of what is, really, such a joyous event, one that, more than many weddings I've seen, really does reflect the two people going through with it. And the supportive friends and family around them, too.

The bad, aside from not blogging is that the whole process was kind of fraught with more emotional landmines than I expected... but much of that is passed, and we are all focused on making today - tonight's the ceremony - the best it can be.

Still, the awful part is that all of this has happened at the same moment as my own personal complete financial meltdown. I have been scrambling to change banks, keep my finances and order, and deal with the headaches that come when direct deposits are in limbo, cash machines aren't an option and credit cards won't solve the problem. It's basically a nightmare, and I'm afraid my memories of these days will really be more about the financial disaster than the joyous event.

If I can leave you one piece of advice, I can only warn you never to use TD Bank. But even the satisfaction of sharing that bit of discouragement can't change my overall sense, right now, that the bad outweighs the good, the awful is winning over everything else, and I am little more than a flower crushed under the wheel of life. This will pass... but not soon enough.

The Belittled Foxes

As much as I find the Obama Administration's kerfuffle with Fox News to be reasonably diverting, I'm not sure there's a lot to see here: I've said before (and long ago) what I think of Fox, and it's basically the same complaint of dressing up opinion and commentary as news. But knowing that - and even as the Administration has, deciding to challenge it - I'm not sure anyone's answered the "what now" question.

Because it's not, really, that Fox is dominated by opinion journalism; it's that they've succeeded with it, and that success is warping the entire field of 24 hour news. Say what (nice things, I suppose) you will about Rachel Maddow... that's not news, either. And generally, Keith Olbermann isn't much more. MSNBC, which has been the favorite "what about them" excuse of conservatives trying to defend Fox, has been playing catch up for years with the more successful operations at CNN and Fox, and they've decided, clearly, when you can't beat it... join them. Let the shouting commence.

And it seems fair to observe, too, at least no one is pretending that Fox is brilliantly objective as a news organization. It's a measure of the playing field we now work on that no one, no one sane anyway, can essentially deny that Fox is where conservatives get information, because, clearly, it tells the stories in ways that reflect conservative views and ideals. As I always try to remind people at times like this, Fox has nt shown an ability to break hard news; it's reporting coverage is generally thin, and its reporters rarely reflect great skills at getting the substance of a story... but they're great for finding opinions about the news of the day.

I think the problem here is much the problem we're dealing with in talking about healthcare: if the profit motive is going to be our bottom line, if you have to have good ratings and better ad sales to be viable... then Fox is right; you do the things that get ratings. And you get ratings with controversy, drama, and a sense of conflict. You do not get ratings armed with facts, figures, and often depressing information about conditions in places that may not, really, have a good outcome anywhere in the near future. Look! A silver balloon! If we can't let news be unprofitable, if we can't be less concerned with ad sales and more concerned with information... then, no, we're not going to get good news coverage. We will get shouting, and name calling, and Chris Matthews and Sean Hannity. And blaming Fox, or calling them the "worst example" doesn't change the bigger problem - what they exemplify... is what's working.

And so, yet again, I find myself less than thrilled with the Obama folks, not because I think they're tilting at a losing windmill... but because they don't, really, have any interest in trying to change the status quo. Making Fox News the enemy suits their political agenda; "exposing" Fox as conservative (really? can you expose something so nakedly obvious?) is easy headlines... but no real payoff. Fox gets to be just what it is, the Obama folks get an easy scapegoat... and we get less and less served by good news outlets. Who's losing here? And who, really, is being outfoxed?