Frenchy’s Fracas

General Info
Artist: The Brand New Heavies
Location: Paradiso, Amsterdam
When: 13 May 2007

Who?
This band, The Brand New Heavies, used to be one of my favorite bands back in the 90s - they have this great retro thing going on: classic Soul with a hint of modern influences; back then, they called it acid jazz.
Their first, self-titled album still triggers sweet memories of a more personal nature (yep, it’s private, so bugger off gently..). And their second album, Heavy Rhyme Experience, Volume 1 is one of my favorites. After more ten years, I got a chance to see these guys performing live again!

The Show
Due to a small scheduling screwup by yours truly, we arrived just minutes before the show started (sorry about the Hieronymus Fox ;)). You really could feel a bit of anticipation in the crowd and I think most of them weren’t disappointed. For me, the new songs didn’t work at all but when they did their classics like Dream Come True and BNH, I was a happy little puppy. My all-time favorite, Stay This Way took me back to Nostalgic Times!
But still, something wasn’t quite right: the band played a solid set and miss N’Dea Davenport’s vocals were excellent, yet it all seemed a bit.. routine, I guess..

Conclusion
Excellent band, some high points in the set combined with some low and uninspired points. The 90-minutes set (including 2 encores) didn’t feel like the uplifting experience I expected from seeing and hearing this band again; but that could be just me not properly managing my expectations, heh.
Maybe Nostalgia only gets you that far.

Rating:

UPDATE: Here’s Hieronymus Fox’s review on Last.fm.

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General Description
Artist/Band: The Pharcyde
Album Title: Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde
Year: 1992

The title says it all!!
 
How I Got Into This Music
Hmmm.. 1992, do you know how phar back that is?!? Come on, give me a break.. Okayokay.. Round that time I guess I was into De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest and a very faithful viewer of the YO! MTV Raps program. I’m almost sure it was there that I first heard and saw these guys. It’s been almost 15 years (ouch!) but still I got some of those songs in my head. Just the different approach and style was so unbelievably refreshing! It still is fresh if you listen to it in ten years, trust me..

Review at Answers.com || Google Search: Reviews of Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde || Album credits at Artistdirect.com

Tracks that got my attention:
Oh Shit
West Coast mixed with The Bomb Squad? Can’t really describe the sound.. But the vocals and the lyrics - funny and sharp. Wicked sample of either Richard Pryor or Eddie Murphy

It’s Jigaboo Time (Skit)
Jigaboo - excellent skit!

4 Better or 4 Worse
Damn! I remember listening to the lyrics of this track - hilarious, and the phone call.. scary too! Obsessive stalker humor?

I’m That Type of Nigga
Great intro, after that it’s a very typical 90’s chant-along type of song

If I Were President (Skit)
I guess these guys were one of the first to put a piano sound at the foreground, listen to the skits on this album

Soul Flower (Remix)
Still prefer the version they had on the Heavy Rhyme Experience, Volume 1 album of The Brand New Heavies - ohwell, a great groove is a great groove..

On the DL
Wow.. The lyrics.. just the lyrics.. I mean, The Lyrics!! All about stuff you don’t tell to others easily, on the downlow.. It’s been done before, you know? Being bad-ass and all that, but here? It’s different, more intense and with a very different take on Confessional Rap..
His story’s soundin’ sad like the movie Ben
But um, anyway I’m just protectin’ my shit
‘Cause if it wasn’t me he’s killin’ then my moms mighta got it
It’s on the downlow don’t tell nobody I killed him all right?

Officer
Heheh.. This one’s so inside joke material.. The song is a parody of an epic track by Public Enemy called Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos. A very, very intense song (check out the link for more).
And these guys? They use it for their slaphappy song about getting caught by the cops for driving without a license. Now, in those times, that was almost blasphemy! Very funny blasphemy

Ya Mama
Read the lyrics, heheh.. Just do it!
Ya moma is so fat (how fat is she?)
Ya mama is so big and fat that she can get busy
with twenty-two burritos, but times are rough
I seen her in the back of Taco Bell with handcuffs

and also:
We drove into the drive-in and she didn’t have to pay
because we dressed her up to look just like a Chevrolet

So, maybe it ain’t your type of humor, but here’s some more info on the dozens (your mama jokes)

Passin’ Me By
Oh, wow.. One of my all-time favorite tracks, seriously.
I like the theme: choosing to let the girl to pass you by or not being able to prevent her from passing you by. Love versus Wisdom. Heart versus Brains. Protecting Yourself From Harm versus Naked Vulnerability. Topics include:

• Puppy love for some teacher
• Semi-fatal attraction
  I’m shootin for her heart, got my finger on the trigger
  She could be my broad, and I could be her (nigga)
• Waiting for her to dump her man
  She was kind of like a star, thinking I was like a fan
• Unrequited love letter
  Now there she goes again, the dopest Ethiopian
  And now the world around me be gets movin in slow motion
  when-ever she happens to walk by - why does the apple of my eye
  overlook and disregard my feelings no matter how much I try?
  
  And if I was your man then I would be true
  The only lying I would do is in the bed with you
  Then I signed sincerely the one who loves you dearly, PS love me tender
  The letter came back three days later: Return to Sender
  Damn!
  

And that’s just the lyrics.. The vocals? The first part seems like almost 15 seconds of rap without a pause to breathe.. The last part by rapper Fatlip is like a scat-singing combo when he starts to write his letter. Un-fucking-believable! Nobody ever used that style in a rap before.. Damn!
Not done yet! HellNo! There’s the music: like I said earlier in my review of Nightmares On Wax, I was totally, mega-crazed about those soft keyboards on the background. Later, much later I found out that it was a sample of Quincy Jones’ rendition of Summer In The City (screw Joe Cocker, Q’s version is almost as good as The Lovin’ Spoonful’s original). Okay.. I’m done.. Where’s my tea?

Otha Fish
Nice band-aid for the heartbreaks of the previous track. Again, that style of rapping was different, a kind of scat-singing.

Quinten’s On His Way
Weird and funny..

Pack The Pipe
A crude yet effective way of discussing one of the biggest social problems of that time: crack cocaine.

Return Of The B-Boy
Heheheh! Delicious!! Great samples (from a track of Prince’s Madhouse Project), loops and hooks. Just love the little tributes to LL Cool J and Kurtis Blow

Conclusion
I knew I would get carried away reviewing this album..
Still one of the most innovative and intelligent (rap) albums of all time: it’s party music, it’s serious music, it’s funny music, some tracks are still fresh. And.. I kinda remembered where I got this album from: thanks Hieronymus Fox!

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General Description
Artist/Band: The Brand New Heavies
Album Title: Get Used To It
Year: 2006

They’re Back, N’Dea’s Back!
 
How I Got Into This Music
Not sure.. Tired of giving Hieronymus Fox all that credit, heheh.. Could be I just discovered these guys meself, dunno.. I mean, it’s been quite a while - 1992, or something. But it was at the hight of all the British Acid Jazz stuff: where the Brits were redefining an American institution - Soul and (real) R & B.
Anyways, their self-titled debut album (three different versions) was a blast and their hip-hop flavoured Heavy Rhyme Experience still is one of my favorite albums of all time.. Then Miss N’Dea Davenport left and things just weren’t the same for me. And I guess I kinda got bored with the stuff that came later on. But when I heard that Davenport was back on this latest album, I just had to have a listen.
Album credits at artistdirect.com || Google Search: Other reviews of Get Used To It

Tracks that got my attention:
We’ve Got
Funky stuff, nice..

I Don’t Know Why (I Love You)
Ohmygod.. That voice.. Sends chills down my spine..

Sex God
Kept getting images of Gwen Stefani, ugh..

Let’s Do It Again
This is what they do best: ultra-funky-disco, lovelovelove it!

We Won’t Stop
Gutsy track, those vocals are excellent

All Fired Up
Strong dance track, drummer/vocalist Jan Kincaid still got the smooth flow..

Love Is
Reminds me of one of the solo singles of N’Dea

Conclusion
Nostalgia’s such a harsh mistress.. I’m glad one of the most soulful bands got together again in their most successful setup. Don’t get me wrong, the other guest vocalists were great performers, but.. They were just that: guests.
For me though, I’m kinda done with this type of music, so it doesn’t get me all fired up as it used to. It still is a great labour of love, anybody not hearing that coming through the tracks should have their ears checked (and their Soul too). These are great musicians and I’ll be eager to see them live again, coz that’s where they really shine.

Rating: (I moved on, I guess..)

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My frisky friend the frighteningly funky Hieronymus Fox gave me the info: just found out that that soulful band The Brand New Heavies is back in it’s most successful lineup, together again with miss N’Dea Davenport!!
Ooooooo.. now waiting for the chance to see them live again, yummy!
Review’s on its way, boyz-n-girlz..

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General Description
Artist/Band: The Brand New Heavies
Album Title: Heavy Rhyme Experience, Volume 1
Year: 1992

The original funksters on a hip-hop tip!
 
How I Got Into This Music
Ahh.. Just recovering from the fact that the album’s already more than 10 years old.. There, that’s better.. Where was I? Oh..
Anyway, The Brand New Heavies (BNH) is a band that reveres the old funk style of yesteryear and they play the funk smooth, groovy and sexaay.. With talented female vocalists like N’Dea Davenport and later on, Siedah Garrett, BNH created their own little niche within the whole British Acid jazz scene from the eighties and nineties (remember the Talking Loud record label?)
BNH’s fan base in the US consisted of a large number of rappers and rap music lovers, the funky music being exactly what performers would love to sample. So then came the idea to make an album which would be a collaboration between rappers and the real music from BNH, instead of sampled stuff.
History was made..

Tracks that got my attention:
(well, all of them actually, but still..)

Bonafied Funk feat. Main Source
Some tracks are like destined to be the ideal opening track for an album. This is one of them. Lazy bass, tight raps from the Main Source crew and a great chant chorus.

It’s Gettin’ Hectic feat. Gangstarr
I’m sure this collaboration inspired Guru to do his Jazzmatazz albums and DJ Premiere (extraordinary talent) started working with Branford Marsalis on the Buckshot LeFonque albums. You know you get quality when Gangstarr’s on the set!

Who Makes the Loot? feat. Grand Puba
Honeys spell “Grand Puba” when they wanna spell “relief”
Modest as ever, Puba hits the vibe perfectly! I know for sure that this track’d still work on a dance floor
Coming like a bull, so you better yell “Ole!”
heheh..

Wake Me When I’m Dead feat. Masta Ace
One of the best rap tracks ever performed and produced!
If this was an opera, I probably sing Figaro
Black kid from Brooklyn, but don’t call me nigger, no..
Never heard anything else from Masta Ace, but the speedy style that remains clear for the ear combined with the great bass loops and drums.. Damn!
According to the Jetsons, there’s no blacks in the future

Jump N’ Move feat. Jamalski
OH YEAH! Speed-ragga rapper Jamalski tearing up the mic on a groovy dancehall-funky hybrid track. You just have to slow down the pitch to get a clear listen to the lyrics as a whole. Man, this one would get a eighty year old granny to swing her new hips to dust..

Death Threat feat. Kool G. Rap
A East Coast/West Coast gangster style funk with the nastiest of macho lyrics ever! When I want to shut down the PC part of my brain, I play this track.
You don’t think you’re going under?
I got a bullet with your name, your address and your phone number
Nuff said!

State of Yo feat. The Black Sheep
Incredible track with great guitar work and of course, the mellow laid back raps of The Black Sheep. Remember Fatman Scoop’s hit “Be Faithful” (2003)? It included a direct sample of Black Sheep’s “This or That”.
Trivia should be my middle name..

Do Whatta I Gotta Do feat. Ed O.G.
Least favorite track, but still works fine..

Whatgabouthat feat. Tiger
Seventies cop TV show funk combined with rough and rugged West Indies style raps from Tiger: excellent!

Soul Flower feat. The Pharcyde
One of the best rap collectives of the nineties together with BNH make a great combo and an perfect track!

Conclusion
All-time favorite album, no doubt! Well, at least one of them, obviously.. There aren’t many albums you put in your player where you already know for sure that you’ll be enjoying at least eight tracks of it..
There never was a follow-up, that’s a shame. BNH are still doing their stuff, you should go and see them live, coz there’s a special magic that occurs when you see these guys on a stage. Perfect album!

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