Frenchy’s Fracas

General Description
Artist/Band: Plantlife
Album Title: The Return Of Jack Splash
Year: 2004

Swinging, up and down, still massively groovay..

How I Got Into This Music
Another one from last.fm that I just couldn’t ignore..

Google Search for reviews of this album || Album details at Artistdirect.com || || Discogs ||

Tracks that got my attention:
Jack’s Back
Kinda weird reviewing a 30 second intro but it’s worth it: a great way to start an album, a condensed version of what you can expect.
Promises, promises..

Appreciate
A bit lazy, a bit weak. Track’s very well produced, getting into a fine groove, but nothing spectacular.

Underwaterluvboogie (deep blue)
Well, they’ve been labeled as an electrotechnofunkrock band and they deliver as promised. But kinda so-so experience.

When She Smiles, She Lights The Sky
Ohwow.. Incredible build-up: the string loop, the soft falsettos, that bass/guitar in the background and then.. The Pay-off, sweet! Excellent track, yessirree!! Keeps your head bobbing with a great smile on your face..

Got2Get2Gether4Luv
Excellent funky nastiness, a Nile Rogers guitar, a plucking bass and a great chorus.

Two Beautiful Souls In A Crazy World
Here’s where the band keeps disappointing me (as if their existince is based on pleasing me, heh..). Just doesn’t work for me, yuck..

Beautiful Babies
Yeah, it’s been done a gazillion times, but they get this one right: just a sweet soulful kinda ballad, their style is right on the money for this track.

Stardancer
Hey, Jamiroquai got away with doing this kind of music for years and in this case, Plantlife nails it, even though I know I’d skip this track more times than I’d let it play on.

The Girl Said Give It To Me!
Excellent floorfiller. Plus a great MC Lyte sample at the end.

If I Wuz Ur Man
Hmm.. The title’s a dead giveaway - we’re invited to listen to a very Prince-inspired track. Kinda nice..

Conclusion
Here’s the thing, play some of these tracks on the dancefloor and the floor will go wild, but don’t you dare to play more than one song, it will become boring. And that’s the same thing with the whole album: some tracks are excellent, well-thought and deepdown Groovay. But most tracks just turn me off, there’s this laziness that just makes the songs a bit too cheezy to ignore. I love the fact that some classic styles are being recycled, but it’s not done well enough for me to enjoy. Probably getting way too many Outkast references from this record, but that’s my mindset being a bit too nasty.
The intro doesn’t deliver, but hey, we’re just talking about my expectations, I’m sure this album will work for other people..

Rating:

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Heheh, birthday boy FrEg, called me up to ask me what band did the 80s classic The Whole Of The Moon and that jogged a lot of trivia in my mind. One of the lead members of the band started a band called World Party and I still remember one specific track/video: Revolution. In the video you see a then unknown backing singer who got my attention with her crew cut shortened coiffure. Later on she went to have a global hit with her cover of Prince’s Nothing Compares To You.. Still with me? The girl was of course, Sinead O’Connor (weird lil’ pixie) and the band that FrEg was asking about was called The Waterboys.
I do like these little braindumps!

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General Description
Artist/Band: Prince
Album Title: 3121
Year: 2006

Return or rerun? Comeback or Classic?
 
How I Got Into This Music
Man, read my other Prince reviews and get the story there ;o)
Anyway, after being a very, very dedicated fan of this genius’ music for quite a frigging while, I quit listening to his stuff about ten years ago. But I always was curious for his new work and would never, ever pass on a chance to see him live..
Now his latest album 3121 is out, so..

Tracks that got my attention:
3121
One of the best opening tracks of any album! You sense a buzz of excitement with those lazy keyboards and shrill guitar work. The morphed multi-track vocals remind me a lil bit of Moloko’s “Fun For Me”, but the chorus is a great chant.

Lolita
Any Prince fan gets thrilled by the old school approach of the Purple One! Very tongue in cheek stuff on a somewhat formulaic track. Doesn’t mean I would mind to shake my booty to this track, heheh..

Te Amo Corazon
No way.. Please.. Argh! This is typical Prince: “I want to make this song and I don’t care what others think of it..”. Well that’s my guess coz I can’t imagine why else he’d make this yucky candy-sweet track

Black Sweat
A West Coast style intro and the man’s nasty falsetto voice grooving and grinding. Catchy and very electro-funky!
Here’s a Youtube link to the video.. Nice comedic and minimalist approach and who the hell’s that girl at the turntable?!?
“You’ll be screaming like a white lady when I count to three..”
Heheh..

Incense and Candles
Hmm.. There a lot of very excruciating methods of torture that wouldn’t be as painful as the use of the vocal post production effect made popular by Cher’s “Do you believe in love” (or something). Prince uses this gizmo too and.. thank God the rest of the track’s good enough to minimize the damage.. Nasty lyrics, though..

Love
Sometimes this track reminds me of Madonna’s “Music” and a bunch of other songs (Michael Jackson?) but the most incredible part is the chorus, lovely!

Satisfied
Now this is what I like about Prince’s music: nobody does a love blues track like this guy.. Man, it’s the ultimate Dim The Lights, Honey. It’s Time To Get.. Nasty™ track! Even though he’s not singing about anything physical “coz 4play starts in the mind“..

Fury
Remember the whole drama with the Phil Collins “Sussudio” track sounding waaaay too much like Prince’s “1999″? Well, now he swipes from himself, I guess ;o)
Not a very good song..

The Word
Another track I can’t really comprehend: I like the guitar licks and the great chorus work (especially the horn!!), but it also sounds like a dozen other tracks he made before.

Beautiful, Loved and Blessed
Absolutely great, fantastic, wonderful!! Love it, love it, love it! New talent Tamar doing the vocals; almost solo, something I’ve never heard before on a Prince track - someone else doing the vocals.. This track’s a ray of sunshine that’d brighten up the rainiest of days. That bit with Tamar’s multi-vocals, lovely!

The Dance
Just shoot me..

Get On The Boat
Perfect track for a concert theme - show opening, show closing, filler - it’s funky and addictive!

Conclusion
The man’s a genius, period. But..
Dunno, I’m excited about this album coz it’s got this interesting mix of old and new. But it also got some rehashed stuff that just doesn’t cut it anymore.. Is it a comeback? Well, some’d say his comeback was with the “Musicology” release. Is it a Classic? Nah, just nice nostalgia. And this guy doesn’t do comebacks, he still does what he wants to do whatever the sales (kinda).
Is it funky? Sometimes and when it is, it takes no prisoners.
Another weird thing that happened to me with this album, was that in the space of a month I heard some of his tracks being played on a “mellow urban jazz easy listening” radio station and I heard a track being played in a typical Dutch pub (yes, there really is such a thing..) So it feels like this album’s not really something fresh and exciting, but more mainstream and.. well.. safe, I guess..

Rating: (nostalgia only gets you that far..)

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General Description
Artist/Band: Prince
Album Title: Around The World In A Day
Year: 1985

Memory lane: the little guy’s a genius
 
How I Got Into This Music
Well.. Everyone got into Prince because of the 1999 album or the Purple Rain album/movie, but with me, it just concerned a girl I was nuts about, heheh.. Thing is, we couldn’t really communicate very easily (teenage angst can be a drag you remember?), so we kinda resorted to two other methods of communicating: aggressive and insistent taunting was one, Prince’s music was the other.
She was really nuts about the Purple One and I got most of his albums on tape from her. The music went on to be an important part of my life and the girl? Well..
Extra note: I was totally blown away by everything before “Around The World In A Day” and I made one typical mistake - I expected more of the same..

List of tracks of this albums that have been covered can be found at SecondHandSongs.com

Full album credits can be found at ArtistsDirect.com

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

Around the World in a Day
First reaction: WTF?!?! Where’s the nasty rock vibe?
Later on: love the part where the funky guitar comes in, also the whole Asian/Mid East thing is good stuff..

Paisley Park
This was the first single I heard and I was so seriously disappointed! Some Beatles rip-off thingy.
Later on: one of the better tributes to styles from yesteryear. Most impressive were the lyrics:
Her husband was naughty and caused his wife so many tears
He died without knowing forgiveness, and now she is sad, so sad..

Condition of the Heart
First reaction: okay, I’m done with this stuff, this album’s terrible, this track’s a joke!
Later on: Top 25 all-time favorite and important tracks of my life!! (ohboy..) There wasn’t another way of putting that, I’m sorry, but this track just works for me on so many emotional levels, wow.. Again with the lyrics:
There was a woman from the ghetto Who made funny faces just like Clara bow,
How was I 2 know that she would wear the same Cologne as u
And giggle the same giggle that u do?

Raspberry Beret
Dance floor anthem during my student years, ah.. the memories..

Tamborine
Funny thing about this track: I didn’t know of it until I bought the CD! Seems the girl couldn’t fit all the tracks on the tape, sos she decided to skip this one.. Interesting choice, I reckon. Still don’t play it as often as the other tracks, but I sure as hell love the mad beat and vocals.

America
Oh wow! Power track!! The energy gets you from the weird guitar looped intro till the end of the song. Still is a hard song to dance to, totally impossible even, but you could not stand still when you heard this.
Teacher, why won’t Jimmy pledge allegiance?

Pop Life
This one never was released as a single in Holland, but one radio DJ announced it as being one of the most simple and brilliant songs he ever heard. For me, hearing the track was a turning point in my silly opinion about the album. I realized that I was listening to something very, very important to me.
Tell me, what’s that underneath your hair?
Is there anybody living there?

Ladder
This ain’t a song.. It’s something between a bedtime story and a morality play, without always becoming too corny.. Not always, though, coz sometimes it’s a bit too dramadama for me..

Temptation
Now this one’s a real sermon! One that many a power crazed politician should listen to before he gets nasty thoughts about his intern, heheh..

Conclusion
Most important lesson for me was that I was a totally ignorant little lad who didn’t know how to appreciate music. I’m not saying that liking this album proves you know how to appreciate music or that it defines the quality of your musical taste, hell no..
It just showed me that I should listen to the music for its own value instead of simply judging it according to my own little expectations..
The album itself is now one of my favorites: an incredible blend of rock, funk, sixties retro and many other styles combined with lyrics that range from over-the-top preaching to very small and precise observations about people and their stuff..
Prince continued making interesting and influential albums after this one, but this one’s still my favorite..
Oh, and the girl? Nothing came of it, I was way too shy, heheh..

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General Description
Artist/Band: Madhouse
Album Title: 8
Year: 1987

Do try to pay attention, my good man!
(image from http://eil.com)

How I Got Into This Music
In my youth, when LP’s were still relevant and existent even outside the dance scene and just after the meteor tipped the scales in favor of us small hairy mammals.. uhm.. Were was I? Oh..
Well anyway, in those times I was a very enthousiastic fan of the One They Sometimes Call Prince. And in 1987 or 1988 I was a very happy puppy when I was able to get a ticket to see his concert (I’m guessing the Sign of the Times Tour..)
So during that time I was browsing albums at a store and immediately stopped to look a bit better at a very interesting cover of a band called Madhouse. No grown man can honestly state that the interest was because of the dog, get frigging real! After a while I recognised the band as being the support act for Prince’s concert, so now I was really interested (honestly!)
I taped the album and my world got blown away.. Just to make it clear: the album title really is “8″ and the tracks are named numerically..

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

1(I swear it’s the title of the track!)
Oooh.. Eric Leeds on saxophone! Very groovy, jazzy track with laidback weird background keyboards

2
It’s that incredibly mellow feeling you get from this track that works for me..

3
First of the two fantastic ballads - this one’s a classy bedroom slow-strip track, so dim the lights and have some slow love..

4
Great intro, drums and bass setting up a great track. JazzFunky Bass freak out works for me just fine!

5
Phone conversations, incredible drum performance, ooooooweeee! Funky to the max bass play.. drool..

6
Great track - I heard a DJ play it and it worked! That the first time I heard any Madhouse in public (my point? dunno..)

7
Bit more on the jazzy side, the sax theme can creep up in my head on the weirdest of moments

8
Song of Songs and that’s quite some praise. I can’t start to explain the feelings you get from this song: sometime it’s like a lullaby, sometimes it’s like a dreamscape or a walk in the park but that park has tangerine striped flamingoes and other weird sights and sounds that’d make Lewis Carroll reconsider his abilities..
Exaggerated praise? Yep, maybe.. So? It’s an incredibly beautiful track, so there!

Conclusion
First of all: on the album, nobody’s credited for anything, except the lovely lady on the cover, but she’s been blessed quite enough. The myth tells that Madhouse was another project by the Purple One. Obviously he had some of his brilliantly talented entourage play on the album.
After “8″ there was “16″ and of course it had the same high quality of artistic genius for an album cover. Oh, and the album was great too. Third album “24″ is a hard to get piece of work.
“8″ stands out for me as being an ear-opener: that combination of sounds and styles was a first for me. The whole setup was intriguing which is how Paisley Park operated those days. The album still works for me as a piece of music and as a mood altering substance.

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