Archive for the ‘George Clinton’ Category

George Clinton’s Extended Beef

Sunday, May 28th, 2017

Me: I’m going to buy an old VCR this week.

Literally everyone I know: Of course you are.

In case you’re wondering, I’m looking for an old VCR/DVD dubbing machine and if I score one then expect maybe the very first Lost Turntable video feature.

Yes I know I could buy a video capture unit for my PC but have you tried to do that shit? It’s hard. My A/V expertise begins and ends with phono.

George Clinton
Bullet Proof (Extended Version)
Do Fries Go With That Shake (Extended Remix)
Scratch Medley: Do Fries Go With That Shake/Pleasures Of Exhaustion (Do It Till I Drop)
Double Oh-Oh (For Your Ears Only Mashed Mix)
Some of these tracks have been on my Lost Turntable playlist for nearly five years. I have no idea why I’ve never gotten around to uploading them here. I’m such a slacker sometimes.

I definitely need more 80s George Clinton in my life. I’ve said before that “Atomic Dog” is a perfect song that I could listen to all day, and while these tracks aren’t perfect, they’re sure fucking close. “Bullet Proof” might have some of the illest drums of all time. Just a monster track for sure.

This sound is making a comeback of sorts, is it not? Or is it just Bruno Mars dipping into that nostalgia well and no one else? More people need to get on that shit. Hell, more people need to mine vintage R&B sounds. Modern R&B is just boring as all hell. When Dumptruck got elected a lot of idiots were saying that it would be good for music because we would see the return of vicious and revolutionary protest music. Well, it’s been nearly six months now and I’m still waiting for that. Secondly, while I’ve long been clamoring for the return of politically insightful music (especially in R&B and hip-hop), I would also settle for the return fun and upbeat pop music.

The pop charts are a dour disaster zone right now. It’s like everyone is depressed, but not woke enough to write socially conscious songs, so instead they’re just writing mopey-dopey songs about how much partying sucks. Partying is dope. Write about how dope partying can be while how shitty the world is. And try to have fun doing it.

What I’m saying is, more songwriters need to listen to Maggot Brain.

Additionally, I would a top ten hit single akin to “Do Fries Go With That Shake” but gay. It’s not fair to the gay community that the only super-popular openly gay singer in the world right now is Sam Smith. We’ve been through enough.

Thank you for listening.

Posted in George Clinton, remixes | 4 Comments »

The Very Best Of Lost Turntable*

Tuesday, December 31st, 2013

This has been an INSANE year. I started it in China acting as the best man in my best friend’s wedding! From there, I went to Tokyo, which set upon a series of events that now have me moving to Japan in just a few short days! This Thursday I leave Pittsburgh to visit my family in Ohio, and then on Saturday I board a plane for Japan, where I begin my career as an English teacher/professional giant.

If you read this blog on a regular basis, you know that I am beyond stoked for this move. I can’t believe it took me just a little over a year (369 days, to be exact) to manage a way to not only return to the country, but get a job, apartment, and a whole new life over there! That’s not a lot of time to plan and orchestrate something that big. But waffling is for suckers, go big or go home. Jump in head first or don’t bother, that’s always been how I handle the big changes. It’s funny, when I remodeled my kitchen a few years back I spent two damn weeks going over color combinations. But I think I made the decision to sell my house, quit my job and uproot my entire existence to Japan in about two days. It’s amazing what a combination of personal malaise and disillusionment with the direction of one’s country can do for one’s drive and ability to commit.

This will definitely be the last post at Lost Turntable this year, and probably the last post for at least a week or two. I assume that adjusting to my move and starting my new job will probably keep me occupied for a bit. Don’t worry though, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll never be too busy to stop writing this blog.

I will, however, be too busy to record new music for a while. That, and my turntable won’t be with me in Tokyo for at least a month. Which is why I’m temporarily taking Lost Turntable into “greatest hits” mode, re-posting favorite tracks from the years gone by, both chosen by me and some readers who made requests (although to be honest, it’s mostly me).

Some of the tracks I’ll be posting in the coming month or so will be re-recordings. So keep an eye out, I’ll typically mention it if they are. As always, my re-recordings always sound better than my original rips, I’m always improving with this stuff after all.

A lot of these “best of” posts will be artist or genre based, but I thought I’d start things off with a showstopper, my most favorite tracks out of everything I’ve ever posted*

*Two caveats. Like I said, I’m planning a lot of genre/artist-specific posts, so some of my all-time favorite songs have been reserved for those posts. Secondly, a few of my favorite songs are now available legally (mostly Depeche Mode stuff) and since I never post stuff you can buy legally, I won’t be reposting those.

The B-52’s
Good Stuff (12″ Remix)
Good Stuff (Remix Edit)
This is straight up the best remix I’ve ever heard. And if you know how many remixes I have, that’s really saying something.

Fine Young Cannibals
Ever Fallen In Love (Extended Version)
I want to make one thing very clear. I fucking HATE Fine Young Cannibals. I hated them when I was 11. I hate them now. It’s nice to know that some things in life remain constant no matter what. And since I fucking HATE Fine Young Cannibals, I should really fucking hate this cover, as The Buzzcocks are one of my favorite bands of all time, and their original version of this song may very well be my favorite song of all time (although I could honestly never pick ONE song as a favorite. My songs are my children, except I really don’t have a favorite, unlike most parents who lie and say that don’t when they really do).

So I should fucking hate this cover. It’s a band I abhor covering a song I adore, but…I have to admit that they totally nail it. Roland Gift’s voice, which usually drives me to Geddy Lee levels of annoyance, is perfect for the track, and the fast-paced-yet-somber production fits the urgent-yet-depressed tone of the lyrics. What I probably like most about this version though is the very end, when Roland echoes “Did you ever” over and over again. To me, that delivery makes it sound like he’s no longer asking if you ever fell in love with someone you shouldn’t have, he’s telling you that you in fact have fallen in love with someone you shouldn’t have (like if someone asked you if they fucked up and you responded with “did you ever!”). It’s an interesting take on the song that I never heard anyone else attempt, and I have, like, 80 versions of this track on my computer, so I say that with at least some authority. This is a re-recording, and vastly superior to my original rip.

Joe Strummer
Love Kills (12″ Version)
If there is a more romantic and powerful song about how love (and heroin) can lead to a murder/suicide pact, then I don’t know what it is. Seriously though, this song is incredible, one of those songs that despite being about a horribly negative topic, leaves me with nothing but overpowering feelings of elation and happiness. I don’t even know why this is the case, but whenever I listen to this song I get goosebumps of happiness and forget about my real world problems for at least six minutes and forty seconds. Awesome stuff.

Bell & James
The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (12″ Remix)
Make no mistake, while displeasure over my personal life/grand American problems drove me to flee my country, I will NEVER hate Pittsburgh. This city is the bomb. I love it. I’ve been to hundreds of big cities all across America, and Pittsburgh makes them all look like dogshit. Seriously. This place is dope.

I feel that more and more people are catching onto this fact as well. Well, at least Hollywood is. It seems that more and more movies are being filmed in this city every year. And while the chaos and madness that surrounds a movie shoot can be annoying at times, I’m always happy to see the city I love get the attention I feel it deserves.

But if you ask me, The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh will always be the greatest movie ever filmed in the Steel City. And it’s theme song will ALWAYS be the greatest track of all time to feature the city’s name. Go Pisces!

RJD2
Through The Walls (Ric Ocasek Vocal Version)
There used to be an mp3 blog called Po77. Although I guess calling it an “MP3 blog” would be a bit of a misnomer. Because unlike blogs like mine, Pop77 posted complete mixes, amazing thematic mixes that sometimes incorporated audio bits from movies and other sources as well as complete songs. It was a fantastic site and I miss it.

I bring it up because I know that is where I first discovered this excellent track. At the time I had no idea who RJD2 was (which is funny considering that I ended up interviewing him just a few years later) but I sure as fuck knew who Ric Ocasek was – since he was the lead singer of The Cars, one of my favorite new wave bands of all time. I ended up finding this version of the track on a Def Jux sampler later that year, a sampler a stoner later stole from me. Yay for digital backups.

Crowded House
World Where You Live (Extended Version)
I think, although I’m not certain, that I discovered this song via an Eddie Vedder bootleg where he performed the track with Neil Finn of Crowded House. I’ll have to post that bootleg someday, it also has a great version of “History Never Repeats.”

Anyways, I was aware of Crowded House before hearing that bootleg, but my knowledge of them began and ended with their one US hit “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” a track that I only really grew to appreciate after hearing it in the opening of the second episode of the Stephen King mini-series The Stand (my musical memory can be oddly photographic at times).  While my first takeaway from that bootleg was that version of “History Never Repeats,” after buying some Crowded House records I found that this song really grew on me. Its lyrics are oddly..evocative? I don’t know. I can’t entirely figure the song out, but they make me think of very specific moments in my life for some reason. To me, the song is about friends/significant others who live in some form of denial about the world (where they live), and I’ve sadly dealt with too many people like that, so I guess that’s why I identify with the track so much.

This extended remix isn’t as good as the album version, to be honest. It tries too hard to extend the track with meaningless instrumental sections, none of which really add anything to the song aside from length. But it was the only way I could justifiably share the track here. And besides, it’s a great song regardless. This is a re-recording.

George Clinton
Atomic Dog (Extended Version)
I once read Roger Ebert say that a terrible movie is always too long, and a great movie is never long enough. That theory, of course, has some holes in it. I love me some Shoot ‘Em Up, for example, but that flick couldn’t hold a four hour running time. However, as I’m writing this I just got done watching Jackie Brown for the second time in a week. That movie is two hours and thirty-four minutes long, and I honestly feel like there’s enough greatness buried within that running time that the movie could be twice as long and be just as good.

So, what I guess I’m saying is that “Atomic Dog” is the Jackie Brown of 80s synth-funk jams. (Why do I feel like Quentin Tarantino would approve of that comparison?) The standard single version is a fucking masterpiece, but the 10-minute extended remix is DOUBLE the masterpiece, even though it is literally the exact same song with just an extended breakdown and some added “bow wow wow yippie yo yippie yay.” I don’t care. I could listen to this track all day and all of the night. It brings all the funk. Woof.

As this was one of the first songs I ever recorded, this is a new re-recording that sounds hella better than my original one.

Andrew W.K.
Party Hard (Live)
THIS IS NOT A SONG THIS IS A MISSION STATEMENT.

And I mean that. Don’t live life, party it. Find out what’s “party” for you and fucking party as much as you fucking can until you can’t do it anymore. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Freur
Runaway (Dun Difrunt)
This song has the secret best 80s saxophone solo. It’s pretty great. It’s also one of the best songs about not wanting to be in love (or not wanting to not want to be in love).

Gekirin
Fish Story
Fish Story (Silence Version)
I have written about this movie before, and I will write about it again. That is because FISH STORY IS THE GREATEST MOVIE ABOUT MUSIC EVER FUCKING MADE. I say that realizing that it’s a rather odd description. “Movie about music”? How many movies about music are there? Sure, there are tons of musicals, and movies about performers, but how many are really about music? Off the top of my head, the only movies about music that I can really think of are Fish Story, Footloose, Almost Famous, School of Rock and Purple Rain.

I just now realize that most of those movies would easily place on my list of my top 100 movies of all time, so I guess that says a lot about me. And Prince.

Fish Story sits atop that list easily. Mountains above the other movies, and considering how much I fucking love Purple Rain, trust me, that’s saying something.

Fish Story is a Japanese movie about how a little known punk rock song saves the world. Literally. A comet is going to smash into the Earth. Fish Story stops that from happening. The story of HOW is the story of the movie. It’s also the story of the power of music. How music moves us (often in ways that we do not understand or are even consciously aware of). How music is the guiding force of our lives, how it shapes us and makes us the people we are. And it’s about how comets can’t compare with power chords.

Seriously though, Fish Story. Top 10 movie of all time. One day the world will realize this.

Alien Ant Farm
Movies (Live Acoustic Version)
Ask me why I love this song. Go ahead. I dare you.

“Why do you like th-”

I HAVE NO IDEA. I JUST DO, OKAY?!?!

Sigh. I do not like Alien Ant Farm. I hate their cover of “Smooth Criminal,” and I pretty much despise every other song of their’s I’ve had the misfortune of hearing. But I…really love this song. I think it has to do with the whole “Movies as a metaphor for broken hearts” thing, as I’ve long established that my feelings for movies go beyond typical film buff bullshit and reach a realm of rose-tinted childhood nostalgia that cannot be easily explained nor justified – just like my love for this song (minus the stupid fart noise the singer does at the end).

Japan
Life In Tokyo (Extended Disco Mix)
I am taking one record with me to Japan, and it’s the 12″ single to this song. Sure, it’s a little nail on the head, but whatever, it’s Moroder-produced synthpop and there’s never anything wrong with that.

I hope you all enjoy the reposts and discover some music that’s new to you. That’s why I started this blog eight (holy crap!) years ago, to share little-known music with others, and as an excuse for me to seek out and discover little-known music for myself as well. In good times and bad, hectic and happy, bored and crazed, this blog has always served as a rock for me. I’ve used it as an medium to ramble about shit that pisses me off; rant about the music industry; and on multiple occasions just be a goofy idiot. But if no one read it, then I wouldn’t feel the need to keep going. So thanks to everyone who has kept with this dinky little site over the years. Y’all help me out more than you know.

See you in 2014 FROM MOTHERFUCKING JAPAN!!

And remember, Party Hard.

 

Posted in Andrew W.K., B-52s, Bell & James, Crowded House, Fine Young Cannibals, Freur, Gekirin, George Clinton, Japan, Joe Fucking Strummer, RJD2 | 8 Comments »

Some Decent Music

Tuesday, July 10th, 2012

Allow me to talk about entitlement for a second.

That word, “entitlement” is thrown around a lot these days. Typically it is used to refer to situations involving race, gender and sexuality and other important socio-economic-political issues. But I occasionally see it pop up in other situations. When that Mass Effect 3 hubbub broke out earlier this year, for example,  a lot of the gaming press labeled the fans of the series “entitled” because they were complaining about the content of the game like they knew the product better than the developers themselves.

That, however, is not entitlement. That’s being a vocal consumer. If a game developer is going to cut corners on a game, then the fans who bought the game have the right to complain about it. And in the age of Twitter, they can often complain directly to the people responsible. That’s their right as a consumer. It’s a good thing.

I’ll tell you what is entitlement, however. Entitlement is going to a blog that owes you nothing, not being happy with the music selection being offered there (for free, by the way) and then complaining in the comments section that said blog doesn’t post any “decent music” anymore. That behavior, acting like you are owed (or  entitled) something for no other reason than the fact that you want it, is entitlement. And you know what? That’s a bad thing.

And it’s incredibly annoying.

So don’t do it.

Now, I know most of you who visit my blog don’t do that. But someone did, so I felt that little lecture was neccesary.

Enjoy tonight’s music. I find it to be quite decent.

George Clinton
Tweakin’ (A Mix)
Tweakin’ (Dub Mix)
Tweakin’ (C Mixxappella)
Tweakin’ (Radio Remix)
Hysterical
These tracks are funky (and for once I mean that in the George Clinton way, not the “this smells funky” kind of way), although I think that “A Mix” is the laziest name for a remix ever. The original version of “Tweakin'” was on Clinton’s 1989 album The Cinderella Theory, his first album on Prince’s Paisley Park label. Prince is nowhere to be found on these mixes (at least not officially) but Chuck D and Flava Flav totally show up to drop a random-ass rap at the end. Some vocal samples of them also make it on to the radically bizarre b-side “Hysterical,” a nearly eight-minute piece of out-of-this-world abstract funk that features some crazy bass work by who I assume is Bootsy Collins. It’s so funky that you better be careful. Repeated listening may cause you to funk yourself to death.

See, it’s funny because “funk” sounds similar to “fuck.”

N.E.R.D.
Rock Star (Nevins Classic Club Blaster)
Rock Star (Classic Club Blaster Instrumental)
I posted the “Club Blaster” remix a few years ago, but I felt like posting it again since I just re-recorded it. I didn’t think anyone would mind. They better not. “Rock Star” is an amazing song, one that Jason Nevins made even better with his spectacular remix that pumps up the energy up to 11.

I used to love N.E.R.D. but I kind of forgot about them. I didn’t pick up their last album, Nothing, was it any good? I didn’t hear many good things. I did love Seeing Sounds, however. I thought that “Everybody Nose (All The Girls Standing In The Line For the Bathroom)” should have been a much bigger hit than it was. I guess the tune hit a little too close to home to the people it was marketed for. “Spaz” was another great tune, shame it never got some remixes.

B-Boy Electric
Tainted Love (Lo Vox Extended Mix)
Tainted Love (Hard Cell Mix)
Tainted Love (Kai Tracid Remix)
Tainted Love (Extended Version)
A techno/trance remix of “Tainted Love.” Shit don’t get more decent than this.

Posted in B-Boy Electric, B-sides, George Clinton, N.E.R.D., rant, remixes | 4 Comments »

Funking up your Thanksgiving

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

This is the only post for the week, as I am heading to the wastelands of northwest Ohio to spend Thanksgiving with my family. Ever been to Toledo? It’s kind of like Fallout 3, but with more mutants and worse radio stations. I will be surviving the trip by alternating between Slayer’s new album, the debut from Them Crooked Vultures and Harpo Marx’s classical harp record Harpo Marx in High Fidelity.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with delicious turkey and minimal family dysfunction. Unless you’re reading this in a country other than the US, then have a good Thursday.

Grace Jones
I’m Not Perfect (But I’m Perfect For You) (The Perfectly Extended remix)
If you want hours of entertainment just go a Google image search for Grace Jones (really not work safe). I remember when she was banned from Disney World for flashing her chest at a crowd. Disney said that was inappropriate, I say it’s Grace fucking Jones, they’re lucky she didn’t grab her staff and fight an orc to the death (go see Conan the Destroyer kids…on second thought – don’t).

Side note: Grace Jones is still recording music, still kicking ass and she’s apparently still batfuck insane. Thank god.

Pete Shelley
Waiting for Love (12” Remix)
The drums in the beginning of this are a little funky for a second, but it’s not a skip – I think it’s a mistake that’s on the actual record. Aside from that this is an excellent track, although I’m told that the album it’s from , 1986’s Heaven And the Sea, is one of his weaker efforts. It’s definitely not as amazing (or gay) as “Homosapien” and that’s a shame. If Adam Lambert really wants to gay it up the dude should cover that tune.

George Clinton
If Anybody Gets Funked Up (It’s Gonna Be You) (Colin Wolfe Mix)
Fact: George Clinton is god. I got nothing else to say about him. This is from a 12” single. It had other mixes, but they were all torn and scratched to shit, sorry.

Erasure
Supernature (Daniel Miller/Phil Legg Mix)
Supernature (Mark Saunders Mix)
You Surround Me (Gareth Jones Mix)
I don’t know how I didn’t get around to posting these tracks sooner, I’ve had this single sitting by my computer for about a year now. I’d see it in my pile and think “oh yeah, I should listen to that.” Finally put it on today and I’m a big fat idiot for not doing that sooner. “Supernature” kicks ASS – totally fabulous in every sense of the word. The first mix is the best, but the second is quite good as well. “You Surround Me” is pretty awesome too. These are all from a 12” inch single.

Posted in Erasure, George Clinton, Grace Jones, Pete Shelley, remixes | 4 Comments »