Maroon 5’s remix album, Call and Response, is (in concept) very cool. There are various artists remixing M5 songs, with widely differing backgrounds. From Pharell to the Cool Kids; DJ Quik to Deerhoof, you get some serious hip hop credibility fused with indie style. Throw a little Mary J. Blige and Rihanna vocals on top of the already talented pool, and the end result is a surprisingly strong collaboration. Again, in concept- very cool. In practice? Well…
Jigga and Mary J visit Letterman in support of their “Heart of the City” Tour. Jay-Z is surprisingly funny, and Letterman is an ace talk host, sticking it to R-Kelly.
Below are some upcoming tour dates and Hov and Mary performing “Can’t Knock The Hustle” Continue reading →
Its about time we digest some pop radio. Let the hip-hop ringtone, err, song slaughter begin! No, but this is where I try to convince you Top 40 radio ain’t so bad.
The Top 20 has officially bored me, a guy can only take so much of Fergie, Timbaland, and Rihanna. I was certain these tired acts would disappear now that the summer’s over and the REAL music surfaced. I guess I was wrong. One of the only songs that still has me reaching for the volume dial is Maroon 5’s unbelievably catchy “Wake Up Call” sitting neatly at No. 10 between “Crank That” and “Ayo Technology”, naturally.
But in the obscure depths of the list hide some truly marvelous songs. At No. 24, Alicia Keys pledges her indefinite love for a nameless partner over thumping percussion on “No One”. A few spots down, Hollywood Records’ next Plain White T’s the Jonas Brothers crooning over high school heartbreak in the sleek, healthy, teen tune “SOS”. At No. 29, Justin Timberlake enlists Beyonce to help him grab his, count ‘em, sixth Top 40 single, and one of my favorite slow jams of 2007, “Until The End of Time”. And finally to sum up this most polished cut from modern radio, Santana’s new classic “Into The Night”, sung by Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger.
MP3 | Maroon 5 ft. Mary J. Blige – Wake Up Call (Mark Ronson Remix)
MP3 | Alicia Keys ft. Kanye West – No One (Remix)
MP3 | Justin Timberlake ft. Beyonce – Until The End Of Time (Sam 998899s
Sticking Edit)
MP3 | Jonas Brothers – SOS
UPDATE:
A 642-523 or a VCP-310 is not enough for ccda or even mcdst. You need an a+ in your microsoft certification to go ahead with mcse as well as other certifications.
On September 30, 1967, the BBC launched a new popular music radio station to compete with the illegal pirate stations that had a monopoly on playing new music.
Since that time, Radio 1 has become a world famous name and to celebrate its 40th anniversary, the station asked 40 of today’s biggest acts to cover 40 tracks from each year of its history. This album is the result.
But while there’s certainly much to admire in the number, diversity and size of the acts that agreed to take part, the ensuing compilation also proves to be something of a hit-and-miss affair.
For everything that’s good, there’s also plenty that’s bad – with some artists seemingly ill-suited to the songs they’ve been asked to cover.
The Streets, for instance, completely murder Elton John’s Your Song, Editors commit a similar crime against The Cure’s Lullaby and Mika and Armand Van Helden deserve a life sentence for the hatchet job they’ve done on The Police’s Can’t Stand Losing You.
But there are positives – and some very strong cover versions among the 40 tracks on offer that just about make it a compilation worth owning, particularly if you’ve been a lifelong fan of the radio station.
Keane’s version of Queen and David Bowie’s Under Pressure stands out as a firm favourite, as does the Kaiser Chiefs’ typically rousing version of The Move’s Flowers In The Rain.
The Raconteurs do justice to John Peel favourite Teenage Kicks (originally by The Undertones) and Girls Aloud, incredibly, deliver a breezy, crowd-pleasing version of Wheatus’ Teenage Dirtbag.
The Fratellis do an admirable job of All Along The Watchtower (by the Jimi Hendrix Experience), even though the guitar work doesn’t match up and Franz Ferdinand excel at David Bowie’s Sound & Vision.
Credit, too, goes to Mutya Buena for her classy cover of Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car and Klaxons surprisingly restrained version of No Diggity, while the Foo Fighters underline their class with a strong cover of Wings’ Band On The Run.
We could go on – The Pigeon Detectives score highly with The Power of Love (by Huey Lewis) but The Gossip miss spectacularly with their take on George Michael’s Careless Whisper.
Kylie makes Roxy Music’s Love Is The Drug her own but McFly balls-up The Jam’s Town Called Malice. Just Jack triumphs with The Cardigans’ Love Fool and The View emerge perfectly suited to The Libertines’ Don’t Look Back Into The Sun.
And, of course, Mark Ronson, brings a touch of his unmistakeable class to Mary J Blige’s You’re All I Need To Get By (the man can do no wrong).That’s not forgetting Amy Winehouse’s typically classy rendition of Cupid and Groove Armada’s fizzing take on Madonna’s Crazy For You (we won’t mention Natasha Bedingfield’s horrid Ray Of Light).
The best thing about Established 1967 is that it does force you to have an opinion and I’m certain opinions will be divided over the merits of just about every track.
So, either as one of this year’s compilation talking points, or to be a part of your favourite radio station’s cool 40th celebrations, it’s certainly worth checking out. Just don’t expect to be convinced with everything on offer (I’d say it’s about a 50/50 split between what works and what doesn’t). [IL]
Download Picks:
MP3 | Kaiser Chiefs – Flowers In The Rain (The Move Cover)
Remember that short snippet of “Let It Go” I posted a couple days ago? Well here’s the full track — and apparently its called “Just Fine”. “Just Fine” is a trippy good-for-the-gym, “I’m happy with my life” “Tricky” Stewart/Jazze Pha-production which is to launch MJB’s new album Growing Pains — that has been rescheduled to release on November 27th.
mp3: Mary J. Blige – “Just Fine”
Its the internet, the word exclusive is used extremely loosely around here. But either way here is a snippet of Mary J. Blige’s new single “Let It Go”, which is to be featured on MJB’s new opus Growing Pains — hits stores Nov 20th. SOURCE If the rest of the album sounds like this, then I can assure you Mary J. Blige has another R&B classic on her hands. “Let It Go” is definitely this years’ “Be Without You”. Expect your local radio station to burn it out. Any. Day. Now.
