Category Archives: Blog
Rest in Power, Amy
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Seems like everyone has an opinion about Ms. Winehouse. I certainly do… SHE WAS AWESOME! Seriously folks, whatever you may think about the troubled singer’s personal life, the fact remains that she was one of, if not the best, voices of our generation. It saddened me deeply to find she had passed, and that that unique tone would be silent from now on. The night of her death, I was DJing in Washington DC, and was completely inundated with requests for her music. Normally that many requests would leave me frustrated, but they helped me realize I was not alone in how much joy I get from her music. I only wished somehow she could have seen that and made more.
I know this song is probably floating around on a few blogs, but it is my favorite of her’s. It was never included on either of her records. From what I gather there is a lot of other unreleased material floating around. I only hope we get to enjoy it and let her talent live on through it. Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. |
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That Heat
Summer is an easy beautiful dream….. and of course the most popular time for weddings because of how magical and energetic it is. There are so many summery songs we love. Here are some serious favorites….Dripping ice cream cones and fireflies forever, we are into summers’ apex! |
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| Kool and the Gang- Summer Madness This could be the consummate summer melody, from Kool and the Gang when they hadn’t yet made ‘Celebration’- the wedding song that we DON’T EVER play. Anyway the synth in this one is smooth, and warm like summer itself. Not to mention that it would become the summery basis for “Summertime” by DJ Jazzy Jeff and that guy from the movies. |
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| Jan Hammer – Don’t You Know Such a simple and happy song of silky sweetness and Fender Rhodes gliding along like a dragonfly. Jan Hammer would later go on to create the sizzling theme for Miami Vice – his knowledge of hot and sunny vibes didn’t come from nowhere. |
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| T Rex – Mambo Sun This song sounds like it should be playing at a pool party where you have so much fun that you pass out on a raft and get sunburned. “I got stars in my beard and I feel real weird, for you”…how romantic is that? |
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| Minnie Riperton – Les Fleur There is no one like her. We love her. We celebrate her entire catalogue. This one was originally recorded by Ramsey Lewis and when Minnie sings it, it’s full of surprise crescendos like hairpin turns in a 1974 Lincoln Continental. But it’s so summery and the lyrics are sung from the point of view of a flower, “will a lady pin me in her hair?”… |
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Ohio Players – Far East Mississippi
Whereas most other summery songs feel airy and warm, this one feels bad, sweltering hot and sticky like a summer night when you are up to no good and the heat and humidity won’t quit. Isn’t that part of what summer brings too? Hot unsettling nights to go with the heatwave days.
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| Roy Ayers – Running Away Everything that Roy touches turns to sunshine. This is an immaculate dance floor classic, with all of the warmth of a sweaty summer night and the intensity of the lyrics, “can’t you see I need yaaaaa”… |
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| Led Zeppelin – What Is and What Should Never Be What is it with Led Zeppelin? Summery magic vibes all the way. Lemonade and lying in the grass. Not much more to say. |
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| Donald Byrd – Places and Spaces Donald could always achieve this really unique boulliabaise of different styles and he was hugely prolific and soulful. But the album which shares this song title feels like the blue skies pictured on the cover art. Cloudless and hopeful like the sweetest summer day going somewhere fun and exciting. |
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Second Chances
Sometimes a hit comes before it’s time and get’s overlooked, falling into obscurity. Prior to the last fifteen years that brought sampling to the forefront, many inspired artists and producers chose to give records a sophomore run. Songs you hear frequently are actually adaptations of older versions. We love to play them back-to-back.
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Tammi Tarrell – “All I Do is Think About You”
Originally written by Stevie Wonder in the late sixties, this early version performed by the late Tammi Terrell, was recorded and shelved for over 30 years. Stevie remade it in the late seventies where it became a disco classic.
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Gloria Jones – “Tainted Love”
This 45 had faded into AM obscurity after it’s 1964 release until Soft Cell turned it into 80’s gold. Gloria Jones is pictured here with her boyfriend, Marc Bolan of T. Rex, who was killed in an accident in which she survived.
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The Natural History – “Don’t You Evah”
These New Yorkers really hit their stride around 2003 and were pretty much swallowed alive by the depressing reality of the music business at that time. Spoon, a band that they toured with, took a real shine to their song “Don’t You Ever” and released a rendition as the lead single to their 2007 album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.
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Sandy Shaw – “Always Something There to Remind Me”
While numerous people have covered this Burt Bacharach song, including the first version by Dionne Warwick, my favorite is the Sandy Shaw addition. It was finally brought to the dancefloor in the 80’s by Naked Eyes.
Demo Versions
If there is one thing we like to do when DJing, it’s to get a dance floor moving to something they haven’t heard. That’s usually a pretty tall order. Party-goers are usually drawn to dance by the familiar. “THAT’S MY JAM!!!” Since the advent of Serato and other digital DJ software, we are no longer limited to what songs are on vinyl. We can record and share songs from tapes and VHS cassettes, and play them to dance floors.
Demo tapes, or “demonstration tapes” are rough versions of songs made by artists to show labels and producers what they are working on. Often, they are rerecorded and changed for public consumption. Sometimes entire sections are removed, lyrics are changed, solos are added, or entire songs are trashed. Lucky for us, some people saved these tapes and shared them with the world. Now we can play “Thriller” and have people ready to sing along, only to have them thrown for a loop when the original chorus comes in…
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Or hear Blondie as they sounded in their Manhattan practice space…
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Or an unpolished version of The Talking Heads hit…
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Or an unreleased Police song…
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Posted in Blog | Comments Off on Demo VersionsThe Jukebox Wizard Remixes
About this time last year, myself and the super-talented San Franciscan, DJ B. Cause, finished an album of “pop song sandwiches” that we titled, ‘The Jukebox Wizard.’ It is obviously a play on The Who’s ‘Tommy’ but with a twist. The New Yorker’s in-house music critic, Sasha Frere-Jones, graciously wrote a fictional eye-witness account of The Jukebox Wizard at work:
I have no idea who this guy was. He arrived around 7:45 PM, ordered a beer, took a sip, and just sat there and let the beer turn to lawn water. That was it. He just sat and stared. He had on these dumb mirrored shades and wore a Dungaree jacket. He could have been 21, 41, I have no idea. He never talked to anyone. Everybody thought he was blind, but he never stumbled or fell or used a cane. Not in front of me at least.At some point, when nobody else was using the jukebox, he went over and layed his hands on it. No—I got that wrong. He layed one hand on it and stuck out the other arm like he’s Trent Reznor reaching out to touch the black dragon. Some song I know we got on the jukebox, like “White Rabbit,” starts playing. Except it’s not that song. It’s that song plus The Police or something else from the radio. Most people liked it OK. People bought him beers, but he never touched them. This one guy gave him a twenty and the kid did nothing but stare at him. After he did his thing, he sat down and ordered another beer, took a sip, and then left. I haven’t seem him since. I kinda liked that one with Yes and Lionel Richie. It was angry and sad. I think the kid had, like, a GPS in his coat to pick up radio signals but Pedro patted him down and all he had on him was a pack of those Christmas Trees you hang from your rearview mirror. Dude was somewhere else.
– Bartender. Bill’s Bar and Billiards, Omaha, NE
Doc Delay & DJ B. Cause – Jukebox Wizard by Jukebox Wizard
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