Soul Train

I am a little ashamed to confess that it took me until yesterday to fully appreciate how phenomenal Soul Train was. As I sat in my hotel room in Tokyo working away with the television on in the background, I couldn’t help but notice out of the corner of my eye one soul legend after another popping up on the screen until eventually I couldn’t not turn the volume up and see what was on. Now admittedly I couldn’t understand a word, but what I did manage to gather was that it was some sort of retrospective on Soul Train and before I knew it almost two hours had passed and it had felt like five minutes. This show really was the business. Forget everything else you’ve seen. James Brown performing Out of Sight, Kool & The Gang performing Jungle Boogie, Chaka Khan performing I’m Every Woman, the Ohio Players performing Fire, Sly & The Family Stone performing Dance To The Music – I could go on and on but you really need to watch it for yourself and I haven’t even mentioned the clothes and the dancing. Don Cornelius – You are a don and they don’t make them like they used to.

Kind of Blue

More long flights means more serious iPod listening and this time, to drown out all the coughing, sneezing and wheezing that was going on around me for 14 hours from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, I got stuck into some serious Miles Davis listening. How good are Sketches of Spain, Bitches Brew and ‘Round About Midnight. Seriously, these albums are just so incredible I wouldn’t even know where to start if I had to write properly about them but, as amazing as they are, for me it’s all about Kind of Blue. Honestly, I have listened to this record time and time again and it just gets better with every listen. From the opening track, So What, to the final masterpiece, Flamenco Sketches, this, for me, is a flawless recording and jazz at its absolute best. With Miles Davis on trumpet and John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly alongside him, each song rolls into the next seamlessly and the sound the band produces is simply magical . It doesn’t get much better than this and, the more I think about it, the more I realize every note these guys play is perfect.

Listen Up

Sometimes things stick in your mind and I’ll never forget the day I was leaving the 40 Acres and A Mule store in Brooklyn all those years ago and this kid came up to me as I walked back to the subway and started hassling me to buy this record he was trying to sell. He only wanted two dollars for it and wouldn’t leave me alone so in the end I just gave in and handed him the money. All the way back to Union Square I sat there staring at this 12” by a rapper I had never heard of called E Rule entitled “Listen Up” and it was really only by pure chance that I even bothered to put it on the turntable when I got in. What I heard though from the first bar was one of the most amazing hip-hop tracks ever recorded. Dope lyrics over an amazing beat with a Roy Ayers sample thrown in for good measure and some of the craziest scratches I had ever heard. To the best of my knowledge E Rule never did anything else of note but this track is such a classic it’s worth its weight in gold. For those of you who don’t know it, check out the link below, and for those of you who do, I know you’ll agree with me. Real train-spotters will also tell you it was used in Larry Clark’s Kids and he couldn’t have picked a more perfect track.










http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnmqaULUcb0

Black Thought

So yesterday I’m thumbing through an old copy of The Source from 2000 and I come across an article about Black Thought being interviewed about his forthcoming solo album Masterpiece Theater which was scheduled for release in February 2001. Now last time I checked it was June 2007 and to the best of my knowledge this album has never seen the light of day. What’s up with that? I mean this guy is one of the most under-rated and talented emcees out there so surely his label should have given him the chance to shine on his own solo joint. I guess it’s just one of those things that makes perfect sense to the guys in the suits who run the show but which anyone who has sat down and listened to Illadelph Halflife, Phrenology, The Tipping Point and all the other Roots albums will never understand as his rhymes are so damn good the least they deserve is 70 minutes of corporate money. Come on Geffen Records and Def Jam. Do the right thing and let Tarik put his record out.

Ecto-1

So there I am walking along the street in Los Angeles and the next thing I know I am standing next to Ecto-1 - The original Ghost-Busting vehicle itself.

Not only could I not believe my eyes but I couldn't believe the condition it was in - The damn thing looked like it had been built yesterday and didn't have a trace of slime anywhere near it.

What a movie. What a cast. What a car. I need it now. Next thing you know I'll be telling you I sat next to Ray Parker Junior in In-N-Out Burger.