Can’t figure it out

I’ll admit it, i’ve got myself all confused. The Canadian connect recently drew my attention to a corking cover of the Bee Gees immense late disco stormer “Love You Inside Out”, by her countrywoman Feist. Renamed “Inside & Out” it is a splendid take on the original, jacking up the bass (if that were possible) and laying sweet vocals over the beat to make it her own. So I then re-visited the Bee Gees’ 1979 original, and was reminded of how good it is, an ideal example of the brothers Gibbs’ talent with a melody, a sexy bass-line and a falsetto that should grate but in fact always sounds great. In fact while we are on the subject, don’t ever hate on the Bee Gees. They may have taken the brunt of the disco backlash, but theirs’ is a career that astonishes with its consistency, and they are truly amongst the very finest of songwriters that pop music has produced.

But back to the confusion because the re-visit to the original reminded me of the top ways that the track has been sampled over the years. R’n’B group Total never really hit big, but their 1996 take “When Boy Meets Girl” is a corker, helped in no small part by the early Neptunes production smarts. And then there is Snoops’ “Ups and Downs” in 05 riding the vocal harmonies to pleasure avenue. But my favourite use, from sample, cover or original, has to be the mighty “Honey” from R Kelly/Jay-Z’s “Best of Both Worlds”. This track is an example of how well this collabo could work, Jigga killing it with his flow and R Kelly just doing what he does best. But its ingredients still rely on the strength of the original, so in fact let’s go back to that and end this argument once and for all. But hang on, that Feist take is pretty big after all...