PARTY LIKE IT'S 1991
Another installment of "In The Queue"
Closer to the 80s than we'd rather admit
Don't think so? Check out that gated snare on Daisy Chainsaw's "Upmanship Down". Or the Fender histrionics on "Seven Laws of Woo". That last is from Praxis, one of those solemnly bizarre Bill Laswell projects. The Johannesque prelude is the masterwork of a keyboard hero of mine, Bernie Worrell. What I like to call "Cathedral Rock" - Rick Wakeman of Yes, Keith Emerson of ELP, Kerry Livgren of Kansas...yup, yup.
"(I Wanna Give You) Devotion" by Nomad was a club chart-topper for a spell in 1991. The deep-rich soprano of Sharon Dee Clark (I say she's Baptist), and that tinny Roland D-50 soprano sax patch made the sound what it was, and made me a fan, of this song, at least.
Black Canadiens the Dream Warriors' "My Definition (of a Boombastic Jazz Style)" followed the lead of both De La Soul humor and Gang Starr jazz sobriety, with a slightly sped-up sample from Quincy Jones' "Soul Bossa Nova", off of Big Band Bossa Nova. Boombastic? I call it Dork-tastic. That is a good thing.
Def Jam's no-hit wonders Downtown Science always made good use of sleigh bells in their songs. An automatic in, in the Monstah realm, as would be heavy usage of glockenspiels or triangles. Special prize to the person who can tell me the sample from "Keep It On", which makes no use whatsoever of sleigh bells, unfortunately.
808 State's "Ooops" bears no relation to Snap's "Oops Up(side your head, say oops upside your head)". Instead, "Oops...alright," sings the newly independent Bjork. Nice intro, with the presumably Black (presumably) queen verbally shaking his head, "mmph, mmph mmmp." Captures the rhythmed nuances of a Black meta-verbal expression quite well.
The George Clinton projects -- Funkadelic, P-Funk, Parliament, etc. -- display a virtuousity of Black meta-verbal expression, a classic instance being "Cosmic Slop". A story-telling ditty from a unique perspective of "you mama's a ho", Material's instance of "Cosmic Slop" takes a highlighter to the song's rich stringed textures, making this one of my favorite remakes that really makes the grade. Material, of course, being another Bill Laswell project with Clinton vets Worrell (who is still using the state of the art, first-gen sampler Fairlight at this point) and bassist Bootsy Collins.
Enjoy.
--Because I said so