Thursday, July 24, 2003
Random thoughts on my top 99 of 1999, part 2.
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I miss New Radicals. A lot.
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If all gospel music sounded like BeBe Winans’s collaboration with Masters at Work, “Thank You,” a lot more people would listen to gospel music.
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Admit it: the first couple of times you heard “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” you thought Ricky Martin’s star-making smash was pretty undeniable, too.
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When I hear “Sexxlaws” by Beck now, all I can think of is Lawrence v. Texas.
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Timbaland may need Ginuwine the way a fish needs a bicycle, but Ginuwine needs Timbaland like a fish needs water. Without Tim’s masterful production, Ginuwine sounds bereft of any content whatsoever (“In Those Jeans,” anyone?). Yet his older singles, such as “What’s So Different,” are not only interesting lyrically – suggesting to a woman that if she’d cheat on her man with Ginuwine, what’s to say she wouldn’t cheat on him, too? – but the tracks themselves are predictably state-of-the-art. Let’s hope Tim’s new Beat Club signing Kiley Dean is as good as her potential – and cuts the mustard commercially – so we get to hear his brilliance on more new music than Missy records. The pop diaspora needs Tim’s shock-of-the-new, brilliant avant-garde shit; we can’t expect the Neptunes to shoulder the entire load.
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No one who loves hiphop would ever, I think, attempt to state that Busta Rhymes isn’t a phenomenal rapper and mic prescence. That having been said, however, Busta desperately needs great tracks to push him – singles with Mariah don’t cut it. When he’s on, he’s on, though, and “Gimme Some More” is a fine case in point, all swirling, romantic ‘60s film-theme strings and odd horn jabs forcing Busta to ever-greater heights of sublime weirdness.
*
More than any TLC record, her verse on Donnell Jones’ “U Know What’s Up” makes me miss Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes something fierce.
*
Important to note about Destiny’s Child, and Beyoncé in particular: as “Bills, Bills, Bills” shows, they’re just as expert at singing against the beat as with it. More, please.
*
No, of course “Smooth” isn’t a good record because of Rob Thomas. It’s good because of Mr. Santana’s blistering guitar licks – and because Thomas, in writing “Smooth,” gave Carlos (for the first time in nearly two decades) the stuff pop crossover dreams are made of. For that, as much as it pains me to admit it, he should be applauded.
*
Never, ever, did I expect to find a good cover of a song by – gasp! – Toto. But somehow, against all conventional thinking, Eric Benét featuring Faith Evans pulled it off with “Georgy Porgy.”
*
I miss New Radicals. A lot.
*
If all gospel music sounded like BeBe Winans’s collaboration with Masters at Work, “Thank You,” a lot more people would listen to gospel music.
*
Admit it: the first couple of times you heard “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” you thought Ricky Martin’s star-making smash was pretty undeniable, too.
*
When I hear “Sexxlaws” by Beck now, all I can think of is Lawrence v. Texas.
*
Timbaland may need Ginuwine the way a fish needs a bicycle, but Ginuwine needs Timbaland like a fish needs water. Without Tim’s masterful production, Ginuwine sounds bereft of any content whatsoever (“In Those Jeans,” anyone?). Yet his older singles, such as “What’s So Different,” are not only interesting lyrically – suggesting to a woman that if she’d cheat on her man with Ginuwine, what’s to say she wouldn’t cheat on him, too? – but the tracks themselves are predictably state-of-the-art. Let’s hope Tim’s new Beat Club signing Kiley Dean is as good as her potential – and cuts the mustard commercially – so we get to hear his brilliance on more new music than Missy records. The pop diaspora needs Tim’s shock-of-the-new, brilliant avant-garde shit; we can’t expect the Neptunes to shoulder the entire load.
*
No one who loves hiphop would ever, I think, attempt to state that Busta Rhymes isn’t a phenomenal rapper and mic prescence. That having been said, however, Busta desperately needs great tracks to push him – singles with Mariah don’t cut it. When he’s on, he’s on, though, and “Gimme Some More” is a fine case in point, all swirling, romantic ‘60s film-theme strings and odd horn jabs forcing Busta to ever-greater heights of sublime weirdness.
*
More than any TLC record, her verse on Donnell Jones’ “U Know What’s Up” makes me miss Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes something fierce.
*
Important to note about Destiny’s Child, and Beyoncé in particular: as “Bills, Bills, Bills” shows, they’re just as expert at singing against the beat as with it. More, please.
*
No, of course “Smooth” isn’t a good record because of Rob Thomas. It’s good because of Mr. Santana’s blistering guitar licks – and because Thomas, in writing “Smooth,” gave Carlos (for the first time in nearly two decades) the stuff pop crossover dreams are made of. For that, as much as it pains me to admit it, he should be applauded.
*
Never, ever, did I expect to find a good cover of a song by – gasp! – Toto. But somehow, against all conventional thinking, Eric Benét featuring Faith Evans pulled it off with “Georgy Porgy.”
# posted by Thomas : 4:32 AM
