F#@* 'Em

With the 25th anniversary of the Geto Boys' eponymous Def American debut looming, I decided to take a cue from a fellow blogger and add another entry into the "Songs Someone Taught Us" series. The year was 1990 and Def American released quite possibly the finest rap record in history. The Geto Boys. Sure, "Ghetto" Boy purists consider it more of a remix album then a legit new LP (although other than possibly "Size Ain't Shit" all of the Grip It! On That Other Level tracks were revamped and re-edited into vastly superior versions) - it still stands as the group's best work and a standard for pretty much any other hip-hop album to aspire. I was surprised to learn how much material was sampled to create The Geto Boys, while mostly funk tracks featuring James Brown as vocalist (or in some other major role) there are some real surprises once you deconstruct the songs. Billy Squier? "My Girl"? After listening to the album over and over while culling the below tracks I now can't hear a sample without thinking of its origin. So while this is not quite a collection of originals that a band covered (à la my previous Metallica and GG Allin posts) it's a window into what D.J. Ready Red's record collection must have looked like and got that Houston studio bumping way back in 1989.

Here's the song-by-song breakdown:

A1. Fuck 'Em
        • "Breakthrough” by Isaac Hayes
        • "Rocket In The Pocket (Live)" by Cerrone
        • "Kool Is Back" by Funk, Inc.
A2. Size Ain't Shit
        • "Blow Your Head" by Fred Wesley And The J.B.'s
        • "Mt. Airy Groove" by Pieces Of A Dream
A3. Mind Of A Lunatic
        • "Givin' Up Food For Funk" by The J.B.
        • "Funky Drummer" by James Brown
        • "Batman: Stacked Cards" by Joey Lapidos
A4. Gangster Of Love
        • "The Joker" by Steve Miller Band
        • "I Walk On Gilded Splinters" by Johnny Jenkins
A5. Trigga Happy Nigga
        • "Memphis Soul Stew" by King Curtis
        • "Love The Life You Live" by Kool And The Gang
A6. Life In The Fast Lane
        • "The Big Bang Theory" by Parliament
        • "Girl In The Hot Pants" by The Soul Brothers Inc.
        • "The Big Beat" by Billy Squier
A7. Assassins
        • "Apache" by Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band
B1. Do It Like A G.O.
        • "Superfly" by Curtis Mayfield
        • "Apache" by Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band
        • "Scorpio" by Dennis Coffey And The Detroit Guitar Band
        • "Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved" by James Brown
B2. Read These Nikes
        • "It Takes Two" by Rob Base & D.J. E-Z Rock
        • "You Can Have Watergate Just Gimme Some Bucks And I'll Be Straight" by Fred Wesley And The J.B.'s
        • "Funky Drummer" by James Brown
        • "Funky President (People It's Bad)" by James Brown
        • "My Girl" by The Temptations
        • "Batman: Stacked Cards" by Joey Lapidos
B3. Talkin' Loud Ain't Saying Nothin'
        • "Talkin' Loud & Sayin' Nothing" by James Brown
        • "Skin Tight" by Ohio Players
        • "Theme From The Planets" by Dexter Wansel
        • "South Bronx" by Boogie Down Productions
B4. Scarface
        • "Blues & Pants" by James Brown
        • "Ashley's Roachclip" by The Soul Searchers
        • "Gimmie What You Got" by Le Pamplemousse
        • "Different Strokes" by Syl Johnson
B5. Let a Ho Be A Ho
        • "Money" by Pink Floyd
        • "Impeach The President" by The Honey Drippers
B6. City Under Siege
        • "The Message From The Soul Sisters" by Myra Barnes
        • "Think (About It)" by Lyn Collins
        • "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing (In Perfect Harmony)" by The Hillside Singers

For those with sharp eyes, yep there's a children's Batman 7" record on the list. Packaged with a comic book, it was a 70's vinyl version of the "Read-And-Listen" shit kids have loaded on their iPads today. It supplies all of the "he's a paranoic who's a menace to our society" samples  - which up to this day I assumed were from some obscure B-movie. Who in the Geto Boys owned that record? I debated including it since it runs a little long but was so surprised at the discovery I felt I had to. And upon listening to this catalog you'll find that it could have sufficed as sample material for a whole multitude of famous rap songs from back in the day (Public Enemy being one of the more consistent repeat clients). While some of the tunes are far from something I'd listen to on a daily basis, all have their moments, and most of the funk stuff is truly amazing. Interestingly, I just read a somewhat recent interview with Scarface in which he pledges a Geto Boys reunion LP if Rick Rubin would produce. Rick, are you reading?

7/11/15 update: Since my latest post was actually for Mr. Scarface Is Back I went ahead and updated the "album" cover for this one. Looks a ton better in my opinion. Enjoy.

Part I                                        Part II                                        Part III

Bitchslap

While I'm sure this was ripped straight from bootleg and has little to offer slavish fanboys of Slipknot's eponymous 1999 Roadrunner debut, MFKR is a refreshingly bold experimental record from a band that simply hadn't yet found its niche (or the all-encompassing influence of Ross Robinson). There is the funky "Confessions" more suited for a Mr. Bungle record, "Only One" dabbles in the nü metal genre they'd eventually be associated with (a smirk-inducing white boy rapping opus that would make even Fred Durst groan) and "Do Nothing" - an epic jazz/death metal amalgam with Ministry-esque vocals to totally fry your mind. As a whole, the glue of the record is still metal - actually very Metallica-sounding metal that seems a tad dated, even in 1996. My biggest problem with the album (and the reason its recording budget ballooned to almost $40K) is the piecemealing together of the drums and overdubs. It simply doesn't sound quite in time. An excuse could be made in the fact that there is a lot going on in the songs but that problem has plagued Slipknot for years (I almost found Iowa unlistenable at times simply because there was so much shit going on on once). Fans of Slipknot will either love or hate proto-versions of "(sic)" (they way-too-long opener simply titled "Slipknot") and "Tattered & Torn", but unbiased prog metal fans could be pleasantly surprised if they can get around the somewhat unrefined production (revisionist band history now considers this a demo record). I chuckled upon finding out that none of the members still own a legit pressing of this record. Enjoy.

Meld

Prog Sludge

A decade or so ago, while completely immersed in the throes of greatness that was The Abominable Iron Sloth, I was pretty much buying any album remotely linked to the band, whether through Amazon's generated "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought..." links or such now-antiquated means as AIS's Myspace friends. One way or another I ended up with LA's Intronaut in my shopping cart and upon excitedly throwing it in my CD player expecting Abominable II I was somewhat... disappointed. And by "somewhat" I mean "extremely". Don't get me wrong (and Intronaut purists out there put down your AK's), Void is not a bad album for what it is - actually I'm sure in the heavy prog metal world it's regarded as a landmark achievement, it's just not my style. I was never a Tool fan, not into Perfect Circle or even Mastodon for that matter. I was hoping for minimalist bone-crushing ear-splitting sludgecore and unfortunately, this album was void of that. Closing point, if you are into any of those aforementioned bands you will fucking love this.

Teledildonics

Into My Hypercube

One of the better shows of my lifetime was nearly 24 years ago to the date - dragged down to the ol' defunct City Gardens in Trenton, NJ by a punk rock friend to see some depressing sludge band of whom he'd just grabbed their major label debut CD. That band was Soundgarden, opening for some weird Canadian prog rock (sound familiar?) four-piece called Voivod. Oh, by the way, the middle band on the bill was some unknown San Francisco alternative outfit called Faith No More. Needless to say, I stood with 6 other people to watch the two openers and was absolutely awestruck. I was also so drunk that by the time Voivod came on we were already out the door and heading home up Rt. 202. Post-show I actually felt bad I had missed the headliner, especially with such incredible opening acts (Soundgarden was especially awesome - Louder Than Love is just an epic album, hands down, and Chris Cornell was on fucking point that night), they had to be the absolute shit, right? I ran out the next day to grab the first Voivod album I could find (it happened to be Nothingface) and was instantly turned off by an overambitious quasi-concept album performed by musicians more interested in technicality than listenability. And gee, who went down in the annals of rock history over the next 5 years? Guess what, it wasn't Voivod. I foolishly pulled this one out of the dusty CD collection a few weeks ago with fleeting hopes that a more mature ear would hear something my drug-addled brain missed so long ago. Nope, it is still is as agonizing to listen to as it was 24 years ago. And I fucking hate Rush too.

The Unknown Blows