T-Day Funk

Granted, KrissyGo! posted this track (though a different performance, mind you!) last year, but it's funky and apropros to the day. And the other two songs I had planned don't have legitimate videos available. Alas. This will also likely stand in for this week's Friday Funk, as I have a day of record shopping, reconnecting and soul dancing to tend to tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

review- Guns N' Roses: Chinese Democracy

I guess it's not as bad as I thought it would be.

But one might say the same thing after eating deep fried shit on a stick.

Let me just reiterate that it is *not* Guns n' Roses. But there's no need in belaboring that point.

I don't even know where to start with this. When the title track was released a few weeks ago, it was about what I expected. Likewise with the single "Better." They sound like fairly standard rock tracks, featuring Axl Rose.

In effect, that's what the whole album sounds like. Musically competent, but could be any number of acts, were it not for Axl Rose's vocals.

More than anything though, my complaint is that it sounds horribly dated. Axl started working on this roughly fourteen years ago. And the final product sounds very 1994. As The Washington Post put it:

In both sound and sentiment it feels hermetically sealed, like it was made by someone who doesn't get out much [...] on "Democracy" [Rose is] a magpie rooting around in the Museum Of Nineties Rock Sounds, picking at shiny bits from Soundgarden, Korn and (especially) Nine Inch Nails.

Which leads me to believe that maybe this would have been a decent album were it released in 1994 or 1995. There's actually a way in which the album sounds like a reinterpretation of the greatest moments of the Use Your Illusion albums ("Estranged," "Yesterdays," "November Rain," even the Cool Hand Luke sample from "Civil War" is here). But ultimately, it sounds as if the songs on Chinese Democracy were written in 1994, but never updated to match the world that continued to change around Axl Rose. That said, people that stopped listening to new music after 1995 will probably enjoy this album thoroughly.

And that is perhaps why it's such a disappointment. Although the album is OK, in theory one would expect a project belabored over for a decade and a half would be a pretty amazing piece of work. But we all know better, and figured that wouldn't be the case.

Chinese Democracy. Like a train wreck that's been pending for 14 years, you feel obliged to listen out of a sort of morbid curiosity. There's no doubt that the album isn't a masterpiece, but I feel fairly certain that in the grand scheme of popular music, Chinese Democracy will be as remembered as the Izzy Stradlin solo album. Despite the hype from Axl's camp to the contrary, this is not Smile, this is not The Black Album. Hell, it isn't even The Spaghetti Incident?.

History will remember Guns N' Roses. The hard rock band that sliced through the hair metal bullshit of the late 1980s, having the audacity to simultaneously release two albums (a year before The Boss), who on record and on stage had a totally uncompromising attitude, and the rock band that for a brief moment, seemingly ruled the world.

The world will forget the music on Chinese Democracy however, because it is ultimately forgettable.

At least I know the Dr. Pepper will be good.

Friday Funk

I've been feeling pretty funky, but not in the good way. The first cold of the season is taking me for a ride. But let that not stop us from grooving to some Friday Funk.

A friend of mine just hipped me to Kano. I've taken a listen to some of their other tracks, and they're generally pretty hot. I'm also told that their stuff is pretty hard to come by, so now I have some new holy grail discs to dig for.

Enjoy, and have a good weekend. Stay healthy!

Cadillac Records

This actually looks pretty good.



Soundtrack clips etc. at the official site. Mos Def makes a pretty good Chuck Berry, I have to say.

How to get your free Dr. Pepper via Axl Rose

Guns N’ Roses Bring A Free Dr Pepper To All Americans: Here’s How To Get Yours! Published by Chris Harris on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at 6:00 pm.
Now that the November 23 release date for Guns N’ Roses’ oft-delayed, more-than-a-decade-in-the-making album, Chinese Democracy, seems to be a reality, Dr Pepper owes every American a can of soda.

Back in March, the beverage company said that it would give every man, woman, and a child in the U.S. a free can of Dr. Pepper should Guns N’ Roses release Chinese Democracy before the close of 2008. And now, the event no one — certainly not the folks at Dr Pepper — thought would happen is rapidly approaching.

“We never thought this day would come,” Tony Jacobs, vice president of marketing for Dr Pepper, said in a statement issued Wednesday. “But now that it’s here, all we can say is: The Dr Pepper’s on us.”

So, how does Dr Pepper plan on dispensing the free sodas? Well, on November 23 — and only on November 23 — thirsty Americans can log on to the official Dr Pepper Web site and register all of their vitals, so that the company can mail them a coupon for a free 20-ounce can of the drink. Once that coupon arrives in the mail, redeem it wherever Dr Pepper is sold. The last step in the process, according to the press release: “Drink your Dr Pepper slowly to experience all 23 flavors. Dr’s orders.”

As we said, registration for the free Dr Pepper coupons is available only for 24 hours, beginning at 12:01 a.m. ET on November 23, and the coupons will have an expiration date of February 28, 2009. Obviously, there is a coupon limit — one per person.

So get out your straws and chill those glasses, kids — the Dr will be in your fridge soon, all thanks to Mr. Axl Rose.

http://newsroom.mtv.com/2008/10/22/guns-n-roses-bring-a-free-dr-pepper-to-all-americans-heres-how-to-get-yours/

Friday Funk

Hell yes. A long one, but oh so worth it.



Have a funky good weekend, all.

Lee 'Scratch' Perry - Pum Pum

This video/song has pretty much made my day.