Black History Month: Speech

Speech was the leader of the rap group Arrested Development. Their album 3 Years, 5 Months and 7 Days In the Life Of... revolutionized the game. In many ways, it was as political and theoretical as the stuff Public Enemy was doing, and Speech was Arrested Development's Chuck D.

What made Arrested Development different from Public Enemy though is that they were much more accessible. Public Enemy was aggressive and had heavy beats. Arrested Development was record scratching over world beat, which lyrics that were promoting peace. Their three hit singles -- "Peace Everyday," "Mr. Wendal," and "Tennessee" -- do show the ugly side of life, but then suggest positive methods for change. By carefully choosing how the audience saw them, and by choosing an almost cuddly image that would be accepted by almost anyone, Arrested Development was able to attain a large following quickly, even though many of its fans turned out to be too fickle to buy the follow up (I admit, I don't have their follow-up, either).

One of their best songs is "Fishin' 4 Religion," a song which critiques churches that don't take a pro-active approach to problem solving, but call instead for finding other ways to work within the church, to fish for religion, rather than calling to abandon it.

2008 Supplement -- Best Male Songs Ever, Vol. 1

Along with the mix tape for the year in review, every year I compile supplementary bonus discs for my collection. This year I made two: my favorite songs by male artists and by femal artists. No artist can have a song repeated. Gender depends upon vocalist rather than songwriter or people playing, just for simplicity's sake. This is the playlist for the male version.

1. Bob Dylan - "Angelina" (Shot of Love outtake, 1981)

Mysterious and deep, this song is filled with magical images. Given context, I think it is about Christian Bob falling in love with a heathen of a woman and ready to do spiritual battle to keep her away from the hellfire. Whatever it is about, it is gorgeous and mind-blowing.

2. Barry Louis Polisar - "All I Want Is You" (1976, reissued on Juno)

This folksy love song is a series of light-hearted metaphors that seem inconsequential. The song's strength though comes across in its seeming honesty. It has that Walden effect, where simplicity comes through as authenticity.

3. Paul Simon - "Graceland" (from Graceland, 1986)

This travelogue about Paul Simon and his son takes a personal journey into America's heart of darkness -- the race-divided South -- in search of the racial unification that occured at Sun records, transforming the personal into a powerful metaphor of national significance.

4. Elvis Costello - "Sleep of the Just" (from King of America, 1986)

Costello has long been interested in writing songs dealing with issues of domestic violence. In this song, Costello, with shifting points of view, depicts a soldier leading a young girl on and engaging in a photographed one night stand with her. He shows the emotional impact this can have by implicitly comparing it to a gang rape in the final verse where her picture is "pinned up upon the barracks wall in her hometown while the soldiers take their turns with her attention."

5. The Band - "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)" (from The Band, 1969)

This may not be my favorite Band song, but my interest in it has grown exponentially over the last year. It's no "Up On Cripple Creek" yet, but the working man ethos and litany of crops makes this rural unionizing song a winner.

6. Brian Wilson - "Vega-Tables" (from Smile, 2004)

The brilliance of this song is the child-like wonder it exudes, the same wonder that led Brian Wilson to develop an arrangement that featured people chomping on carrot and celery sticks in lieu of traditional percussion.

7. ? and the Mysterians - "96 Tears" (1966)

I love garage rock, and this organ-pumped pop song is one of the most sadly forgotten hits. Once a chart-topper, it is still little-known and difficult to come by despite Cameo-Parkway reissues.

8. Van Morrison - "Caravan" (from Moondance, 1970)

This epic of blue-eyed soul just surges and ebbs with the wonderful nuances of Van's aformal voice.

9. The Beatles - "Here, There, and Everywhere" (from Revolver, 1966)

One of McCartney's best ballads, this love song is awash in lush melody.

10. Ben Folds Five - "Brick" (1997)

What hooked me on this was the piano figure. Having been familiar with the song for a decade, it wasn't until recently that I payed attention to the words, aching and wrenching, as I drove home for the holidays.

11. Prince - "Sometimes It Snows In April" (from Parade, 1986)

Proof of Prince's egotism, this song is an elegy for Christopher Tracy, the character Prince played in Under the Cherry Moon, the 1986 film he wrote and directed. In the film, Tracy is murdered by Craig T. Nelson (of TV's Coach), the racist father of the girl Prince falls in love with, who is played by Kristen Scott Thomas. Still, despite its egotism, this song boils over with pathos and passion.

12. Arrested Development - "Mr. Wendal" (from 3 Years, 5 Months and 7 Days In the Life of..., 1991)

This was one of the first rap songs I fell in love with, and that was before I realized the powerful social commentary contained within it. The song celebrates hoboes as people too, and explains the virtues of helping those less fortunate. You go ahead Mr. Wendal.

13. James Brown - "Mother Popcorn" (1969)

"Mother Popcorn" has the most post-modern bass line known to man. A funky tune about curvaceous ladies punctuated by ecstatic screams about a salty snack. Classic James.

14. Billy Riley and his Little Green Men - "Red Hot" (1957)

Billy Riley's gal is red hot, and, comparatively, other rockabilly ain't doodely squat.

15. Johnny Cash - "The Mercy Seat" (from American III: Solitary Man, 2000)

Cash's cover of this Nick Cave track is one of the mot powerful gems to be mined from his American Recordings series, and that is saying a lot. The song is a cryptic jigsaw puzzle, a Rorschack test of serial murder and apocalyptic salvation.

16. Thin Lizzy - "Don't Believe A Word" (from Johnny the Fox 1976)

Thin Lizzy may be the most underrated metal band of all time. Their melodies and hooks are fantastic. This song couples those ever-present qualities with a self-deprecation that strengthen's Lizzy's legacy.

17. Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band - "Jungleland" (from Born To Run, 1975)

This song is a true epic. When it reaches the midpoint, the song simmers down to a murmur. When it rises from its ashes, the slowly paced piano that restarts it provides a pulse, upon which every instrument imaginable builds, not least of which is Springsteen's tortured and chiseled voice, pushing the song beyond its imaginable limits.

100 Albums, 100 Words (70-61)

70. Van Morrison – Common One (1980)

Van Morrison chants this album like a mantra, imbuing it with its own holy flavor. This is fitting as a short of loose spirituality is present thematically. Musically, this is a cousin of Astral Weeks, but lyrically it seems to vaguely deal with some ancient, mysterious power. Morrison seems to be speaking most explicitly about the power of the arts, as implied by his own musical prowess and also through a litany of literary giants he names, including Catcher In the Rye and the poetry of Blake, Eliot, Coleridge and Wordsworth. But really, it’s the music here that matters most.


69. Aerosmith – Rocks (1976)

Rocks is the grimier of Aerosmith’s two great albums, and its “Rats In the Cellar,” one of the hardest songs ever, provides a nice contrast to “Toys In the Attic.” The band has gone from fun to ugly, from high to low; it serves them well. This album also features some of Aerosmith’s wilder experimentation, featuring Whitford and Hamilton on lead guitar and Perry on bass and vocals at various points. Most will remember the hit singles, “Back In the Saddle” and “Last Child;” they are the only foundation upon which this heavy of an album could have been built.


68. Blues Brothers – Briefcase Full of Blues (1978)

I understand the argument that this is perhaps the fakest blues album ever, and I may even accept it, but fake as it is, it’s a damn good jump-blues imitation. As the brothers prophesize in an onstage speech, this album brought to life for several people a dying genre and introduced this music to audiences who otherwise might not have heard it. Its hard to believe that John Belushi didn’t truly believe in this music, and his homage shows as he calls out Floyd Dixon and Willie Mabon. Hiring members of the Stax house band wasn’t a bad move either.


67. Led Zeppelin – Untitled (1971)

The hardest of rock albums. Although “Stairway To Heaven” is among the most overrated songs ever recorded (there’s a reason it was never released as a single), that doesn’t mean it’s bad (nor that I need to read fantasy novels until I know who the “May Queen” is and how to “spring clean” her) and the rest of this album is terrific. John Bonham’s drumming on the opening of “Rock and Roll.” Robert Plant’s soaring vocals on “Battle of Evermore.” Jimmy Page’s exquisite picking on “Going to California.” John Paul Jones thundering bass on “Misty Mounain Hop.” This just rocks.


66. Van Halen – Van Halen (1978)

The incendiary eight-finger tap erupts from the vinyl grooves as Eddie Van Halen’s fingers spin faster than the turntable. This album announced the arrival of 80s hair metal two years before the decade began and even longer before the genre established itself. Van Halen is the template, offering up all the staples of the genre. Party tunes built around scorching riffs (“Runnin’ With the Devil”), a front man who walked right out of a comic book (Roth), and at least one great power ballad (“Janie’s Cryin’”?… well, this is pre-Hagar). Unfortunately, these atomic punks would only stay together through 1984.


65. No Doubt – Rock Steady (2001)

Rock Steady encapsulates good times. It is a rhythm record, one that exudes danceability and builds its shifts around the texture of the tempo. Despite the occasional semi-clunkers (“Running”), the album is very listenable throughout, featuring three terrific singles and a slew of other gems, like the stalker fantasy “Detective” and the Prince-induced fever of “Waiting Room.” The latter especially stands out. Prince produced this and his fluttering falsetto provides backing vocals on the chorus; it’s his best performance since the 1980s. Most of all, this album is the best piece of evidence that Gwen never should have gone solo.


64. Miles Davis – Kind of Blue (1959)

I place a high premium on lyrics, but some records stretch sounds out in such new ways that words would only detract, and Miles Davis experiments in improvisational scales fit the bill. The jazz album to have is one which moved jazz beyond be-bop and into a new age, breathing new life into it and influencing just about everything to come. In addition to Davis’ visionary fervor, the sidemen aren’t bad either: Coletrane, “Cannonball” Adderly, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb, not to mention Wynton Kelly. From the opening notes of “So What” you know this is something special.


63. Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music (1952)

ORIGINAL HIPSTER MAKES ULTIMATE MIX TAPE, INSPIRES GENERATION
HARRY SMITH COLLECTED THESE 84 SONGS. RECORDED FROM 1926 TO 1932. INVENTION OF ELECTRONIC RECORDING TO GREAT DEPRESSION. RECORDED IN APPALACHIA AND LOUISIANA. PULLED FROM PERSONAL FOLK AND COUNTRY COLLECTION. ALSO INSTRUMENTAL STOMPS AND GOSPEL HYMNS. WROTE UP LINER NOTES. MUCH LIKE THIS. PUT SIX DISCS IN THREE SECTIONS. BALLADS. SOCIAL MUSIC. SONGS. SPAWNED FOLK REVIVAL. MANY MUSICIANS REDISCOVERED. CLARENCE ASHLEY. BLIND LEMON JEFFERSON. MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT. CARTER FAMILY. DOCK BOGGS. ESTABLISHED STANDARDS OF GENRE. COO COO BIRD. KASSIE JONES. OMIE WISE. STACKA LEE. STILL POPULAR AMONG UPPITY FOLK MUSIC AFFICIONADO TYPES.


62. Arrested Development – 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days In the Life of… (1992)

When Speech gets to preaching on here he is able to infuse a bleak political landscape with healing spirituality, is able to both criticize the downfalls of organized religion, particularly Baptist churches, while expressing how a life lived for God should be a progressive lifestyle. “Mr. Wendal” taught me what good hip-hop could be like, and “Fishin’ 4 Religion” and “Give A Man A Fish” continued to mine that same vein, politically educated, intellectual lyrics that tickle the mind rhymed over a delectable bass beat laid down by Headliner. Oh yeah, that and “Tennessee” and “People Everyday” are endlessly danceable.


61. Jefferson Airplane – Surrealistic Pillow (1967)

Time for a myth-debunking pop quiz!




1. Which of the following statements is NOT true. Grace Slick:


a. was hot until she discovered 80s fashion.
b. is credited with writing the groups second biggest single, included here.
c. is the core of the group.
d. stole “Somebody To Love” from her previous group.


2. Marty Balin is:


a. the nucleus Surrealistic Pillow is built around, having helped compose five tracks, and three
by himself (including the sublime “Comin’ Back To Me”).
b. an excellent guitarist.
c. a founding member of the Airplane.
d. All of the above.


Answers: 1.c., 2.d.