Celebrate Good Times, Come On
So, y’all are in for a special treat tonight. I’m continuing my awkward karaoke gems with this special number. This is one of those songs that will always make me happy, and I hope it makes you happy, too.
Miles - Celebrate
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Filed under funky | Comment (1)Hercules and Love Affair - s/t
Artist: Hercules and Love Affair
Album: Hercules and Love Affair
Label: Mute, EMI
Will the world look back on Hercules and Love Affair like it now looks back on most expressively gay performers? People, for example, say Culture Club was a fun band, but does anyone take Boy George seriously (or at least think he isn’t nuts)? Jermaine Stewart? The Village People? Klaus Nomi? Perhaps if Hercules and Love Affair play more glam and less disco, more Brian Ferry and less Sylvester, they’ll be in the clear. Or perhaps, as lead songwriter Andrew Butler wishes, we shall embrace flamboyance, gender-bending, and disco as legitimate forms of art (and not novelties). We shall see.
What’s my immediate take on the tracks? I think this is the perfect album to bring back slow-jam dancing, and I guess that is good. Take a listen for yourself:
Hercules and Love Affair - “Raise Me Up”
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Imagine a more sophisticated Sylvester doing an impression of Nina Simone. Add better production and simpler orchestration. Shake well with ice. Serve with lemon zest garnish.
Hercules and Love Affair - “Hercules Theme”
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Crawling disco croons with a little Boy George and Italo disco thrown in for extra fun. One thing I will say is that Hercules and Love Affair do end their songs really well. Check out the boiling, layered horns at the finish of this track.
Check out the band site, watch their videos, and buy the album if you think it’s your new jam.
Filed under electronic, funky, new album, party, retro-novelty, vocal driven | Comment (0)The In-Kraut, Volume 3
Title: The In-Kraut, Volume 3
Hip Shaking Grooves Made in Germany 1967–1974
Label: Marina Records
I have this typical stance on the subway: leaning close to the door or a nearby pole, looking down, slightly frowned face, waiting quietly for the train to get to my stop. Not today. Today I was finger-drumming, toe-tapping, and head-bobbing. Who knows what I would’ve done on a dance floor? This is the third installment of the In-Kraut trilogy, and it is quite a diverse and strong collection. So much so that it took me a few days to really dig into the tracks. Luckily, today I took the step and for the first time listened to each track carefully. Quite a treat. I even started laughing amid quiet subway passengers while today’s second song “Butterflies Never Cry” played. Take a listen.
ACID – “Hipguard”
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There are a million things you should not be doing while listening to this song. Anything, really, that requires stillness, concentration, or quiet. This is a true hip-shaker and a song that really grabs at the essence of this compilation: exciting, impeccably-played songs that are guaranteed to get you out of a rut.
Georgees – “Butterflies Never Cry”
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Ahem. Wow. Written for the same-named movie (in German: Schmetterlinge Weinen Nicht), “Butterflies Never Cry” is the weirdest shit I’ve heard in quite a long time. The insane lyrics and unnecessary yelping make this song almost unlistenable. This has to be a joke. It can’t not be.
I could’ve included a different second song. This compilation has several really wonderful tunes worth a listen, but the Georgees’s masterpiece is not to be missed. For more info, goes visit the label site, which includes streaming samples of the other two In-Kraut albums in the trilogy. And of course, buy the album.
Filed under funky, retro-novelty | Comment (0)