Different Strokes By Different Folks
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Epic/Legacy
The most notable aspect about these “re-imaginings” of Sly and the Family Stone songs is that they’re produced by Sylvester Stewart, who is none other than Sly his bad self — which means, if you read the finer print, that he gave “full artistic approval” to the recordings, and allowed his master tapes to be used in the remakes. If that earns a producer’s credit for the reclusive and troubled Sly, who folded his artistic tent decades ago, so be it.
The eclectic mix of all-stars that contributed to Different Strokes — from Big Boi to Buddy Guy, Maroon 5 to Moby — generally follow a similar template: stay close to the original version; beef up the beats; throw in raps, or sometimes guitar solos, to “update” a string of hits like “Dance to the Music” (will.i.am), “Everyday People” (Maroon 5), “Family Affair” (John Legend & Joss Stone w/Van Hunt), “Sing a Simple Song” (Chuck D, D’Angelo, Isaac Hayes), “I Want to Take You Higher” (Steven Tyler w/Robert Randolph) and others.
There’s some good stuff here, but it boils down to this: Anyone who purchases Different Strokes before owning and absorbing the two-disc The Essential Sly & the Family Stone (or, at the very least, the single-disc Greatest Hits) should be kneecapped. Amping up the drums does not make a song intrinsically funkier. Splicing in raps does not necessarily add content. Then again, occasionally it does. The Nappy Roots infuse “Don’t Call me Nigger, Whitey” with ruminations on the history of oppression and the use of the N-word in the 21st century.
The most interesting track here is issued by knobmeister Moby (who, it should be noted, I am loath to praise in any fashion). He turns “Love City” into a kind of dubby chant, stripping most of the song down to just the original drums, vocals and beefed up bass. Elsewhere, Scar, Ceelo, Big Boi and DJ Swift give “(You Caught Me) Smilin'” a kind of dreamy Earth, Wind & Fire treatment. Far and away, the disc’s most disposable song is “Thank You Rhythm Nation 1814” by Janet Jackson and DJ Reset, an obnoxiously busy mash-up that I think I recall hearing in 1990.
In all, Different Strokes By Different Folks is agreeable enough — if nothing else it’s great to hear these tunes again — but there’s still the nagging sensation that the project could’ve been so much more. 3 stars.
– ERIC SNIDER
Hip Hop Gold Dust
PRINCE PAUL
Antidote
Nineteen ninety-nine was a damn fine year for oddball producer Prince Paul and, therefore, for all of hip-hop as well. That year saw the release of both his epochal hip-hopera A Prince Among Thieves and his first dynamite collaboration with Dan the Automator as Handsome Boy Modeling School. The years since haven’t been quite as hot. His Thieves follow-up, Politics of the Business, never got much attention, and when he dropped a beats-only record last year, Itstrumental, barely a murmur was heard. This release is a pretty solid collection of rare and unreleased tracks Paul has produced over the years, stretching from 1981 (when Paul was in junior high) to 2005. Highlights include Groove B Chill’s 1990 “Top of the Hill,” which features an oh-so-old-school beat and marked Paul’s second foray into sampling from Schoolhouse Rock! Yes, there’s filler here (it is a Prince Paul album, isn’t it?), but few producers can lay claim to having such an impressive backlog. 3.5 stars
– COOPER LANE BAKER
Señor Smoke
ELECTRIC SIX
Metropolis
It’s tough to mix humor and heaviness in music without alienating just about everybody. But wholly over-the-top Detroit disco-rock outfit Electric Six has a pretty good track record via singles like “Danger! High Voltage” and “Gay Bar.” Their sophomore full-length Señor Smoke (released last year in Europe) continues the trend. Rife with absurdly postured yet impossibly catchy guitar-and-keyboard anthems like “Rock and Roll Evacuation” (“Evil boys eating evil hamburgers/ Evil boys eating evil fries”) and “Vibrator” (“She don’t need no electric entertainer tonight”), Señor Smoke keeps blurring the lines between irony and sincerity, conscious joke and unconscious caricature. It also sounds a little like Meatloaf, if Meatloaf were a sardonic asshole who came of age in an urban wasteland littered with pop-culture detritus. Includes an appropriately overdone cover of Queen’s “Radio Ga Ga.” 3.5 stars.
-SCOTT HARRELL
11-17-70
ELTON JOHN
Uni/Island
This New York radio broadcast was recorded just as EJ’s first U.S. hit, “Your Song,” was ascending to the Top 10. The set finds a youthful and effervescent Elton tearing through a handful of early tunes (“Amoreena,” “Burn Down the Mission,” “Take Me to the Pilot,” etc.) and a rowdy cover of “Honky Tonk Women,” backed only by a rhythm section. His randy, percussive piano work and caution-to-the-wind vocals make for the kind of energy rarely heard from the man after 1975. Island issued a remastered version a few years ago.
– ERIC SNIDER
This article appears in Feb 8-14, 2006.
