Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Pos K Report

Hey, guys. Just a quick post on the new Positive K CD (yeah, CD only) that's just dropped. Not to be confused with the mp3 compilation of 12" cuts and stuff from the old First Priority Basement compilation, etc. (misleadingly titled, The Gentleman, The Rapper: The Lost 1988 First Priority Album), Origins of Hip-Hop: Back To the Old School (kind of a clunky title, eh?) is an actual, legit release on Echo Records. It's fourteen tracks long, mostly of old 12" cuts and stuff, like the mp3 comp. I'm gonna go ahead and guess that "Echo Records" (here's their myspace) is actually Echo International, the same label that put most of these tracks out on vinyl in '99.

But, unlike that mp3 comp, which features none, this CD also seems to feature three two genuinely previously unreleased tracks! Here's the track-listing, broken down by me (a "disambiguation" as it were):

1. Talking Positive <---1999 12="" br="" echo="">2. Feel Good Bout Myself <---1999 12="" br="" echo="">3. Listen 2 the Man <---1999 12="" br="" echo="">4. Raggedy Man <--- apparently="" strike="" unreleased=""> actually the song "E&J" featuring Raggedy Man mistitled, from the 1999 Echo 12"
5. Never Too Much <---1999 12="" br="" echo="">6. Black Cinderella <---1996 12="" br="" his="" label="" on="" own="">7. A Good Combination <--- strike="">1988 First Priority 12"
"Good Combination '95" 1996 from his own label, see the comments
8. Ain't No Stoppin Me Now <---1987 12="" br="" first="" priority="">9. Better Know About It <--- apparently="" span="" unreleased="">
10. How You Livin'? <---1997 12="" br="" his="" label="" on="" own="">11. It's All Gravy <---1995 12="" br="" his="" label="" on="" own="">12. Mr. Jiglyano <---1995 12="" br="" his="" label="" on="" own="">13. Right About Now <--- apparently="" span="" unreleased="">
14. Sweater Girl <--- 12="" 1987="" first="" from="" gram="" just="" mistitled="" p="" pam="" priority="" the="" uarter="">
Of course, you can always check out my Positive K discography page to see all the stuff on his 12"s and stuff explicitly laid out. So, what the heck. Three Two previously unreleased Pos K songs is still worthwhile, though - I'll be getting this. Wish it would come out on vinyl, though...

Update 8/30/08: Ok, I got suspicious of the song title "Raggedy Man," since it's the name of an artist Pos has worked with in the past, so I went back to my old 12"'s and sure enough - that song turned out to be "E&J." What screwball put this track-listing together?

6 comments:

  1. werner, Travis at wake your daughter up highly recommended you for a project i am working on. can i get your email?
    -House

    house14114 at yahoo dot com

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  2. Raggedy Man was the first and only signee to Positive K's Creative Control label. He mentioned him in interviews and his "Ain't No Crime" video from his "Skillz Dat Pay Da Billz" LP.

    One.

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  3. My Pos mix was put together for fun homie

    http://aintitgoodtoyou.blogspot.com/

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  4. I just listened to this for the first time. And if I'm not mistaken, at least some versions (e.g. A Good Combination, How Ya Livin) are slightly different from the 12" versions. Don't have all 12"es to compare...

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    Replies
    1. Interesting! I've been meaning to compare them all since you made this comment, and just have tonight. I've got all but one of the 12"s. Anyway, most are exactly the same. I thought "A Good Combination" was surprisingly different, until I realized the CD track is actually "Good Combination '95" from the "Black Cinderella" 12", not the original "A Good Combination" on First Priority. A good, quick way to tell them apart is if he starts the song by singing "I Got You, Babe," (original) or saying "Positive and LG, a good combination" ('95 version). ...I think "How Ya Livin'" is the same? The CD seems to be kind of light on bass, though, which makes the tracks sound a little different, or maybe that's just because I'm playing them on two different systems.

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    2. Ah, thanks for clearing that up with "A Good Combination". On the "How Ya Livin" 12" the last verse is followed by the chorus. The CD version only has adlibs and is shorter.

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