That Time Havoc Kicked Coolio and Blondie Off Their Own Record

Say, did you guys watch Kendrick Lamar perform with U2 the other night on The Grammys?  Me either.  Who ever wanted to see those two collaborate?  More big money, bad idea, cross genre noise pollution that's, hey, just like today's record!  But unlike last week's post, this is a real collaboration that actually happened, and not a patch-worked fakery.  I'm not sure if that necessarily makes things any better... in fact, given my choice, I might prefer more Hip-Hop artists faking their team-ups with rock bands rather than actually going through with it.  But in this case, it at least made things a little more lively and interesting than Wyclef's sleepy mess.  I'm talking with Blondie's comeback single "No Exit" featuring Coolio, Mobb Deep, Inspectah Deck and U-God.

In a way, this is more awards show generated nonsense, since the big performance of this song took place on a 1999 broadcast of The American Music Awards.  But they did release an properly studio-recorded version of this as a single on Beyond Records, plus as the title track of the Blondie comeback album (their first album in 17 years according to Wikipedia, who I'll trust, because I don't know or care about these non-Hip Hop groups) and even a music video.  But the only version most of us are apt to care about is this particular 12" on LOUD Records, where Havoc decided to take things in hand and make a good version of the song.

So let's talk about the main version first.  Strictly speaking, this 12" draws a distinction between The Loud Rock Remix and The AMA Performance Version, but the latter is really just a slightly extended version of the former with about twenty extra seconds of instrumentation.  Basically they're the same song.  And it's a pretty eccentric song, which I suppose makes sense when you think about the personnel.  Unlike the Small Soldiers version of "Another One Bites the Dust," this song clearly features the band members playing their instruments on the song, which definitely injects a lot of energy into the song if nothing else.  I mean, they're talented musicians, so it's not bad in that sense, though they make some really weird choices, using riffs from "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and Bach's classic Phantom Of the Opera theme, with a loud, distorted rock guitar style.  It's actually very much like the Goblin soundtrack for Lamberto Bava's Demons, to the point where I honestly believe they're deliberately cribbing.  But at least that's fun.

So Deborah Harry not only sings the chorus, she raps.  And her rap style hasn't changed at all since we last heard it on 1980's "Rapture."  As you can imagine, when on the same track as Mobb Deep and them, that flow comes off pretty stilted by comparison.  And she's followed by Coolio, who sounds kinda silly warning us against putting "whimpin' and simpin' up in your pimpin'."  Then the rest of the song is Harry singing the hook between verses by Havoc, Prodigy, Deck and U-God, none of whom deliver career-topping performances, but all come off a lot slicker and more listenable than Deborah and Coolio.

That's the version most people have.  In fact, I think there's actually an even more milquetoast version that features Coolio but none of the other guests.  But if you're a real head, the only worthwhile version is on the B-side.  Havoc produced The Infamous Hip Rock Version, which actually aims to please some Hip-Hop fans.  First off, it's got an stripped down, pure Hip-Hop beat, with none of that guitar noodling or any other live instrumentation.  It's a classic, 90's New York street style track, with a break beat and a bassline and that's pretty much it.  It has no connection to Blondie's music at all, which is A-O-K with me.

Even better?  It jumps right to the Mobb and Wu.  Blondie's rap?  Deleted.  Even Coolio!  Deleted.  Off the record.  Perfect!  Now it's just a Mobb Deep record featuring some second string Wu players (collectively dubbed the "LOUD Allstars" on the sticker) that sounds like it was recorded for any of their mixtape projects from that time.  Harry's chorus is still used for the hook, and there is a brief guitar solo tagged on at the end; but if you just heard this version you'd never suspect it was an off-shoot of some bizarre goth rock hybrid record.

Unfortunately, if you remember Mobb Deep's Koch Record solo albums from that time, though, you remember they were a little lackluster and the production was pretty dry.  So even this version is no awesome masterpiece.  So don't come in expecting "Shook Ones" meets "Protect Ya Neck."  It's closer to some Golden Arms Redemption material... but it would definitely be one of the better songs on there.  No Greatest Hit, but actually a record Wu and Mobb fans might want to have in their collection, unlike the A-side.

As you see, this 12" comes in a sticker cover, and also contains both instrumentals, not that you'd really want either.  Also on the B-side is a Talvin Singh Rhythmic Radio Edit of another song from Blondie's comeback album, called "Maria."  No rappers on this one, and Blondie barely even sings.  It's mostly four minutes of synth-y ambiance over high bpm club drums.  I suspect the original was more traditional pop rock song with guitars and singing, but I don't intend to find out.  It's the exact opposite end of the spectrum of what anybody buying this record wants to hear.  They should've included the "No Exit" acapella instead; and then I'm sure we would've heard the LOUD Allstars on a lot more mixtapes.  But, oh well; no great loss either way.

This is the kind of record you can always find dirt cheap, and for that price, I recommend it.  Fans will be pleasantly surprised by the B-side, and the A-side is at least a novelty, which I guess is all the AMA's really wanted in the first place.

A Pair Of Wu-Tang Promos

You know a group's captured the popular imagination when even their snippet tapes sell for good money on the collectors' market. Of course, it helps immensely when they have ill exclusives or really cool art design. And to that end, I've dug two classic Wu-Tang cassettes from out of my box.

First up is the legendary "silver tape." That name's a little misleading, since the tape itself isn't actually silver, like the purple tape was genuinely made of purple plastic. I guess this name's more short-hand, referring to the shiny silver case it comes in, with nothing but the Wu logo on the front and back, no indication of what songs or what's on it. And that's true of the cassette itself, too, which is all solid black with just a silver "W" on it. It definitely makes you feel like you've got your hands on some super secret, mysterious Wu contraband; and this is from back in 1997, before there had been any lesser, lower tier material from the Clan, so anything you saw had to be amazing.

Unfortunately, the content doesn't quite live up to all of that. It's basically a Wu-Tang Forever promo, with snippets from their then yet to be released second album. But it's not just a collection of clips of songs you've already got in full on the album now, that actually makes up a small fraction of the tape. The majority consists of interview snippets with each of the various members talking about their history. They talk about how they came up with the title 36 Chambers, why they kept their faces covered on their earliest covers, how they slip serious content into their songs, etc. ODB starts out by saying, "give me a kiss" and talks about his drinking and adding "Ossirus" to his name. I wouldn't say it's something you should bust your kneecaps out running to track down, but its a pretty cool collectors item for the serious fans.

Then the other one dates back even farther. It's Raekwon the Chef's Latest and Greatest Hits from 1995, where he's boldly putting out a "greatest hits" even before his first album. It's essentially an expanded version of his "Criminology" single, I guess, as it has both the A- and B-sides to that, plus his previous, debut single "Heaven and Hell." It's also got some of his most famous moments from 36 Chambers, including "C.R.E.A.M." and the remix of "Can It Be All So Simple," which actually wound up being on Cuban Linx. And finally it's got his classic Mobb Deep appearance, "Eye For an Eye." And why am I getting excited and bothering to list out all of these snippets song by song? Because they're actually not snippets, but the full songs. So this was a pretty nice little pick-up back in the day.

But the best part, and the reason why you might continue to care about this in 2015, is that it also has an exclusive freestyle. It's pretty substantial, almost the length of a full song, and has him spitting over Channel Live's dark "Mad Izm" instrumental, constantly being rubbed and scratched by an uncredited DJ. And he gets pretty sick, though that's largely because he slips pretty quickly into his verse from "Guillotine." Of course, this came out before Cuban Linx, so it was brand new here, and either way he sounds great over Krs's killer beat.

So yeah, just a couple things to keep an eye out for next time you're shopping for the Wu fan who has everything. I think I'd rather get one of these than one of these Wu-Tang Clan American flag watches, anyway.  :/