It's Time To Release The Beast

This past Wednesday, I ended up at the fantastic location known as Mako's, where I had an entertaining enough night. Here's part of what I wrote about it on my MySpace/Facebook blogs:

Overall, the night (for a Mako’s night) was not too exciting yet still had some interesting stories to tell, at least. Now, I’ve only been to one Wednesday there before and I don’t remember too much about that night (due to it happening months ago, not due to the alcohol I consumed there!) but this night wasn’t like a Friday or Saturday night, where you had various activities going on there. Even though they had certain drinks for free for a period of time, the joint wasn’t packed at all… nice was hearing some old school songs, like the Whispers song Rock Steady, the Breakwater song Release The Beast (you Daft Punk fans will recognize it as the song sampled for Robot Rock) or the Rick James (bitch!) classic Give It To Me, being played throughout the night.

The two main highlights I will mention:

1. Old drunk guys there are usually good for a laugh, and this was the case here. There were quite a few older gentlemen there, but one in particular stood out. He had consumed massive quantities of alcohol by the time I had gotten there. He was rather outgoing, to say the least. He at least enjoyed busting a move once in awhile, and for a laugh a few ladies enjoyed briefly dancing with him. I can’t really laugh about the latter, as…

2. I was standing in the area of the club where dancing usually takes place. Out of nowhere, two ladies decided to dance with me. Looks-wise… they weren’t the most attractive ladies in the club, but hey, they wanted to dance with me so I have no beef with that! What ended up happening was that I was promised a dirty dance by one of the two ladies (I’ll call them B and C)… B wanted me to buy C a beer in order to receive said dance. I did so and the dance I received was one that could easily be classified as dirty. I mean, she stuck her ass right in my crotch and was shaking it like nobody’s business! Sad to say, C pretty much ignored me after that, and both ladies later dance with several young African-American gentlemen. At least B talked to me after the dirty dance, and she in fact apologized for C’s behavior. C obviously enjoyed the beer, given that she had to have consumed it in like 5 minutes time!

As I mentioned up there, one ditty I heard was one that is still obscure to many even though it was famously sampled a few years ago by Daft Punk. It is the song Release The Best by Philadelphia R&B band Breakwater; the song looks to be rather difficult to find on CD but via the magic of MP3 it can be downloaded. As you'll see, it's better than Robot Rock and not so damned repetitive either. Anyway, the download link isn't mine, but I found it and it works, so there you go.

Breakwater-Release The Beast (6.92 MB, 192Kbits/second)

http://centralvillage.blogs.com/cv/files/release_the_beast.mp3

I'll be back sometime on Saturday (probably in the late afternoon) with my next upload.

Adding Some Bling To This Blog

As of late I've noted that there hasn't been too much in the way of hip-hop posted on my blog as of recent times. I'll rectify that today.

One great site to visit to find various hip-hop tracks is the page known as The Passion of the Weiss. You have to read his review of the Soulja Boy song "Yahhh", which may be the worst I hear in 2008.

One good song to get from the site (the link still works) is his post on the artist known as Felli Fel. A newly popular song from him is Get Buck In Here, a track featuring Diddy, Ludacris, Akon, and Lil Jon. It's a catchy tune that's good for the clubs, which proved to be the case when it was played (to popular effect) at the wonderful place known as Mako's. Yep, I went there for the first time in a little more than a month last night. It wasn't as wild of a time as usual, but I still had fun. I hope to go back there either on Friday or Saturday as I'll be attending Ring of Honor wrestling events in the area both nights, but just in case I couldn't make it on either night, I went on Wednesday.

Monday afternoon I'll be back with another tune; this one, I'm planning on it being another one I heard at Mako's on Wednesday night. That song was sampled by a famous dance duo and it's likely you did not even know that song was sampled from a funk tune from a now obscure group.

This Movie Should Have Won The Best Picture Oscar

Finally, I'm able to do this particular post. The past few days were chaotic for me but today has been much better for me.

I was inspired to post this particular song due to its inclusion in the movie Goodfellas. I've seen it a few times before, but a few days ago I was able to see it on the big screen, as Universal Cineplex 20. The soundtrack to the film was pretty great, and the song I'm pointing out here was used when Henry Hill was with his lady friend Sandy and they were mixing cocaine together at her joint during the day that… but I don't want to spoil anything if you haven't seen it before. It's a scene set in 1980, I'll put it that way. It's also another blues song for the blog. This one is by the legendary Muddy Waters, one of the greatest artists in that genre of all time.

The song is one of his most popular; it's known as Mannish Boy. This was a song from 1955 and can easily be found on one of his many best-of albums. Don't confuse it with the remake of the song done for the Electric Mud album. I haven't heard that or any of the other tunes on there but I've only been told bad things about that album, so I feel safe in stating my opinion to avoid it unless you want it as a curio.

Muddy Waters-Mannish Boy (4.96 MB, 128Kbits/second)

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/12/28/1667157/Muddy%20Waters%20-%20Soundtrack%20GoodFellas%20-%20Mannish%20Boy%20.mp3

I'll be back Thursday night with a new upload.

Happy Easter Weekend, Everyone

My apologies for this being so late but the past few days have been insane for me so I'll tell you that what I had planned for Friday night will be up Monday night, I promise.

Walk, Don't Run To This Download

Here is the last part of me covering bands that made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that you may not know a lot about, or are quite frankly surprised that they made it in.

The Ventures is a band famous for its surf rock songs such as Walk Don't Run and the theme to the TV show Hawaii Five-0, but I never realized they were so highly regarded or were such huge stars in Japan (long before Cheap Trick!), as their Wiki page and Hall of Fame induction page explained. Hell, they're still performing today and still release albums.

For example, the song I'm posting today is from their 1997 album Wild Again and they cover a song that I'm sure all of you know by heart due to it being such a popular tune in our culture since around the time that the Ventures started becoming popular. It's The James Bond Theme. They do a very good job with capturing the spirit of the original song. Then again, right now I'm listening to their cover of the funky disco song Theme to S.W.A.T., originally done by Rhythm Heritage. I know, it sounds bizarre to hear that a band best known for playing "surf music" would cover a song that you'd expect to hear in a blaxploitation film, but it was done for a concept album of TV theme songs. Sad to say, the versions I'm finding of the Ventures version is filled with too many "blips" that are distracting, so until I can find a version of it without that, I can't post the original and the cover to show how frighteningly well the Ventures song is to the Rhythm Heritage hit, and it also demonstrates that they were far from being just "a surf band".

The Ventures-The James Bond Theme (3.87 MB, 138Kbits/second)

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/12/28/1667157/Ventures%20-%20James%20Bond%20Theme.mp3

I'll be back a week from today with a new song. Hey, I don't think I'll have that much free time, so cut me some slack.

Purchasing Fruit From Foreign Countries

My apologies for doing this a few days late, but again, real life got in the way. A rather odd "real life" moment happened just earlier today, when I was in a local Best Buy when I saw none other than retired basketball (and current assistant coach for the Orlando Magic) Patrick Ewing walk into the store and start looking at DVD's! I kid you not. I didn't go up to him and get a picture or an autograph, but it still makes for an interesting story to tell, as this is the first time I've ever encountered a random celebrity doing a regular mundane thing such as purchasing DVD's.

I will continue on with the series of spotlighting people in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame who got inducted this year who you might not know too much about. Today it's Leonard Cohen. The Hall of Fame website has up a real nice synopsis of his career and explains why he was voted in. They also have nice bios for the aforementioned Dave Clark Five and Little Walter, and also other people that you may want to know more about.

Cohen is the poet type, so that explains why arguably his most popular song, Suzanne, has some rather interesting phrases and terms. I can't really explain why he spends the middle of the song talking about Jesus Christ, but nevertheless, it's a pleasant easygoing song with touching lyrics that many musicians obviously liked, given how often it's been covered.

Leonard Cohen-Suzanne (3.52 MB, 128Kbits/second)

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/12/28/1667157/Leonard%20Cohen%20-%20Suzanne.mp3

Check back here late Friday night, and I'll have up the last part of my Hall of Fame dealy.

Try Back Here Tuesday Afternoon

Unfortunately, real life is getting in the way again, so my next blog where I actually post a song will be on Tuesday afternoon (in the latter part of the afternoon, most likely). My apologies, but again it's real life and all...

You Can't Leave Here Without Singing The Blues

2 brownie points to anyone who recognizes which 80's movie I quoted for the title of this.

The blues is a genre of music that I enjoy from what little I've heard of it, but I've never really spent a lot of time trying to look up or download songs from the best artists in the field, such as B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, or Muddy Waters. I'll try to get to that in the future; Lord knows my tastes are rather eclectic and I enjoy many different genres of music, so I should spend time on a field of music that has influenced so many later genres, especially rock 'n roll.

Today I'll mention the most well-known song of legendary blues guitarist Little Walter, who will be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next week. That song is Juke, the highest charting harmonica song ever. It's a catchy and entertaining ditty. It's certainly more upbeat than you expect from the blues; I mean, with its name and style that most people associate with it, you expect a somber and downbeat tune where the singer laments all his problems in a blues song. That certainly is not always the case, especially with Juke.

Little Walter-Juke (4.53 MB, 233Kbits/second)

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/12/28/1667157/05%20Juke.mp3

I'll be back Saturday (probably in the evening) with another song from someone who will be soon in the Hall of Fame.

RIP Mike Smith

If you don't recognize the name, he was the lead singer of The Dave Clark Five (the guy the band was named after was actually the drummer), a famous band from the 60's that you've probably heard on the oldies stations or elsewhere, as they've had quite a few hits that are still played today. He passed away on Thursday; sadly, it was less than 2 weeks away from the band being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This made me realize that by posting a more obscure song from the band due to the death and the ceremony being a week away, I'd kill 2 birds with 1 stone, as I've realized it'd be interesting to spend some time this week talking about the more obscure people getting inducted into the Hall. Everyone knows the songs of Madonna and also John Mellencamp, but even I am not that familiar with most of the famed tunes from The Ventures, and I know nothing from Leonard Cohen at this time, not to mention legendary harmonica player Little Walter.

I was on MP3 Rocket and found this song at random. It was one of a few I downloaded. I picked this one as a lyric and the message of the song is rather interesting. The tune is known as You Got What It Takes and it mentions that no matter what (such as her being poor and having a crappy car; I'm paraphrasing here), the lead singer loves his lady. However, one lyric, which is repeated more than once, goes, "Nature didn't give you such a beautiful face." To me, that means she's ugly! I don't think a guy saying that to his lady will make the lady very happy, but maybe things were different in the late 60's…

But hey, this was the last hit of any note they had in the U.S. and much to my shock, their albums today are pretty rare and hard to find (you'd think that sometime soon a company will put out at least a 1 CD retrospective set of their biggest hits), so hopefully you'll enjoy this as a curio, if nothing else.

As a side note, Jeff Healey passed away yesterday. He was famous in the 80's for being a blues-rock guitarist, being blind and playing the guitar by laying it across his lap. If you've seen the classic Road House, you probably remember him from there. After that, he actually was more of a jazz musician. Dying at the age of 41 is awfully sad, and him dealing with cancer his entire life is even worse.

Dave Clark Five-You Got What It Takes (2.74 MB, 128Kbits/second)

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/12/28/1667157/Dave%20Clark%20Five%20-%20You%27ve%20Got%20What%20it%20Takes.mp3

I'll be back Wednesday night with a song from another band going into the RnRHoF, and it actually goes along with the preceding paragraph. This time I'll try to be a little more punctual.