Monthly Archives: August 2020

#750: The Who – Little Billy

Leave a reply

1968 was something of a transitional year for The Who. After 1967’s The Who Sell Out didn’t do as commercially well as the band – especially songwriter and guitarist Pete Townshend – thought it would, the group went straight back to work on making another album. That record, obviously, never saw the light of day – but some of the songs that were made for it (‘Glow Girl’, ‘Faith in Something Bigger’) were eventually released on Odds & Sods, a compilation of rarities and outtakes released in 1974. Others, like ‘Dogs’ and ‘Call Me Lightning’ were released as standalone singles.

‘Little Billy’ was due to be a single in that year too. The track was written for the American Cancer Society, I’m guessing so the band would prosper from advertisements and association with the company, but when it was taken to their executives it was swiftly forgotten about and left in an office for a number of years. Not very nice that that happened, as the track probably deserved more than nothing at all. It’s a peppy tale about the titular character who gets teased by his classmates for being fat. As they all grow older Billy stays somewhat healthy in comparison to those children who once teased him, who ‘one by one’ pass away due to cancer caused by smoking. Billy, being the ‘big man’ inside and out that he is, takes in the kids whose parents have died as his own. It’s a very cheery song but has quite dark lyrics – it works very well.

Got great vocal harmonies shared by Townshend, Roger Daltrey, and John Entwistle that were quite typical in ’60s Who recordings. And Keith Moon goes crazy on the drums and at one point gets a bit lost when carrying out the fills, before somewhat getting into the beat again. Above is the 1996 mix of the track, but the original 1974 release seems to be somewhat faster and in a higher key. I’ll put that down below. By the end of 1968, The Who were in the studio making Tommy and that worked out very well for them.

#749: Anderson .Paak – Lite Weight

1 Reply

Anderson .Paak’s Malibu was released in the first month of 2016. I was working at a music magazine during that time, something I’ve gone on about numerous times before, and I’d seen that Pitchfork had given it an 8.6 and a Best New Music tag. So I thought “It’s worth a shot.” Opened Spotify, pressed play, and…. I just had that feeling from when .Paak first starts singing on ‘The Bird’ that the album wasn’t going to disappoint. It’s always a bummer when you make a blog series like this and all this new music comes out. ‘The Bird’, ‘Heart Don’t Stand a Chance’, and ‘Come Down’ – all of my personal highlights from there. But today’s post is dedicated to ‘Lite Weight’, which comes in halfway through the record.

This track is a vibe and a half. Being where it is on the album, I get the feeling that a lot of people may not know as much about. It is a bit repetitive too; it’s only made up of the chorus and a small verse where the lyrics are always the same. But the vocals are silky smooth and good for the soul. There are some low-pitched vocal samples here and there and shouting ad-libs are thrown in the moments where no-one’s singing. Are these details important? Not very. I can never get over just how good this song sounds with some headphones on though. It’s beautiful stuff. The main message of the song is ‘there is no time to be lightweight.’ This could mean no time to be shy in life and being brave enough to make a name for yourself. Or it could be a drug reference somehow, I’m not too sure. It’s the only song whose beat is created by producer Kaytranada; it was a good sign whenever he and .Paak were both on a track, as would be made clear on their other collaborative effort ‘Glowed Up’ from Kaytra’s 99.9% album.

Anderson .Paak has continued to make some great music since 2016. I still think Malibu‘s his best album though. There are just so many musical ideas and twists and turns on there that make it a very adventurous listening experience.

#748: GZA – Liquid Swords

Leave a reply

I had a bit of a Wu-Tang phase going on in my second year of university. Can’t remember how it started. I think I listened to Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) just a few times, and that opened up a hole which led to me watching masses of interviews (of the group and respective members) and listening to their solo projects.

The story is that when 36 Chambers did its thing and got a lot of success and essentially made Wu-Tang a household name in ’93, the group’s producer and mastermind RZA made a plan for all the members to make their own solo albums before coming back for a full group effort later on. This resulted in what is seen as RZA’s (and Wu-Tang’s really) golden period with a run that gave us Tical; The Dirty Version; Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…; Liquid Swords, and Ironman.

Now, out of all of those Liquid Swords is my go-to choice. All of them have their own styles which a lot of people will prefer more than others. But it’s Liquid Swords that got me when that beat kicked in. After a long introduction taken from the film Shogun Assassin – which, although was good to listen to the first time, now gets a skip when the track plays on shuffle – GZA and RZA come in on the track’s hook in which they make it clear that they want to school the listener to the art of hip-hop. GZA then goes on to do so, in only two verses, with a mass of wordplay, metaphors and other literary devices delivered in a slick and laidback style. There are actually too many lines I could try and dive deep into, but that’s what Genius is for. And for an album that was released 25 years ago, it doesn’t sound as dated as you think it would.

Other things I’ll thrown in here to close this out. The main sample used throughout is taken from OG producer Willie Mitchell’s cover of ‘Groovin” by the Young Rascals. A music video was also made for this track, I’ll put that down below. I also wish I could have written about ‘B.I.B.L.E. (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth)’ which is also on this album because that track is great too. Got into it way after starting this though.

#747: Paul White ft. Danny Brown – Lion’s Den

Leave a reply

Just when I thought Danny Brown had given everything he could with Atrocity Exhibition in the autumn of 2016, it came as a surprise when, a few months later, two new songs that were worked on during the sessions for that album were announced to be released on a new (but short) EP. Paul White produced the majority of Atrocity Exhibition providing the psychedelic, spaced out, and generally trippy backdrops to many of the songs that made the album such an enthralling one to listen to. That record itself is bordering on a collaboration project. Man, I love that album so much.

So the Accelerator EP (credited with White as the main artist featuring Brown) accompanied with its title track and today’s song, ‘Lion’s Den’. They both are in the same vein of the tracks that appeared on Exhibition, echoing the main themes that arise on the album. Danny Brown yelps in that signature voice about his struggles with addiction and his personal spiral out of control amidst White’s out there production. ‘Accelerator’, the title track which I wish I could talk more about but won’t because this isn’t its post, is absolutely bonkers and deserves a listen. ‘Lion’s Den’ is the calmer and somewhat more sane number on the EP compared to the loony approach in ‘Accelerator’.

I can’t find anywhere on the Internet that lists the original source of the sample that is used throughout ‘Lion’s Den’ – in the rare occasion that someone reads this comment and direct me to a place that does – but it ultimately makes the track sound very pretty. I thought it was a Japanese sample. Some say it’s French. I’m not sure. I thought there was some sort of Eastern Asian tone to it. I’m probably wrong. I’m digressing. Ultimately, the track sees Danny Brown looking back on the man he has become, growing up in Detroit where a lot of bad shit goes down, overcoming those who told him he would never make it as a rapper, but majorly seeing that his debauchery and hedonistic lifestyle could catch up to him at any moment. This was him in a dark place. Glad that he seems to have gotten through that though.

#746: Animal Collective – Lion in a Coma

Leave a reply

Believe it or not, ‘Lion in a Coma’ was the first track from Merriweather Post Pavilion that struck me as being the most catchy and memorable. I went through the album for at least the second or third time while in my first semester as a fresher in university – it sounded like nothing I had ever heard before so I was quite perplexed as to what I was hearing the first time, that perplexity turned into admiration afterwards – and it was this song that I was humming to myself while walking down the road or going to my lecture. At that point I didn’t know what the lyrics were, but it was a song that was definite memorable melody. Weird time signature too.

There’ll be some who’ll agree with me and think “Why say ‘believe it or not’? I think [this song]’s great!”. Well, I’ve been on the Animal Collective subreddit and there are those who hear that Jew’s harp sample at the beginning and that’s a wrap for them. They can’t go on. I’ve never thought it was obnoxious. Once Avey Tare begins with his rambling lyricism, that harp blends into the background and from then on my main focus is on the fat rhythm set from the low end. I guess it’s the bass drum of the song, even though there are no drums present on it. The track is definitely something you can dance to, though not in normal ways – more like erratically moving your limbs and head to fit the beat and the spaces in between.

If you’re looking sideways at the title, it’s a play on the words ‘lying in a coma’. This song sees Avey Tare in a general sense of confusion and something of an identity crisis. He gets worried in times when you would think he would be at his most happiest and this sends him into a mode of overthinking. All this is perfectly matched with the odd time signature (9/8) and the way all of the lyrics such seemed to fall freely from Tare’s mouth. It’s a busy song, a lot goes on. One of my favourites from the album though.