FIRST!

New year.
New game.

First day of the month.
Favorite track 1's.
Four songs.













Omar "Lift Off" from the SING...IF YOU WANT IT LP (2005)

Anyone that knows me knows that I'm a huge Omar fan (thanks Taunja for showing me the light!). I've seen dude in concert twice (fantastic shows) and I own all of his albums. Ever since I heard "In The Morning" from the Best By Far album, I've been hooked. Omar has blended his unique voice with a phenomenal sense of melody and song to create some fantastic music.

His first album There's Nothing Like This is a bit raw and is just OK in my book, but the rest of his catalog I highly recommend checking out! Now compared to his earlier albums, Sing...(If You Want It) is a slight let down. For every highlight on Sing, there's a low point. Some of the collaborations (Common, JC Bentley and Stevie Wonder) seem dialed in and forced. That being said, THIS short intro-lude that starts the album encompasses everything I love about Omar. Wonderous keys, well timed bets and vocals that sit ever so delicately on the track. This is a short example of Omar at his best.












Jazzanova "L.O.V.E. And You & I" from the IN BETWEEN LP (2002)

This song! This song alone introduced me to the sub-genre of broke beat (aka NuJazz), an amalgam of R&B, House, Jazz, Funk and Hip Hop music. My friend Taunja from Atlanta called me and told me to check out two CD's that she could not stop playing: 4Hero's Two Pages and Jazzanova's In Between. I walked out of Dustygroove with two CD's filled with music I'd never heard of.

I put In Between in my Alpine stereo and THIS song comes on. I pulled over and started the song over....and over...AND OVER! I couldn't believe my ears. What was this? The samples! The beats! Oh snap, that bass line half way through the song? Who were these guys? Just some Germans who loved Soul and Hip Hop music from the States.













The Jacksons "Music's Takin' Over" from the GOIN' PLACES LP (1977)

Press play above.
Listen to that.
Do you hear that?
Do you hear that voice?
Do you know who that is?
Sounds familiar, don't it?

Let me ask you this...

Do you know where your favorite version of Michael Jackson lives?

Do you? Some of you may have lost him. Some of you may think he only exists between Off The Wall and Thriller (which is fine, it's the peak of his career). For the longest time I thought my favorite Michael Jackson existed somewhere between The Wiz Soundtrack and his 1988 Bad album. After more research, I asked myself "Could The Jackson 5ive be more than just the Motown manufactured candy coated sugar pop jams backed by The Funk Brothers?" I mean could they? So like a lot of you, Bad was the last solid MJ album. Everything after that just got...well, odd (honestly there are some cuts on the Dangerous album).

For a long time I treasured the Michael that fit in that time span, never once thinking he existed before The Wiz or after Bad. Well, I've awaken from my slumber and I'm here to tell you there's more Michael out there. For the past four years I've been reacquainting myself with the six brothers from Gary, Indiana and (surprise) there's some great music on those records consisting of the Michael Jackson we love. The Michael you love on Off The Wall and Thriller? Guess what? He's alive and well on this album. That voice from "Rock With You" and "PYT"? Yeah, it's him.

"Music's Takin' Over" showcases a funkier more 70s feel that I never knew Mike and his brothers had. In fact, the Jackson 5ive's 1973 concert in Japan shows that the boys had some more music in them besides "I Want You Back". Even more so, these early Jackson albums on CBS really showcase Michael maturing in to his new voice. The second version of The Jacksons, and to a lesser extent this song, really opened up my appreciation for Michael. We'll showcase a lot more of the Jacksons on HSD this year, but I wanted to showcase this song because it's one of my favorite track 1's.













The Beatles "Come Together" from the ABBEY ROAD LP (1969)

Want to know how late I am on this album? I bought Abbey Road (and the Beatles biography) about a year ago right after I heard the conspiracy theory about the album cover. Crazy huh? Honestly, a good story will get me to buy an album without hearing it, and hearing about about all the "clues" did it. Historic relevance goes a long way with me. Anyway, when I think of songs that start an album, I couldn't get far without thinking of the boys from Liverpool.

My appreciation for the Beatles grew exponentially after hearing this album. I think it was hearing the medley at the end of the album that sort of had me thinking, "Wow! So that's it? THIS is why the Beatles are loved around the world!" Like, the light finally went off in my head about these four dudes, and "Come Together" was the chain that hung from the bulb.


(oh yeah, happy new year. *shrug*)