Year: 2020
Original format: MP3
Malaclypse the Younger: Everything is true.
Greater Poop: Even false things?
Malaclypse: Even false things are true.
GP: How can that be?
Malaclypse: I don’t know, man, I didn’t do it.
Playlist after the jump.
Playlist:
The Holy Egoism of Genius The Art of Noise
“Some people wish above all to conform to the rules, I wish only to render what I can hear. There is no theory. You have only to listen. Pleasure is the law.” —Claude Debussy
God John Lennon
“Like a lot of the words, they just came out of me mouth. It started off like that. God was stuck together from three songs almost. I had the idea, ‘God is the concept by which we measure our pain.’ So when you have a [phrase] like that, you just sit down and sing the first tune that comes into your head…. And then I just rolled into it. ‘I don’t believe in magic’ – and it was just going on in me head. And I Ching and the Bible, the first three or four just came out, whatever came out…. I could have gone on, it was like a Christmas card list – where do I end? Churchill, and who have I missed out? It got like that and I thought I had to stop… I was going to leave a gap and say, just fill in your own, for whoever you don’t believe in. It just got out of hand.” —John Lennon
God Part II U2
It took a lot of nerve for Bono and co. to write a sequel to Lennon’s song, but nerve is one thing they’ve never been short of — this was around the same time they covered “Helter Skelter” and declared, “This is a song Charles Manson stole from the Beatles. We’re stealin’ it back.” Obnoxious. But what can I tell you, I really like this song. I’m a sucker.
I Believe in Love Lou Reed
Lest we think he was going soft, Lou had to throw the iron cross in there.
I Believe in Rock & Roll Bill Drummond
“William Ernest Drummond (born 29 April 1953) is a Scottish artist, musician, writer, and record producer. He was the co-founder of late 1980s avant-garde pop group The KLF and its 1990s media-manipulating successor, the K Foundation, with which he famously burned £1 million in 1994. More recent art activities, carried out under Drummond’s chosen banner of the Penkiln Burn, include making and distributing cakes, soup, flowers, beds and shoe-shines.” So begins Drummond’s Wikipedia page, but you really need to read the whole thing. Honestly.
I Believe in Your Love Charles Bradley & the Menahan Street Band
“When they called James Brown onstage, I’ll never forget they had this purple light and yellow light – my two favorite colors. And when they introduced him, he came flying on the stage on one leg and I said, ‘What in the hell is this?’ And I was mesmerized. I was just gone…. I said, ‘Wow. I wanna be something like that.’” Bradley first performed in public at age 19 in 1967. “I was really scared to do it, so they snuck a bottle of gin in the gym with 7-Up in it, and I got fired up. I said, ‘Give me that mic!’ … I ain’t never stopped yet.” —Charles Bradley
You Made a Believer (Out of Me) Ruby Andrews
“The opening break feels like it could be on any De La Soul record, the dominant piano gives the record a very personal feel, the persistent background vocals and lyrical themes suggest a secularized gospel feel and the song does not let up at all even when it briefly drops into a minor chord feel half way through.” —Podomatic.com
Voodoo in You Johnny Jenkins
Johnny should have been a superstar, but he was overshadowed by the singer in his band, the Pinetoppers — a young man named Otis Redding. This song is from Ton-Ton Macoute!, his long-delayed first album, which according to Wikipedia “was originally intended as a Duane Allman solo album, before he departed to form The Allman Brothers. Most of the guitar tracks were played by Allman, and Jenkins later supplied the vocal tracks.” However it may have come about, this is one barnburner of a tune.
Superstition Stevie Wonder
“Jeff Beck was an admirer of Wonder’s music, and Wonder was informed of this prior to the Talking Book album sessions. Though at this point he was virtually playing all of the instruments on his songs by himself, Wonder preferred to let other guitarists play on his records, and he liked the idea of a collaboration with Beck. An agreement was quickly made for Beck to become involved in the sessions that became the Talking Book album, in return for Wonder writing him a song. Between the album sessions, Beck came up with the opening drum beat. Wonder told Beck to keep playing while he improvised over the top of it. He improvised most of the song, including the riff, on the spot. Beck and Wonder created a rough demo for the song that day…. After finishing the song, Wonder decided that he would allow Beck to record ‘Superstition’ as part of their agreement. Originally, the plan was for Beck to release his version of the song first, with his newly formed power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice. However, due to the combination of the trio’s debut album getting delayed and Motown CEO Berry Gordy’s prediction that ‘Superstition’ would be a huge hit… Wonder released the song as the Talking Book lead single months ahead of Beck’s version.” —Wikipedia
Make It Plain Divine Styler
“Then the LORD replied: ‘Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.’” —Habakkuk 2:2
Qu’ran Brian Eno & David Byrne
This song appeared on the original version of My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, but was later removed at the request of the Islamic Council of Great Britain. Hopefully there is no risk involved in unearthing it at this late date.
Touba – Daru Salaam Youssou N’Dour
“The organic and sacred character of this music seems to stand outside of time and space; it wails and warbles, croons and groans. It is the music of joy and reverence and, as it bridges the various aspects of Islamic cultural traditions, one hopes it can create, via the sheer beauty of its sound and the translation of its lyrics, a portrait of a world that is far different from the one portrayed by Western media constructs.” —Thom Jurek, Allmusic
D.J. David Bowie
“Ian Mathers, in his 2004 revisit to Lodger, made a good point that ‘“DJ” is neither celebrating DJ culture nor condemning it, the music and the activity is merely a framework to hang the song upon. “DJ” is a horror story about a human being reduced to nothing more than work.” Still, I wouldn’t go that far: ‘D.J.’ (‘David Jones’ too, of course) is also a man defined by his records wondering if he’s been reduced to them. If all you are is what you play, when you play dross and nonsense, what does that make you? It’s the idle thoughts of a man whose life has played out in a series of LP cover photographs.” —Chris O’Leary
What Is a Disc Jockey? Ted Randal
“Round about 1957, there was a very sentimental record that had become popular, ‘What Is A Boy?’ (backed with ‘What Is A Girl?’). Sweet and treacly spoken word, with soft strings in the background. The sort of thing that’d make your Grandmother cry. It was recorded by Jackie Gleason, and also by Arthur Godfrey, and likely several other artists as well. Possibly because of its high syrup factor, the record also spawned several snarky parody versions…. Spike Jones covered the ‘What Is a DJ’ territory in a different version, but I like this one better. Ted Randal was a popular disc jockey working in San Francisco when he recorded this version.” —Learning2share.blogspot.com
I Believe (in Love) Hot Chocolate
Did someone ask for a neck-snapping pivot from darkest cynicism to syrupy sweetness?
Butterfly Dance Kevin Ayers
“Kevin Ayers and Syd Barrett were the two most important people in British pop music. Everything that came after came from them.” —Nick Kent
Dear Believer Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
“‘Dear Believer’ is about something else, though. It’s about the fact that it’s irrelevant whether or not I can create heaven on earth or utopia or anything like that. It’s irrelevant to me that you might say it’s impossible. It’s irrelevant to me if it is impossible. I’m going to do it anyway.” —Alex Ebert
Believe Benjamin Booker
My favorite song of the 21st century so far.