If I were picking my top ten albums of the 90s, 1994's Wild Seed - Wild Flower by Dionne Farris would place high on that list. The solo debut for the former Arrested Development singer opens with "I Know," the massive hit single that spent seven months in the top ten. Then it's one great song after another right to the end, spanning pop, rock, soul, funk and folk. Fourteen years after it's release I still listen to this album all the time, and her tender acoustic version of "Blackbird" is still my all-time favorite Beatles cover. Farris had a had another hit a few years later with "Hopeless," which appeared on the Love Jones soundtrack. Then she did a bit of a disappearing act. I have been dying to hear what was coming next from this engaging artist, but as the years passed a follow-up album was looking less and less likely.
I am beside myself with anticipation. I paid for it, then got an email saying I'd receive a download link when my payment was processed- in about four days! I used PayPal, for crying out loud, why do I have to wait that long?
Oh well. Meanwhile I'll listen to the new tracks steaming on her MySpace and enjoy the video for "Baggage," also new to me though it came out in December.
The theme for this month's FTOTZ mix is nostalgia.
tracks 1. Bent - Memories 2. Sam Phillips - Taking Pictures 3. High Contrast - The Ghost of Jungle Past 4. Elton and Betty White - Climaxation is a Sweet Sensation 5. Dolly Parton - A Few Old Memories 6. Erykah Badu - That Hump 7. Shelby Lynne - Just A Little Lovin' 8. George Clinton & the P-Funk All Stars - Butt-a-Butt 9. Dr. Samuel J. Hoffman - I Dream of a Past Love 10. Elton and Betty White - The Little Dicks Fit Me Best 11. The 13th Floor Elevators - Splash 1 12. Wagon Christ - Memory Towel 13. Minnie Riperton - Memory Band 14. Sheila E. - Faded Photographs 15. The Shangri-Las - Past, Present and Future 16. Armand Van Helden - I Want Your Soul ft. Siedah Garrett 17. Millie Jackson - The Memory of a Wife 18. Nu:Tone - All Over the World ft. Rose Windross 19. Elton and Betty White - I'd Really Rather Not Have Oral Sex 20. Fred Wolff Combo - Somebody Else Was Suckin' My Dick Last Night 21. Dolly Parton - 9 To 5 (Thee Werq'n B!tches Happy Hour At Charlie's Mix)
notes Whimsical electronic duo Bent hail from Nottingham, UK. "Memories" appeared on their acclaimed 2000 debut Programmed to Love.
When I first read about this month's theme I immediately thought of Sam Phillips' "Taking Pictures" and its lyric, "Nostalgia isn't what it used to be." From her 2001 album Fan Dance.
Cardiff, UK-based drum & bass wunderkind Lincoln Barrett a.k.a. High Contrast is a DJ, producer and label owner. "The Ghost of Jungle Past" can be found on 2007's Tough Guys Don't Dance.
Homeless couple Elton and Betty White honed their singular brand of sexually explicit outsider funk performing as street musicians in Little Rock, AR. They later moved to Venice Beach, CA, starred in their own award-winning cable access hit and made several TV talk show appearances. The tracks included here appear on their album Sex Beyond the Door, date unknown. RIP Betty, and may all the men in heaven have little dicks.
The term psychedelic rock may have been coined to describe The 13th Floor Elevators, a Texas garage rock band who moved to San Francisco and became one of the first proponents of the sound. Their more tender, ballad-oriented side is in evidence on "Splash 1," from The Psychedelic Sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators.
Wagon Christ a.k.a. Luke Vibert is a British producer of genre-hopping electronica. "Memory Towel" is from his 1998 album Tally Ho!
Best known for her hit "Loving You," Minnie Riperton was also the lead singer for Rotary Connection, one of my favorite psychedelic soul acts. "Memory Band" is from her 1970 solo debut Come to my Garden and pairs the sort of trippy-dippy lyrics I can't get enough of with some Bacharach-on-ecstasy production that must be heard to be believed.
"Past, Present and Future" proves that once a group has racked up enough hits, they can record themselves reading bad teenage poetry over a timeworn classical chestnut and people will still buy it. From The Best Of The Shangri-Las.
"The Memory of a Wife" has all the hallmarks of a great Millie Jackson tune: dramatic spoken word passages, scorching soul vocals and biting humor. From her second adultery-themed concept album, Still Caught Up.
Nu:Tone is Dan Gresham, a UK drum'n'bass artist. "All Over the World" features the vocal stylings of Rose Windross and can be heard on his 2005 debut Brave Nu World.
We close with another gratuitous Dolly inclusion, "9 To 5 (Thee Werq'n B!tches Happy Hour At Charlie's Mix)." Wait, did I say gratuitous? Silly me. One can never get too much Dolly! If you agree, head over to Thee Werq'n B!tches and you'll hear his remix of "You Drive Me Crazy," Dolly's new Fine Young Cannibals cover.
If I were picking my top ten albums of the 90s, 1994's Wild Seed - Wild Flower by Dionne Farris would place high on that list. The solo debut for the former Arrested Development singer opens with "I Know," the massive hit single that spent seven months in the top ten. Then it's one great song after another right to the end, spanning pop, rock, soul, funk and folk. Fourteen years after it's release I still listen to this album all the time, and her tender acoustic version of "Blackbird" is still my all-time favorite Beatles cover. Farris had a had another hit a few years later with "Hopeless," which appeared on the Love Jones soundtrack. Then she did a bit of a disappearing act. I have been dying to hear what was coming next from this engaging artist, but as the years passed a follow-up album was looking less and less likely.
