Friday, September 26, 2008
Apparently He's Not An *ANGY BLACK MAN* in this Movie....
Everybody loves a re-hashed Girl Group Record
Cousin: It's Solange's new stuff....
I have to hand it to things...whenever things get tough for a struggling female artist (more often than not those pegged in an R&B category), The smart female artist busts out Phil Spector's Baion beat (Amy Winehouse in 2006) or one of 3 Motown categories...
Duffy went for Martha & The Vandellas with "Mercy"
Also-ran Solange went here.....
Aww...Where Did Our Love Go? Aww...where did 45 years go...apparently nowhere because it's back...on the airwaves...just to make the world seem a bit crazier. It seems to add to the frenzy of dis-belief of all points of life anymore.
And to me it points that the evolution of American Culture probably ended with the Nixon Administration...and if it survived beyond that point, it died when Reagan told the populace that it was "Morning In America" again. So when things get tough, when we need innovation, we do a time warp to the 1960s...or some point before...
And as much as I love (and spetacularly failed) this resurgence (ok my plans aren't dead...I just have to reform them), I worry that whenever we find ourselves in a tight spot, or to prove ourselves (as artists and a collective populace) we fall back on our old school skills...mix them different ways...and sell ourselves on dreams we've already accomplished....dreams that have already faded
What is "I Decided" but a blend of "Heatwave" and "Baby Love" with a little "I Decided On a Whole New Plan"
What is a SUV hybrid from GM but an Oldsmobile Diesel V8 across the board
What is Identity politics, when we should really unite as one?
So next go around...let's not sample the beat...let's see if we can improve on the romantic vision of the past, but not use it exclusively....
(and word to everyone: Martha & The Vandellas "No More Tear-Stained Make-up" is my garage band cover...hands off)