AD Unplugged Tape Bonuses (Part Three)

Here is the last instrumental from the cassette version of Unplugged.  As a note, "People Everyday" does appear as a song on the Unplugged album, but the instrumental does not, so no, it's not something we are missing.  These cassette only bonuses can be frustrating for us old school hip hop heads- I can think of a few albums off the top of my head that had cassette-only songs (often due to the longer running time of tapes opposed to CDs- I believe they were still 74 minutes back when Unplugged was released).

For the record, Unplugged does right one of the wrongs of the Three Years... album- it is clearly Headliner proclaiming himself as Headliner at the open of "Raining Revolution" as opposed to Speech...  ;)

Without further adieu, here is "Fishin' 4 Religion."  Again, thanks to Christian for this song!

Fishin' 4 Religion (Instrumental)

AD Unplugged Tape Bonuses (Part Two)

Here is part two of three, and no we are to the good stuff.  Here is "U" one of the great love songs on Three Years...  Thanks again to Christian for sending this to me!


U

AD Unplugged Tape Bonuses (Part One)

The crux of this site is that I have an almost obsessive desire to collect every commercially released song by either Arrested Development and Speech.  Figuring where there's one, there's probably another, I started the site in order to share these hard to find, rare, and/or out of print songs while bringing focus to the readily available material because the group is too good not to be heard.  But in this case, I probably went a little too far.

Digging through an old box of stuff, I found the AD Unplugged cassette.  After looking it over for minute, I noticed on the back three little asterisks denoting "cassette only bonuses" (see photo above, which I found on google).  

Oh no!  In the big scheme as well as the little scheme, these three instrumentals mean little (especially the "Time" instrumental, which is barely a song at all and frustrated my twelve-year old self who thought that song as well as "Searchin' For One Soul" and "The Gettin'" were brand spanking new AD songs when they are basically interludes) but the OCD in me came out and I had to have them.  But was it worth paying the $20 or so I would have to pay for a company to convert them to CD?

Probably not, especially since good friend of the site and future AD Fan of the Month Christian LeBlanc is a master at ripping stuff from vinyl, tape, etc.  Long story short, I ordered a copy of the tape on Amazon for pennies, shipped it to Canada (wisely and cleverly saving myself a trip to the post office while keeping my cherished copy of the tape that was so haphazardly stored in a box in my mom's basement and seems to have disappeared since), and a short time later, Christian sent me the tracks!  Hooray for OCD.

Truth be told, the instrumentals, at least for "Fishin" and "U", are really good and shockingly fun to explore without the vocals on top.  I love how they retain yet expand on the sound found on the album versions, and they sound completely different from what the stellar bad does now.   

Today, we'll start with the ultimate tease in the "Time" instrumentals (there appear to be two versions on the tape), tomorrow we'll have another, and Wednesday we'll close with yet another.  Enjoy!  And thanks to Christian for sending these to me!

Time Instrumental

Time Instrumental (More Time)

Listen. Now.

If you missed the interview with Speech from All School Sessions, I HIGHLY recommend checking it out now. The link to the show on Rapstation is here.  It runs about an hour and it's nearly an hour into the show.  Speech is very thoughtful during the interview, as well as likable, funny, humble, and dropping knowledge.  Kel does a great job of steering the conversation.

Honestly, my feeling after listening to this is that it makes me even prouder to be a fan of Speech as well as the group Arrested Development, and I'm even more pleased that I started this blog.  I won't even get to what Speech said about this site, but it was pretty cool.

As far as news, he does announce that a mixtape called "Standing at the Crossroads" will be out this year as well as the full length anniversary album towards the end of the year.  Can't wait for both.

Tonight's the Night

Speech's interview on All School Sessions will be tonight as well as Kel's first person report from the RR Hall of Fame.  You can catch it live here from nine to eleven eastern time, and on tape here afterwards.  I'm really looking forward to it, so check it out!

Coming Soon to All School Sessions....

Is an interview with the legendary Speech!  I cannot wait to hear this, next Monday, April 16th.  Until then, make sure you check out Kel's special Rock and Roll Hall of Fame edition, featuring the induction of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Beastie Boys, Guns N' Roses, and many others. 

By the way I love the logo. 

Living Bloopers

Here's a short little video of bloopers from the Living video.  Check it out!

Appear In An AD Video!

For those who may have missed it, AD is offering a chance to appear in upcoming video with the group.  I hesitate to put this up here as the more people that enter, then the less chance I have, but I'm unselfish, what can I say?  There are a few requirements to enter so turn to the link, or look at the picture, for more details.  The good news is you'll have to watch the Living video a few times to answer the question, and that's not a bad thing at all.

If I somehow win, I do promise to not attempt to sing or rap, dance, or otherwise embarrass myself, my family, or the human race.  At least not intentionally. 

Good luck if you go for it!

Brand New Living Video- With A Making Of Video

Not much more to say- a cool new AD video for Living (no April's Fool Joke here!).  Some of it reminds me of the early, early AD videos, specifically the black and white open, which was a nice touch and likely intentional.  Check it out!  Below that is a Making of video to boot.  Great stuff to check out for all AD fans.  Living has a spring feel to me so great time of year to revisit the song.