AD's Black Friday Offer

OK, they really don't have a "Black Friday" offer in the AD store- but they are offering a few free downloads that you should check out if you haven't already purchased these recent online-only projects.  Right now, you can download two remixes to "Miracles" and a remix to "Caught Me" from the Life Music Remixes project in the AD store for FREE, right here.  This includes the SAM remix of Miracles which would finish up the Since the Last Time deluxe edition remixes disc 2 if you downloaded everything else from this blog.

Then, you can also download "The Kingdom of Illness" here, which is an outstanding Speech song from the Unreleased Jewels project.  Just wanted everyone to be aware of that!  Hat tip to AJ from www.jazzyjefffreshprince.com for sharing this information.  (BTW, if you are into Will Smith either as a rapper or an actor, that's a great site to check out and I wish someday I could make this blog into something comparable- but I would have a lot of work to do!  Now that I have a daughter, I've gotten a lot more into Will's music since I can play it guilt free in the car, just like AD and Speech's stuff.) 

As far as Unreleased Jewels, for a Speech fan it's a must-buy.  Great stuff on there, including a Christmas song for the season!  Life Music Remixes depends on how much you enjoy remixes but is worth the low price tag in my opinion.

The Life Music Remixes

Life Music Remixes is the other half of the two recent online-only releases on the Vagabond site. This compilation remixes tracks from a variety of recent albums. I have a love-hate relationship with remixes- on one hand when you've played a certain song to death from a group you love, it's a way to listen to it with a fresh perspective. On the other hand, you risk taking a good or great song and making it worse- of course, the opposite holds true. For instance, the album version of "People Everyday" is really good, but you'd be hard-pressed to say the remixed version wasn't better.

So Authentic (Tall Boy Remix) [3:06] - This is a song from the Japanese version of Strong. Nice remix to a great song.

Bloody (Fraternal Twins Remix) [3:31] - Another funny remix name. This remix is fine, but to me, the original is so perfect that you almost don't even want to bother remixing it.

Any Tree But That (Sebmaestria Remix) [3:15] - I like this one too. I like the original but didn't love it, and I like this one as well.

Caught Me (Metamorphosis Remix) [4:13] - Metamorphosis Remix is a remix title that has been used quite a few times in the AD catalog, most famously with the afore mentioned "People Everyday." This is a really good remix. I think I prefer this to the album version on "Since the Last Time."

Miracles (S*A*M* REMIX) [3:44] - I'm a big fan of the original, and truth be told this remix, while fine taken on it's own, just makes me want to listen to the original! We'll see how I feel about the next remix of "Miracles."

Miracles (Jazzed Out Remix) [3:37] - Yeah, I pretty much feel the same way about this one as the previous remix- probably like this one a little more actually. Fine for what it is, but I'll take the original.

The Grown Folks Table (Tall Boy Remix) [4:29] - The title song from Speech's last album, this is my least favorite remix on here. Just kind of chops up the beat, inserts some random vocals from it, and leaves out the verses. Sorry Tall Boy!

I Alone (Tall Boy Remix) [3:15] - This one is better- works more like an instrumental then a remix.

InnerCity (Metamorphosis Remix) [2:42] - I think this one has been floating around for a little bit. Another "Metamorphosis" remix and not a bad one either.

Between the two recent online releases, I prefer Unreleased Jewels and think most Speech fans would. Having new music in my eyes is superior to remixes, although I don't regret checking out the remixes and the package goes for just $4.99 so it's not a big investment- I mean, that's a reasonable price. Either way, it's great that these projects have been made available to us Speech and AD fans, and hopefully this will prove to be a solid way to release music!

Gumbo

I had never even heard of this album until a week or so ago when I was browsing on Speech's Facebook page and someone asked Speech what happened to the group. I didn't think too much of it, but then when I was looking at the Down South Produckshuns album this was listed as one of Speech's projects along with the title: Droppin' Soulful H2O On The Fiber. So I looked it up on amazon and found it very cheap, so I picked it up. The curiosity got to me.

Now I haven't really had a chance to listen to it so I'll withhold from too many comments, but I did read through the liner notes and there are quite a few items of interest for us Speech fans. Number one, he produced the entire album. I didn't expect that, especially as it arrived in 1993, right at the height of AD's popularity. Number two, he appears to be featured on a few songs. In fact, he is credited under four different names on this release: Speech, the producer, DJ Peechy, the turntable instrumentalist, Todd Thomas, background vocals, and "Music" by Brother Speech. A man of many hats. This also appears to be the first use of "Vagabond Productions," which of course is still going to this day. So this is a project that Speech was very, very involved with.

As far as the title, it appears to be referring to dropping tears on paper- I wondered where that came from! Now if I can just figure out what "Impregnated Tidbits of Dope Hits", a song from Speech's first album, means....

So I will give it a listen and post my thoughts at some point- I look forward to it. For those who would also like to listen, here is a link to the entire album: Gumbo. I did not post this download so I can't vouch for it, but I'm sure it's fine.

Here's a look at one of the songs via youtube, with Speech on the chorus. This song was also on the Since the Last Time mixtape discussed earlier. We will have much more on this album later....

How Did I Miss These?

I'll tell you what, I will just about move heaven and earth to uncover new AD or Speech music (or have it shipped from Japan, same difference), but when it is sitting right under my nose, I miss it. Not sure as to how long these have been available, but there are two new projects available for download on the Vagabond Records site. One is called Unreleased Jewels and the other is The Life Music Remixes. I have just downloaded both, so I will be commenting on them after giving them a good listen. Meanwhile, download them yourself at the Vagabond site, $14.98 for both albums, or $9.99 for the Unreleased album and $4.99 for the remixes (of which there are 9 songs): Vagabond Store

Eyeballing the tracklists, I believe the "Inner City" remix is the only thing I have so this is exciting.