We Rad We Doin It Video

I don't believe I've ever posted this video here- "We Rad We Doin It" from the Strong album.  This was one of my favorite songs from the record, great verses from Speech and One Love and strong lead vocals from Tasha LaRae.  Just a really creative and unique song.  The video is a lot of fun too, and is it just me or does One Love look like Jay-Z in some shots?  I've kind of thought that for awhile but it really seems noticeable here.  But maybe it's just me....

I also recently received some cool personal AD news- the group is coming to Nebraska!  They'll be in Lincoln on October 18th and you can imagine that I bought tickets as soon as I heard.  After all these years they'll be an hour away- I can't wait.

   

Last Word on Strong

All right, I had a chance to listen to the online version of Strong, and to my untrained ear it appears that the mixes used for the online version match those used on the US physical version. So there are basically two versions of the album, one for the US market and one for Japan. Here is a look back at my original post done last week explaining the differences, in case you missed it!

I should also mention that I notice a lot of differences in "The World is Changing" now as well. The US mix seems a lot richer and fuller- if that makes any sense at all....

Thanks again to Christian for helping me put this to bed!

STRONG

I got a package in the mail, the other day, I opened and read it, it said they were Arrested Development..... (OK, that's an awful joke, even by my standards, from one of my favorite Chuck D verses of all time).

So yeah, I got my copy of the US version of Strong in the mail yesterday and I had a chance to listen to it quite a bit. As mentioned before, this version features new "mix-downs" and some tracks that were not on the Japanese version.

I really noticed the new mix downs on the songs "Haters", "We Rad We Doin' It", and "La La La". There are subtle differences throughout, but it really stands out- to me- on those three songs in particular. I really like the new mix of "Haters" compared to the other version, and I think I prefer the mix of "We Rad We Doin' It" on the Japanese version. "La La La" I could go either way on, I like them both about equally. Now I'm not sure how these mixes compare to those available for download- maybe I will download a song to give one a listen and see. As far as this article is concerned, I am comparing the US versions to the Japanese versions in this case.

Speaking of "We Rad We Doin' It," I really thought that was a typo when I ordered my copy of Strong from CD Japan a year or so ago- it seemed like a bad translation to me along the lines of "all your base belong to us". But I love that song! And the title works!

I really like having CD quality versions of "Trends", "Freedom," and "Africa We Thank Ya." "Trends" in particular stands out, such a great song. As far as the packaging goes, they are very similar, but the US version is definitely more user friendly- and actually, more earth friendly as there is no plastic used at all.

No matter how you slice it, you have a great Arrested Development album and that's no small thing. However, it does delete a few tracks from the Japanese version, which is too bad as I really liked a couple of those songs. However, here are some youtube links to a few of those songs, so that you're not missing out if you get the US version.

Here is "So Authentic"

"Granola Girl"

"World is a Friendly Place"

Strong: US vs. the World

For the most part, it's pretty easy to break down the differences between the US versions and the import versions of Arrested Development's albums- unlike Speech at times! They either have a couple bonus tracks or there aren't any differences. We'll get into all of the albums at some point, but with the recent release of Strong in the US, I thought it would be a good idea to break down the differences on their latest release. Now keep in mind I am going under the assumption that the US version will match the online version now available- I could be wrong and I'll find out more when my copy arrives.

Anyway, to make it simple we will simply post the tracklists with some thoughts on the different songs on each release. The songs in bold are exclusive to that version. I bought the album version when it came out (for a ridiculous shipping fee from Japan, but it was worth it!) so I'm not real familiar with the US version as I just purchased the songs I didn't have when they dropped.

US Version

1. Bloody
2. Free - Cool song that sounds a lot like "Say Hey (I Love You)" by Michael Franti and Spearhead.
3. Let Your Voice Be Heard
4. The Trends- Another great song- when I heard it on youtube, I was begging for this to show up on the US release.
5. Haters
6. Any Tree But That
7. Greener
8. Too Much Woman For Ya
9. La La La
10. We Rad We Doin' It
11. The World Is Changing
12. Africa We Thank Yah - Another really good song. I love the sounds of African music so this is a nice tune.

Japan version:

1. Haters
2. Too Much Woman For Ya
3. The World Is Changing
4. La La La
5. Let Your Voice Be Heard
6. Bloody
7. Greener
8. The World Is A Friendly Place- I'm surprised this isn't on the US release as it's really catchy and uplifting. Takes aim at the idea that the rest of the world is a dump or in Speech's world, "toilet bowl".
9. Any Tree But That
10. We Rad We Doin' It
11. So Authentic- Wow, I'm really shocked this one isn't on there. Love this song. I mean, I think this one was a classic.
12. Granola Girl This is a different vibe from AD but I like it, although I'm not really an Auto-tune fan and it's a little jarring on an AD album. Still, you judge it for what it is and not what you think it should be, and it's good. Rasa Don and One Love handle the vocals on this one, so it's a rare Speech-less AD song. A video for the song appears below.
13. A Truce- This certainly isn't a bad song and I like it, but I would definitely go with "The Trends" or "Africa We Thank Yah" over it.
14. The World Is changing (DJ Hasebe Remix)- Pretty good remix of the song, adds in some different sounds and other elements. A really well done remix and kind of brings the release full circle as a coda.

There are a few unreleased songs for various reasons (none of which appear to be quality issues) from the AD youtube page that were covered here.

When I get my hard copy of the US release, featuring new mix-downs, I will be sure to post my thoughts. I'm old school, I just can not dig online versions in the same way that I can a CD with artwork, liner notes, and so forth.

Strong- Available Now!

Here's the video for "Greener" in case you missed it. This was of course the lead single from Strong, which is now available on CD in the US via Vagabond's Store! Pick it up now! I'm a sucker for having the physical album, so although the US version was available online, I'm happy to have the hard copy on the way.

Strong

It looks like Strong is finally going to be available to the US at a great price ($9.99), with updated content. I don't even want to say how much I paid for the album with shipping from Japan tacked on (my wife might stumble upon this site!), but nonetheless I will re-buy it to get the updated content. Here are the details from the AD official site:

(Incl. "The World is Changing", "Greener", "Bloody" & more)
The American Release available on CD Late October 2010 (We Promise!) The initial Japanese release was Dec. 9th 2009. But this US release has been RE-MASTERED with better mix-downs, and includes songs that are previously unreleased! The art design is made of organic and recyclable materials!

The World Is Changing

In case you missed it, the first video from Strong.

Strong Cuts

If you are an AD fan and don't subscribe to the Vagabond Record and Tapes feed on Youtube, you really should. If you're not familiar with that feed, then chances are you are not familiar with some of the songs that did not make the cut for "Strong," (AD's latest album) for whatever reason- sample clearances, just not good enough, etc. But the good people at Vagabond were nice enough to post these cuts on their feed so that we could hear them. And to save you the trouble of looking for them, here you go!

First one is "Happy". I really like this one, nice positive song that follows the AD tradition of making songs that can snap you out of a bad mood.



Here is "One Way or Another". I like this one too, kind of reminds me of "Down and Dirty" from "Since the Last Time".



Next is "Bio". This covers the same subject matter as "Greener" from the album, but in some respects I like this one better.



Lastly is "Push It Up". Flipping the old Roger Troutman sample made famous on EPMD's "You Gots to Chill".

Bloody

Man, this song has been out for a year now and it still blows me away. It kind of has the same feel as much of the Nas/Damian Marley album, but this hits me a little harder than the songs on that album. Here's the regular version and a great live version as well.