Week 4 Blog Entry

"Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)"

Enter The Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers, the 1993 debut album by New York City rap collective, The Wu-Tang Clan, was a landmark recording in my opinion. The Wu Tang-Clan's original lineup comprised of 9 different rappers who are named off on the album's 9th track entitled "Method Man." The group consists of The RZA, The GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Inspectah Deck, Raekwon the Chef, U-God, Ghostface Killah, and M.E.T.H.O.D. Man.  Rapper Masta Killa was also a part of the lineup, though he was not mentioned in this chant, though he is mentioned in a similar fashion on the song "Clan In Da Front."

I feel in a way The Wu-Tang Clan's success with this album was similar to that of The Velvet Underground & Nico (despite that album's lack off success, it became a very influential recording.)  This album represents the classic New York rap scene, which is often characterized by "dirty samples" and an emphasis on lyricism. When listening to this album, I always think to myself "wow! This album is an absolute CLASSIC, yet it is so simple." I am referring to the fact that most of the tracks aren't flashy or sophisticated, they are sampled loops that The Clan rips lyrically, no gimmicks. For those unfamiliar with the terminology, I mean to say that they have a very aggressive rapping style and the lyrical content contains violent themes.

These explicit lyrics were part of the reason this album was so unique. It laid the foundation for many other rappers in the mid 1990's in what some came to call the "East Coast Renaissance," a term used to describe the east coast rightfully taking back it's throne and boasting some of the best rap artists of the time. The other thing that makes this album timeless and unique was the production of the music. Wu-Tang member RZA (pronounced riz-zah) handled the production for this album (and interestingly enough directed the latest kung-fu Hollywood flick "The Man With The Iron Fists.")  His techniques stood out because of his use of minimalistic soul samples and dialogue from kung-fu films, which the group seems to be very fond of.

As I mentioned before, this album became a highly influential piece because it served as a model, which many subsequent rappers based their styles and careers off of. In my opinion, this was a great thing because it spawned some of the best hip-hop records of all time. As a listener, this album has a special place in my heart. Recently (even before this assignment) I had found myself listening to this album cover to cover at least once a week because I enjoy it so much. It has definitely stood the test of time and is a hip-hop classic.

What I take away from "Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) into the industry is the overall idea of the piece; the idea that you can create something incredible, without having the most advanced equipment possible. Although it is nice to have that gear available, it often takes away the soul of a project in my opinion. I will keep this in mind as I move through the industry to make sure the glamour of high tech recording equipment doesn't fog my vision of the goal, which is to record/produce great music.

Peer Comment III

The following is a comment I left for a classmate on his blog post about hip-hop artist KRS-One.

"Carlos,

As a huge fan of KRS-One myself, I was excited to see someone else do a write-up on him and his work. He certainly has had an impressive career thus far. It's worth noting that he is preparing to release his 20th studio album this year. That includes the 7 albums he did with Boogie Down Productions. The post's ideas were separated in a logical manner and the extra pictures make it even more interesting. You provided a lot of great information.  The only suggestion I would make would be to proofread your work. I noticed a lot of grammatical errors that made it difficult to read at times. Other than that, keep up the good work! "

PEER COMMENT II

The following is a comment I left on a fellow classmate's post about The Velvet Underground & Nico.


"John, I liked your attention to detail when explaining the record. Having heard it myself, I can agree that it is not the easiest thing to describe. Your adjectives are fantastic in describing the sounds of the album. Your facts and history are all on point and provide the reader with enough information in a short enough amount of reading to prevent them from getting bored.  My only critique would be to proofread your work. There were a couple punctuation and grammatical errors but other than that it is well written. Separate paragraphs to show the main ideas would have also improved the work a little in my opinion. Keep up the good work!"

PODCAST 1 - The Velvet Underground

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO

To describe the image and sound of "The Velvet Underground & Nico" would be like asking a blind person to describe the Mona Lisa without having ever seen it.  It is something that almost cannot be put into words because it is so unique. However, I will give it my best shot.

"The Velvet Underground & Nico" is a piece unlike anything else I have ever heard. It begins with a soft, bass heavy song that conjures up memories of T.Rex records. After three minutes of that, the band is hit with a shot of adrenaline and powers forward into the head-pounding riff of "I'm Waiting For The Man." This song reminds me of the musical stylings of The Pixies, even though they came to fame over a decade later.  On the third song of the album the pace slows down again, and we are introduced to the disconnected and mysterious, yet kind voice of Nico.  On songs like "Venus In Furs" we have a very desolate image painted for us, as if the musicians' mere existence is somehow painful and wretched. The album goes up and down (and every other direction for that matter) covering a broad range of experimental elements and alternate tunings (Sonic Youth, anybody?) It is so unique that I cannot compare it to anything other than bands that most likely took some influence from the band/album. This is truly a staple recording, despite it's lack of commercial success.

The brilliance contained within the packaging of this album can be accredited to a few people.  Two in particular are the founding members of The Velvet Underground; John Cale and Lou Reed.  These two were the key writers for most of the band's music.  Drummer Maureen Tucker has said that her main role in the band was solely to keep a beat for when the rest of the musicians came down from their intricate guitar parts. In essence, she was the glue of this highly unstable group of musicians. One interesting thing to note about Tucker, which was pointed out to me by a friend, was that she did not use cymbals on her drum kit.  I went back and listened to the entire album cover to cover to confirm this. This may be one of the reasons this album was so revolutionary, because the fact there are no cymbals was not immediately obvious (quite possibly the best "cover up" of all time!)

The band's efforts did not go unnoticed, and in 1965, artist Andy Warhol became the bands' manager and forcefully brought on German-born singer/model Nico as the newest member of the band.  Warhol was the producer of "The Velvet Underground & Nico" although that title did not hold much weight because he gave the band control of what they made.  He also had them perform in his show, entitled "Exploding Plastic Inevitable"; a combination of art, film and live music performance.  In a sense, Warhol was the ringleader of this three-ring circus.

This piece of work was different than many other pieces of the time. This may have contributed to its lack of commercial success, the fact that it was so diverse and different from anything else out at the time.  The Velvets (which I guess is a commonly accepted nickname for the band, which I will use) were pioneers in alternative rock music and no matter how many times I listen to this album, I cannot put my finger on how they were able to craft such an innovative album.  Despite it's lack of commercial success, it is widely regarded as one of the most influential albums of all time. To me that is the equivalent of a presidential candidate getting more of the popular vote, and still losing the election (Sorry, Benjamin Harrison.)  The instrumentation on this album was also very different from anything else at the time. It is littered with exotic sounds, instruments, and playing styles, which are often very sloppy and unorganized but somehow it all stays together.  The band also uses a lot of distortion and non-appealing sounds on their album which puts it so far out of touch with popular music of the time.

As a listener, I have never been able to put my finger on exactly why I enjoy this album. Something about how raw it is and how nothing is held back may be one of the appealing features. As an industry professional, it is one to think on and try to break down (which proves to be a daunting task.) It is incredibly difficult to see where the band was going with this album and what they were thinking when they created it. In retrospect, this may be a reason it was so influential; those who listened to it were free to interpret it however they wanted, because it was so unorthodox and unspecific.

PEER COMMENT #1

The following is a peer review I left on a fellow student's blog about the "Pet Sounds" album.

"Clay, your entry on "Pet Sounds" by the Beach boys was very direct and provided all of the information the reader would need to know in a brief and easy to understand paragraph. I like your attention to detail on the obscure instruments that Brian Wilson used when recording the "Pet Sounds" album. The only criticism I would offer you would be to split up your post into paragraphs in order to separate the main ideas and I believe that "Pet Sounds" should be italicized to show that is a proper noun. Other than that you are doing a great job, keep up the good work!"

WHAT'S GOING ON

Prior to the recording and release of Marvin Gaye's landmark album "What's Going On," the singer/songwriter had a much different image and sound.  His previous works had been very affectionate and love driven, e.g., "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (performed with Tammi Terrell.)

When recording "What's Going On," however, Gaye took a new approach to the style of music he wanted to create for this album.  With the help of Renaldo "Obie" Benson of The Four Tops, he began to shape what would be the title track of this historic recording that would come to be known as "What's Going On." 

Through his brother, Frankie, Marvin began to collect ideas to build his next album.  His brother, having served in Vietnam, became a vital source of information and inspiration for the album.  Many of the songs on the album are expressed from the point of view of a Vietnam veteran who has returned home from duty only to find the country he has been fighting for is nearly as broken as the one he has just returned from.  This is incredibly apparent on the second track of the album, in which he says, "I'm just getting back/but you knew I would. War is hell/when will it end?" The lyrics depicting the struggle that had become common of returning American G.I.'s is a consistent theme throughout the album. The album touches on the challenges that G.I.'s faced, such as unemployment and homelessness, as well as the struggles of the rest of the population including poverty, racism, and other social injustices.

Releasing this kind of material was no easy task for Marvin.  Motown president Berry Gordy, when presented with the "What's Going On" album, wanted nothing to do with it. He felt that politically driven songs such as these would not see much radio and chart success, if any at all.  Marvin was obviously very upset by this and used a tactic of peaceful defiance to eventually sway the company in his favor.  Gaye refused to do anything until Motown released the album. He eventually won this battle when the company decided to release the album without Gordy's knowledge.

"What's Going On" was different from other soul recordings of the time, for several reasons. One such reason was the lyrical content. At the time there were many anti-war recordings and songs, but there were little to no soul artists who were recording them, much less anyone at Motown. "What's Going On" is a conscious masterpiece that addresses the troubles of the time from a very different perspective. It does not seem so much as a demand for things to stop or change, an approach that many rock and early punk bands may have been using, but more of a request; a request to stop the violence and to look around at everything that is wrong.  Another thing that set this album apart was the fact that it was so contradictory of other Motown releases.  Label mates The Four Tops had originally turned down the title track because they felt that it was a protest song (despite Obie Benson's contradictory opinion on it.)  Motown artists at the time were not interested in making political records.  It seems that they had been banking off of the love songs and planned to continue milking that cash cow.

As a listener I regard this album very highly. It falls nicely into place with other conscious Detroit based recordings such as "We Almost Lost Detroit" by Gil Scott-Heron (even though that was released several years later.)  I am absolutely fascinated by the arrangements and production quality.  The record as a whole is very soulful and depicts a very important message. As an industry professional I find myself examining some of the same qualities of the piece.  I am always listening closely to try and catch all of the elements that make the songs so unique and enjoyable.