Word: funks
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...people praised Black and Blue when it came out in 1976, and the funk-disco song "Hot Stuff" from that Ip has not improved with age. Along with "Shattered," which opens up the first side, and "Dance, Pt. 2." "Hot Stuff" does however provide a clear picture of the New York the Rolling Stones know. It is a town of confusion and fast, undirected movement, which can suck you in for a lifetime if you don't resist its pull...
When they poke fun at Hollywood (a tough target!) in "Glamor Profession," they debase their argument by setting the lyrics to L.A.-mellow music. And this isn't clever melodic satire, because "My Rival" is much of the same, setting funk back a few decades. The vocal tracks removed, "My Rival" could play over airport sound systems...
Harvard basketball is in the doldrums, drifting helplessly in an early season funk. With its best (only?) long-range shooter bench-ridden with two dislocated fingers, the Crimson couldn't hit from the outside, couldn't penetrate inside--in short, couldn't score...
...songs were recorded in a style similar to that used by funk groups and reggae dubbing: a core band records basic all-purpose instrumentals (and on this album the music is really basic--one chord rhythms, no choruses, bridges, passages) and then later on lyrics and perhaps a solo instrument are dubbed in. Too bad that Eno couldn't leave well enough alone and had to tinker with the sound more. On "Houses in Motion" he makes a guitar sound like an Arab calling the faithful to pray: a nice trick but an unnecessary diversion. At least four recording processes...
...might think that side one is just some variations on a repetitive theme. Second listening might lend the same impression. Eventually "Cross-eyed and Painless" (the first single to be released) and "The Great Curve" emerge as the kind of songs Byrne was looking for: a driving variation of funk with lyrics almost as entertaining as those of Parliament-- "The world moves on a woman's hips, the world moves and it swivels and bops." Unfortunately, "Born Under Punches," like "Seen and Not Seen" on side two, is a victim of the risk that Byrne took: the combination doesn...