OK – that last post about Nas got me going. I went into the CD vault, and dug out a dusty copy of the sony music sampler which had the version of Nas’ Aint Hard to Tell that I wanted.

Now the version that’s on this sampler has a serious beat, not like the linked viedo below. After some sleuthing, I found that the Sony sampler is actually titled: Sony Music Black Music Month ’94 / You Can Hear The Future In The Music.

Anyways, that version is much nicer than the one on YouTube. Of course, the old Fugees Nappy Heads Remix Radio version is also nice.  “What was so wonderful about pickin cotton on the farm – Mr. Slaaaaaaave-Maaaaan?”

Making fun of Louis Armstrong is not nice, Mr. Fugee, but it does make me laugh.

Props to my cousin for turning me onto Nas back in the day (it aint hard to tell, I excel. . .) with the brilliant Illmatic.

In the 15 years since that introduction, I stumbled on Olu Dara (Your Lips, Your Lips, Your Lips, Your Lips They are Juicy!) with his release In the World: From Natchez to New York.

I am up late tonight working on a massive , complicated model to show how our business should play out, when on the TV here is Nas, with this guy – and I know that guy – that’s Olu Dara.

Nas keeps going on about his dad, and slow as I am, by the end of the song I figure out that Nas’ Dad is Olu Dara!

Nice.

They both kick buns, so check them out.

By the way – I bought my first track from Amazon’s MP3 service. They don’t yet have a huge selection, but I come from the days of vinyl and tapes, so I still operate in the gold / copy mode: I leave the gold copy at home, and take the copy on the road. The copy wears out ( I lose my mp3 player) and I still have the gold at home, safe. I still have a veritable vault of CD’s as well, but they collect dust now.

All that’s to say I want to have an unfettered mp3, at high quality, that I can copy to my mp3 player without fingling with every genius-scheme DRM encumbrance. That’s for the Man. I buy from Amazon.

To my ears, a classic of lost love – Europa and the Pirate Twins from Thomas Dolby – now redone by Sondre Lerche. Bravo Sondre!  Watch a live version here. Buy the song for 99c here. There – I have finally admitted that I am a big Thomas Dolby fan. Not the “she blinded me with science” type of fan – more like the “One of our Submarines” kind of fans.

When the “in” generation is remaking classics, and I remember those classics, and the girl I used to like when those “classics” were playing on the radio, it’s time I realized it’s all downhill from here. I’m an old guy now.

Rock on Sondre.

By the way, rack another point up for Scandinavia. . .

First time I heard this fantastic track (Bullets) off of the Tunng album this morning on KCRW, followed by a track I’ve heard, but which deserves some adulation. That track is Sideways from Let’s Go Sailing. Both are pop-y and nice, and catchy in a sly way. There is so much good music out there – it’s really incredible. People talk about the Long Tail, but I live in it and happily.

The Video for the Bullets Track is up on YouTube – a kind of mix between a Terry Gilliam thing and the Muppet Show. Thematically this song reminds me of a fleeting thought I’ve had for the last 10 years – put up a list of the top 10 songs I like from the 80′s. It reminds me because I think I’d have to put “Is it like today” from World Party at the top of the list, and the Bullets track reminds me of that song in some ways.

For Your viewing pleasure, I  present the video to you: Watch. The video / sound quality is quite atrocious, but the lyrics are stunning.

Given the state of affairs out there, I’m voting for putting rock bands and comedians in charge.

In case you want more World Party Videos of the same song, try this — unfortunately the sound level was recorded a bit too high, but it’s still likable.

While I’m on World Party, I have to say, their songs  Ship of Fools (this version from the secret Policeman’s Ball), and another of my all-time favorites, All Come True (this clip actually has good audio quality!) are fun to listen to as well, if just for old times sake.