Bradley's Buzz

New Bubbatunes - Divas 4 & 5 (&6,7,8)

Well we are near the end of February and that means Black Diva Month is coming to a close, and while you're all debating whether Tina, Whitney or Donna Summer are the ultimate diva, I have our final two new Bubbatunes to throw at you - I tell you when we celebrate a diva month, we go all out...

bub 74 Janet - 861704 (February 27, 2007)
I love me my Miss Jackson, and that's cuz I'm nasty y'all.. through her chubby years, her svelte bod and even through her latest attempts at commercialism, I have loved just about everything she has ever done. However, we only had limited time to do the very best of the Miss J, so a few things had to be thrown out, including anything off of her newest album 20 Y.0. which I do have but I'm still kind of wrapping my little white boy mind around it, and I definitely didn't want to push off one of my favorite Janet songs just to be a completist, and of course there's also the fact that her first two albums from 1982 and 1984 aren't represented at all, which is how we got our name kids - 861704 stands for 17 songs from the years 1986-2004 I know I'm so clever. Like our other divas Janet has her own official greatest hits out there and it's good but it came out in 1996 and our girl has had a number of hits in these past almost 11 years. Then there's also some kick ass killer album tracks that will never make a greatest hits...

Because I wanted to make sure I didn't forget any of my ultimate favs, we begin 861704 with one, two, three, four, five, six pop of my very favorite Janet singles starting with "Just A Little While" from 2004 - this song was rushed out right after Boobgate and had it done been for all that stupid boobla, I think it would've been a huge hit - the rest of the Damita Jo album is kind of boring and overly sexual but this was a perfect piece of pop confection and is my personal favorite Janet single ever. We then move into more pop/guitar fun with 2001's "Someone To Call My Lover" which is a lip flapping piece of fun, "maybe we'll meet in a bar/ he'll drive a funky car/ maybe we'll meet in a club/ and fall so deeply in love" try to sing along with this one, and though I love me some fun Janet, I also love the sexual crazed lunatic she started to become with the 1993 janet. album so my fav single from that time period is representin' with "If" - a sexy jaunt with those awesome synth strings and the fast paced 'rap' verse, it's unforgettable, and the first time Miss J finally dropped some clothing was in the video for one of my other favorites, "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" which is another piece of ultimate fun. It's so catchy and lovable it's no wonder it went up to #1 and made Janet want to finally show off her body - plus does anyone not remember all those hot guys in the video.. mmm bop. Her first big hit was in the feisty "What Have You Done For Me Lately" and though some of the songs from Control sound a tad dated ("Nasty" I'm talking to you) this one stands up very well, plus I love the lyrics ("soap opera says you have one life to live/ who's right/ who's wrong?) and the bridge is great since I too have never asked for more than I deserve. Then our final sixth song of the ultimate fav singles ends with the ballad "Again" which was used in her film Poetic Justice but was also included on the janet. album. It's simple and sweet and very touching.

But there's more than just ultimate favorites on our compilation because I pretty much love all these songs in one degree or another, we have the hit singles from all those years, the guitar drenched "Black Cat", the sweet fun of "Together Again", "The Pleasure Principle" and "Control" from that insanely popular 1986 album, "Rhythm Nation" and "All For You" which is another of the early 2000's great janet singles, I mean when you start out with, "got a nice body all right/ guess I'm gonna have to ride it tonight..."

But there are a few feisty and superb album tracks that anyone with half an ear on Miss J would know - the house thump of "Throb", the super entrenched bitch fest of "This Time" which includes an operatic solo and ends with J saying, "You're dismissed" and a super cool send off called "What About" from 1997's The Velvet Rope. "What about the shit you done to me/ what about that?/ what about that?" I frickin' love it. Now if only she would start making more songs like the ones represented here, we could get her back on the top where she belongs.

Janet - 861704 (bub74)
Track List -
01. Just A Little While
02. Someone To Call My Lover
03. If
04. Love Will Never Do (Without You)
05. What Have You Done For Me Lately
06. Again
07. Black Cat
08. Together Again
09. This Time
10. The Pleasure Principle
11. Doesn't Really Matter
12. Throb
13. Scream (with Michael J)
14. Control
15. What About
16. Rhythm Nation
17. All For You

bub 75 Pointer Sisters - ON FIRE (February 27, 2007)
With this little compilation we end up adding four more divas to our list in one shot - the sisters that were the Pointers, Anita, June, Ruth and for a short time in the early days Bonnie came up with solid hits through out most of their career. From the 40's style bop tunes and even country twinged anthems in the early 70's to their shot at rock and pop in the late 70's and early 80's into the stuff they're most associated with - the synth laden dance pop of the 80's. Yes, these girls did it all and after listening to a bunch of songs (I was on a downloading frenzy) I realized how much I loved them. Of course Ruth's death last year, made me really want to go after the Pointer Sister's catalog and I found a few CD's to purchase but found the best compilation out there, is of course the one I'm presenting here, after all they did have a score of hits, some well known, some a little known, and some forgotten so it's my goal to try to represent the very best of the Pointers, from all the years and included a lot that aren't on every compilation including one of my all time favorite overlooked singles of the 80's "He Turned Me Out" a funky dance invocation that was featured in the film Action Jackson (one of the more overlooked action adventure films of any era), plus my favorite singles like their fun rendition of Springsteen's "Fire", and the pop laden mega hits "Neutron Dance," "I'm So Excited", "Jump (For My Love)" and my ultimate fav of that bunch, the slow robotic voice of Anita on "Automatic", I also discovered a few gems I never knew existed like a superb rendition of "Steam Heat" and their first single, a rousing fun harmonized confection called "Yes We Can Can" - then there's the girl group sounds of forgotten hits like "Should I Do It" (which Tanya Tucker also made in 1981) and "Could I Be Dreamin'" and a super cool Springsteen song that ended up on the follow up album that had included "Fire" - "(She's Got) The Fever)" is a moody rock song with super cool harmonies (their speciality) and a really cool rock track. In fact I've recently learned the whole album Priority from 1979 is essentially a rock album and a very good one at that - unfortunetly it's not on CD but should I happen to come across it on vinyl, I have a feeling Luther will be getting it and it will be a bubbatunes reissue in days flat.. until then enjoy the Pointer Sisters in their glory cuz these ladies were on fire!

Pointer Sisters - ON FIRE (bub75)
Track List:
01. Yes We Can Can
02. (She's Got) The Fever
03. Automatic
04. American Music
05. Fire
06. I'm So Excited
07. He's So Shy
08. Dare Me
09. Neutron Dance
10. He Turned Me Out
11. Steam Heat
12. Could I Be Dreamin'
13. Freedom
14. Slow Hand
15. Goldmine
16. How Long (Betcha Got A Chick On The Side)
17. Jump (For My Love)
18. Should I Do It
19. Wang Dang Doodle

Labels: Bradley, bub74, bub75, Bubbatunes, Janet Jackson, Pointer Sisters, Throb

posted by swivek @ 8:40 AM