My Special Monday Morning Tape For You, Special!

Well, to quote Rob, it is Monday afternoon (I should have woken up earlier) but nevertheless, in celebration of the clown shoe convention that was last night's Golden Globes (Ricky Gervais, please, be mine) here are ten songs I believe have epic cinematic qualities. These picks all possess swelling crescendos, waves of complex melodic emotions, a lush sonic narrative and of course, would all work perfectly, or already have worked perfectly, as the soundtrack to characters realizing they are in love, staring out windows wistfully, having their hearts smashed, or having impeccably lit and expertly choreographed sex scenes.




Ay yi yi! That string intro is the audio equivalent of a film's protagonist thinking about a new crush and smiling. In fact, this whole song is just one gorgeous and silky tribute to new possibilities, feeling like you are 100 feet tall, and those electromagnetic vibrations that you emit when you meet someone that you just want to stare at, all day.



So, the Ray Charles duet version of this gem was totally used in a very young Lilo's remake of The Parent Trap (when the twins get separated and British Lohan has to go back to London with her mom (RIP Natasha Richardson), while Napa Valley Lohan has to be sad and ride horses with Dennis Quaid) but I really like Betty Carter doing this solo, because it takes melancholy to all sorts of new levels. Like, can't you just picture someone singing this in their apartment alone, wishing someone was there to finish the verse with them and tell them everything was going to be alright?



A pink and purple sunset. A rooftop in Brazil. A longing and wistful glance into an overpopulated, but oh so lonely and isolating city. A void in a heart that can be only filled with true love. Wait, no, I change my mind. Actually, this song is basically this Murakami story.



Speaking of Brother Ray: Correct me if I am wrong, but can't you just picture this song playing over a really bittersweet end of film montage of a doomed relationship? Meeting, falling in love, falling out of love, amazing highs, depressing and scary lows, fights, making up, a soul crushing break up. Like some Blue Valentine shit, but not to the music of Grizzly Bear.



The clip is in German, I think, but just jump to second :45 and you will know why this song can never again be used in another scene as effectively as it was used here. Look at Robert Forster's eyes. He pretty much sums up love at first sight during that first kitten soft guitar lick and drum roll. Then again, I think Pam Grier was created to strut out of a correctional facility to the sound of Bloodstone so, I mean, do with that what you will.



The title of this Let's Get It On session jam kind of says it all. I picture someone laughing and grinning to themselves while trying to grocery shop, remembering the night before. It's the complete emotional opposite of what using this other Let's Get It On masterpiece would be (it was used in a sad relationship fight/break up scene between Taraji P. Henson and Tyrese IN THE RAIN, in John Singleton's Baby Boy):







Here are two that have already been used, and exquisitely. In The Mood For Love is one big beautiful, bittersweet and staggeringly sad ode to forbidden love, all set to Spanish Nat "King" Cole.



Oh boy. Roy Hargrove and Shelby Johnson. This tune is kind of like having a whole pack of butterflies in your stomach while glowing and sauntering down the street, half tipsy, half dreaming. It would work perfectly in a film that will never be made.

Year End Lists: The Two Day Old Specials

Here at 2DOS, we respect the fact that what's newest isn't always best, and that sometimes coming to a record or an artist after their buzz has had some time to wear off a bit can be more rewarding than being the first on the block to rep the latest buzz band. Sometimes the two day old shit is just the hardest stuff out there. Sometimes you have to go as far back as the '50s.

It is with that in mind that we bring you our first in a series of year end lists, this one focusing on albums and songs that returned to heavy rotation after extended time apart this year, or things we discovered behind the curve. Enjoy, and please let us know what you rediscovered during 2008 in the comments.


Isabelle's Picks:

5. Tony! Toni! Toné!'s House of Music
New Jack Swing favorites Tony! Toni! Toné! supply three of my favorite '90s jams on this superb album: "Thinking of You," "Let's Get Down" and "Lovin' You." And DJ Quik's collabo with the Oakland trio is still the blueprint of how R&B/rap duets should roll.

4. Ray Charles' Modern Sounds in Country and Western, Volume Two
Unlike the first installment of Modern Sounds, this volume offers two sides: one gives us schmaltzy string ballads and the other brings the swinging up tempo magic of Brother Ray's take on "You Are My Sunshine" (the fantastic duet with growling powerhouse and Raelette, Margie Hendrix). Although this was never released on CD, the tunes can be found on The Complete Country & Western Recordings: 1959-1986 an awesome Ray box set.

3. D'Angelo's Live at the Cirkus, Stockholm, Sweden
OK, if you are lucky enough to locate this via torrent, eBay (sup Sweden!) or a sketchy Berklee College of Music connection, then thank your lucky lucky lucky stars 'cause this is one of the BEST live albums ever captured. The year is 2000, the tour is the Voodoo extravaganza, ?uestlove is the band leader/musical director, and Pino Palladino is the bass man. Oh, Anthony Hamilton (pre-fame) sings fierce background vocals and the star of the show, D'Angelo, is a force of nature; part James Brown, part Marvin Gaye, a dash of Sly Stone and a shit load of gritty and sexy funk.

2. Camp Lo's Uptown Saturday Night
Look, anybody who has the balls to use Dynasty's "Adventures in the Land of Music" successfully gets my vote. "Luchini AKA This Is It" is a classic and the rest of the blaxploitation love letter album follows suit: "Black Nostaljack AKA Come On" and "Coolie High" feel as if they are straight out of a Pam Grier film, and kudos go to producer Ski (he contributed to Reasonable Doubt). Even the cover is a nod to that special musical time and place, the '70s: it's a direct homage to Marvin Gaye's I Want You album art.

1. Willie Hutch's The Mack: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Speaking of blaxploitation, here is my number one rediscovery. I would like to start off by saying I first saw this legendary 1973 film at the age of 8 (great parenting Deb and James). It's about a pimp and stars Max Julian and Richard Pryor and is set in Oakland. Besides a killer score and soundtrack by Willie Hutch, this film has given us so much culturally: not only did UGK sample the brilliant "I Choose You" for my favorite song "International Players Anthem (I Choose You)" BUT thanks to the classic Annual Players Ball scene in the flick, we got the title for OutKast's first tune and this, the greatest sketch of all time:

Chappelle's Show

The Playa Hater's Ball

Charlie Murphy Clips
Buy Chappelle's Show DVDs

Black Comedy
True Hollywood Stories

Ben's Picks:

5. Voxtrot's self-titled LP
This was one of the buzziest bands of 2007, right? I don’t know, I wasn’t really paying attention. I first heard them at the end of ’07, when the buzz was already starting to subside. But this year, I could not stop listening to the band’s debut self-titled LP. Their early EPs are also very good.

4. Sonic Youth's body of work
This was always a band I was more interested in as a cultural force than musicians. That’s how I came to read Goodbye 20th Century, David Browne's excellent biography of the band that convinced me to give some of their records another chance. The seemingly inevitable drop-off in quality as the band hits their 20-year anniversary is virtually nonexistent: in retrospect, their 2004 LP Sonic Nurse is as great a record as the middle period breakthrough Sister (1987) was. This music is some of the most rewarding in all of alt rock, if you have the discipline to listen to it. That sounds obnoxious, but SY can be like homework in that way.

3. Cloud Cult's Advice From the Happy Hippopotamus and The Meaning of 8
Alright, I had 2006’s Advice From the Happy Hippopotamus on my iTunes for a long time long before I fell in love with Feel Good Ghosts, their latest LP. That new one inspired me to go back and retry both Happy Hippo and 2007’s The Meaning of 8, and now Cloud Cult are truly one of my favorite bands of all time—they strike the fine line between emotionally confessional and totally obnoxious, and between being adventurous and getting lost up your own ass. Also their show this November was the best one I saw all year.

2. The Rentals' Return of the Rentals
Matt Sharp, original bassist for Weezer, recorded debut The Return of The Rentals as a side project, and I never listened to it much til this year. Is it better than the Blue Album? The Blue Album wins by a hair. Is it better than everything Rivers Cuomo and co. have put out since Sharp left the band (after 1996’s Pinkerton)? Most definitely.

1. George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass
So this dropped practically the minute the Beatles called it quits for good, and yet it still remains the greatest solo work by any former Beatle. It didn’t hurt that George had the largest catalog of solo tunes to choose from when the band disbanded, and it definitely doesn’t hurt that the band backing up George on these songs is essentially Derek and the Dominoes, not to mention Billy Preston, and a young Phil Collins (wtf). Okay, Phil Spector’s production is at its most treacly and overdone here, but the songs and the playing are more than strong enough to overcome that fact. Bonus points for “Wah Wah,” one of the greatest shut-up-you-fucking-baby songs of all time.

So, readers, what was it that you came (back) around to over the last year?