All right, I’m going to have to pull back to a low rating of 9 on this one. Change is Coming by Money Mark is still awesome, just not quite so much as the earlier records. Still, I’ve probably played in its entirety at least 100 times. Overall it’s more instrumental and jazzy than his masterpiece, Push the Button. The packaging is almost as interesting as the music. I didn’t include all the artwork, but it revolves around origami swans made from different paper currencies and then set on fire. Check out the folding, and burning, directions printed on the disk itself.
The sad thing about Change is Coming is it’s the last Money Mark record I got. There have been two more full length releases and it’s ridiculous that I don’t have them, yet. Somebody help me out!
As an added bonus today, I’ve included a video with Mr. Mark from an interview that was on the Sundance Channel where he explains his relationship with the Beastie Boys and his creative process.
Genius! Genius I tell you! More Money Mark greatness today. This record is deep! Somehow this disk is even better than the first. I don’t know where or how I got this advance copy of Push the Button but it’s good to have friends that know what’s going on. This record has a lot more vocals and that’s just more to love. Mark’s lyrics are brilliant and at times poignant. His voice is perfect for his unique style of music. Noise, techno, electronic, gospel, soul, funk, rock and jazz are all in the mix.
I have played Push the Button for countless people over the years and I have never met anyone who didn’t love it. And if there are people out there who don’t dig it I doubt I want to meet them.
Push the button
Push the button
Open the door and let me come innnnnn…
Money Mark is the greatest. He’s played with everyone from Beck to the Beastie Boys, but the truth is, even though I love those artists, I play his music much more often. Mark’s Keyboard Repair has 30 tracks. You’re probably thinking “that’s too much” but I assure after one listen you’ll start thinking “I want more.” Some folks describe this recording as demo quality, but I disagree. It’s free and loose but the sound is perfect. Many of the songs are only about a minute long. In some ways it feels less like a typical album and more like the cue track to your favorite unmade movie. Give it a spin and pretend you’re the star.
At 250 Miles Per Hour was put out by a German label with a seriously painful name, Crippled Dick Hot Wax. Jerry Van Rooyen had a habit of writing original scores for strange late ’60s movies that were either horror or soft porn, and sometimes both. Maybe even weirder than that is the fact that this sub-sub-genre of swinging music has a solid cult following.
How did I hear about it? No, mom, I wasn’t watching “The Castle of Bloody Lust” when Mr. Van Rooyen’s grooving jazz caught my attention. It was a comedy from 1998 that featured William Shatner called Free Enterprise. The producers, wisely, chose to re-use Rooyen’s kicking number “The Great Train Robbery” to open the movie. I recommend the movie and the tunes. I play this CD all the time, all the time.
My favorite song is the exquisitely short “Fabienne Is Going Wild.” It’s barely over one minute and it’s the best strip music I’ve ever heard. If it were any longer people’s clothes would start flying. Check out the clips.
Acquired: 2005 – Bob Bobala Jazz Heritage Endowment
Keeper: Yes
Bob Bob’s left-behind record collection is the gift that keeps on giving. Tonight’s album is a double from Randy Weston. Bantu comes in a nice gatefold cover complete with a lengthy article about these reissues and more significantly, the original program notes and lyrics by the late great poet Langston Hughes. Hughes collaborated on the first LP in this reissue. The second record was originally released in 1957 and consists of more straightforward, but excellent, jazz. The first LP contains “Uhuru, Afrika” which the album notes describe as his masterpiece.
“This four movement suite was one of the first acknowledgements of African roots among Afro-Americans and one of the first major jazz works to absorb that influence and use it honestly and creatively.”
New music, old records, live shows, stories, memorabilia, garage band demos, anything and everything else related to music. Brothers and sisters... start clicking.
