the link is gently off topic, the rest is decidedly ON…
if any admins care to fix it, that’s cool… it was just supposed to be on “this post”
]]>it follows the musical drift of eddie cooley and otis blackwell’s “fever” through little willie john and peggy lee’s hits to jingo and yerba buena’s use of it (20 or so versions here for perusal)
ON TOPIC,
i remain conflicted about sample use in general.
one the one hand, i think i agree that the uses of these samples by moby is problematic.
on the other hand, i think that timbaland jacking a hossam ramzy tune for “big pimpin: is equally if not more problematic (because of the lack of attribution).
these matters are complicated by class issues (i have a lot less trouble with some poor baile producer jacking prince riffs than with someone who is PAID doing it…), racial issues (race of the sampler vs. race of the sampled and context issues (jon oswald sampling pop music seems less destructive than other sample sources).
it’s really a continuum. i’d be curious to see if anyone has an opinion on the relative merrits of the following versions of sampling…
1. jon oswald sampling michael jackson
2. timbaland sampling hossam ramzy
3. mr oizo sampling gary’s gang
4. m.i.a. sampling the clash
5. d.j shadow sampling organized konfusion
6. moby sampling bessy jones
i’m sure there are other examples that might show other permutations of race, class, context and musical quality, so suggest em.
also, for those who don’t know, i’m an anrachist, and at the end of the day it’s all *fine* with me, but as a DJ i like to play stuff that presents the best ethics and respect for music and people…
which uses are cool?
which uses are wack?
any of my examples, any of yours?
]]>I think Ripleys pretty spot on about superstructural forces of mass marketing and distro/advertising etc turning this into a deeply troubled project.
As much as I do- I dont really have a bone to pick with Moby per se- but of course at some point my juridical impulses want and individual to lay blame on.
Also there’s a whole nother essay to be written and ambiguities of sound that would cover foley rooms, wire tapping, and why you cant get my above analysis just from listening to the album on a pair of headphones in a white box.
]]>My response to Matt’s question is that whether the project could have been done in an ethically sound way.. it would likely not have been popular in the mass market if it was.
I didn’t read this post as solely a negative comment on moby, but at least as much a description of the mass audience -or at least mass marketing & distribution– which is racist. I don’t think it’s often possible to become broadly marketed in the way that album was without fitting in, at least in part, to the demands of that market.
]]>This all being said, do you see a way that this project (play) could have been completed in an ethically sound way? More documentation? Or is the enterprise itself doomed? I know I’ve polemicized on these topics myself but it’s fun now that I’m down here in the comments section to get all socratic method and just throw rocks.
I’d just like to say to James Healy as well, let’s try and stay off personal attacks, whatever one may think of Moby’s music what he does with his pecker is of very limited relevance to this discussion. Lord knows I don’t want anyone talking about my own sex life on the internet.
]]>When anything becomes overly dependent on history and nostalgic, it goes nowhere.
+
A conversation about paying off your loans is basically ALWAYS boring.
With respect to the liner notes and, in my mind, mentioning Lomax, specifically, I wonder to what extent just putting the artist and song is actually MORE just than citing Lomax, whose work has done more to build up *his* name than the “folk” artists he compiled, who were just as often from Baleares, Latin America, the Caribbean, or Galicia as they were from the Southern US.
]]>i’m not really ready to make any criticisms OR completely agree, but i just wanted to let you know i appreciate the work.
i bet others are waiting a bit too because it’s a lot to digest.
and bytheway, what is the sample source for the tune “honey”… it was always the only tune on the album i dug.
]]>