a poll: the miseducation of lauryn hill

A Simple Breakdown from the Ex Factor single is <3

do you have an mp3 of this?

lauryn baby use your head

but instead she chose to use her heart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMYd1Ums4HE

where did this come from? is it from the miseducation sessions?

yeah i think so its been all over the internet for like a week

wait, the chatter is so awesome!

superstar def should've got a vote

I really think "Superstar" could have been an 'incredible' song instead of just a 'good' one if they had replaced the Doors-interpolation chorus with something a lot better. the verses are so much better.

"Without you I go through withdrawal, 'cause nothing even matters... at all."

-- still one of my favorite love songs. Nihilism as bliss-out and vice versa.

it's a shame that a lot of the neo-soul that came out the decade after paled in comparison to this album.

How you gon' win when you ain't right within?

I never really gave this any proper attention back in the day, other than the singles, but now I am and feeling I should have done so sooner. Although I'm annoyed the version I'm listening to seems to be quite censored, I don't think I've ever actually heard an explicit version of any of the singles? (Featuring "fuck" and "niggas", I mean)

it's censored on the album too

(there are several key r. kelly singles that never seem to have had explicit versions released, too)

playing indigo2 on 14 april

london stand UP

i've entirely coincidentally been on a huge miseducation tip this week

BOMB GRAFFITI ON THE TOMB OF NEFERTITI
MCS AIN'T READY TO TAKE IT TO THE SERENGETI

gah is this going to involve attempting to hit the ticketmaster website on friday at 9am??

apparently "presale" available now, whatever tf that means

OK i totally missed out on this, nothing showing up as available on ticketmaster

fuckety fuck fuck

tickets available if i don't mind paying £100 apiece for them, fml

the fact that the remixes of the singles are not readily available in HQ is totally sad. i had to rip the mahogany mix of sweetest thing from youtube, which is unacceptable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7h-LhT7I5E

ExFactor Simple Breakdown Mix is also classic.

Sigh.

Miss me some Ms. Hill.

somehow I never made the "Ex-Factor"-"Can It Be All So Simple" connection until just now

she was rather amazing last night! and i somehow got right in the photo pit for the first few songs, so close

"ready or not" was electrifying

https://p.twimg.com/AqeF9tLCMAIulGi.jpg

^how close we were

I wish "The Sweetest Thing" were on it.

Lex - I saw you tweeting lyrics to 'Everything is Everything' - did she play it?

When I saw her last year it (and The Sweetest Thing and Nothing Even Matters) were the only songs I had hoped to hear that she didn't bust out.

she played all of those!

setlist, insofar as i can make out from my scrawled notes -

Killing Me Softly (intro)
Everything Is Everything
Superstar
Forgive Them Father
Final Hour
To Zion
The Sweetest Thing
When It Hurts So Bad
I Used To Love Him
Nothing Even Matters
Lost Ones
Ex Factor
Satisfy My Soul
How Many Mics
Fu-Gee-La
Ready Or Not
[improv about her dress falling down]
Killing Me Softly
--------------------------
[a couple of songs I didn't recognise, probably covers, and Happy Birthday to some girl in the front row]
Doo Wop (That Thing)

damn that's a dope set list

is she still doing everything super rawked out

pretty massively altered arrangements w/crunching guitars but i wouldn't really call it super rawked out - her playing fast & loose with the song structures seemed more important

from "ex factor" on she played everything pretty straight though

[improv about her dress falling down]

there's a great 12" version iirc

We got fewer things off Miseducation, more Fugees stuff, including a I Only Have Eyes For You --> Zealots bit that was jaw dropping and also the Turn Your Lights Down Low duet with Marley, but damn if I wouldn't kill to hear the miseducation ballads live.

title track getting 0 votes is wrong

^ so wrong.

i'm listening to it right now. i've been brought close to tears by this song at times.

I went to see Lauryn Hill at Bonnaroo this past weekend, as much out of curiosity as anything else. And holy cow. She was great! Best show of the whole festival, hands down. (This was an opinion shared by all of my friends, some of whom were fans and some of whom didn't even know who she was.) It was heavy on the hits, both Fugees and Miseducation, but she completely rearranged all of the songs -- tore them apart, turned them into suites that moved between blaring rock and reggae and hip-hop and jazzy vocal arrangements, then put them back together with these massively powerful climaxes and codas. She had a good band, and she was a great bandleader, totally on point and fierce.

I was pretty stunned.

(And I didn't even see her songs later that night with the Skrillex superjam, but she apparently tore that up, too.)

i'm seeing her tonight!! VERY excited to hear that she's been great lately

Yeah, I mean, she may have off nights -- who knows? But if you get anything like what we saw, it will be a good time.

heard this on the radio bitd but then couldn't find out which mix it was so had to buy the 12" and then the CD! those costly pre-internet days..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEle7u9h3L4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVz9otZJ3U0&feature=kp

was really quite impressed w/ her last night. (i am still somewhat deaf since the show was super loud -- probably more suitable for an outdoor festival than an indoor venue in that respect.) she was on fire vocally and the new arrangements were constantly surprising and completely energizing. the audience really went crazy for the fugees hits that she performed, which i'd say were the highlights of the night. i don't think the big, drawn-out, climactic, rockish arrangements worked for every song -- "ex-factor" was lacking in some of its emotional impact and seemed overlong -- but overall i think they landed in perfect territory between familiarity and novelty. i felt a huge chill just rush through my whole body during the opening guitar solo of "to zion". (i expect not everyone will like what was done to the songs -- one of the girls near me was actually pleading for "no more reggae" at one point.)

but anyway! very interesting and entertaining show, def recommended if you get the chance

one of the girls near me was actually pleading for "no more reggae" at one point

Yeah, there was a little grumbling at the show I was at -- "Why's she remixing all her songs?" But the overall response was massively positive.

I was impressed by the arrangements even when I didn't love them, because it takes chutzpah to mess with people's expectations like that, and a lot of confidence and chops to bring it off.

remember Frelng-Huysen used to have the bomb leather?

That's the one I remember with more fondness than anything else, and mostly because of that kind of local color (and, ok, sentimentality). The Stevie derivation is heavy, but I'm not sure it's any more derivative than the Fugee-solo that opens the album and possibly beats all that follows, including the Fugee-meets-Mary J that closes before the encore.

I mostly agree. It's my favourite too. In fact it's the point at which the album lifts off, for me. Although I could do without the "can't take my eyes off you" cover I'd still take it over "The Lost Ones", which is the one dud on the record.

odd to me that there's no revive (that I've noticed) re: the 20th anniversary, and also Robert Glasper's j'accuse…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54WECf1ioeY

It was discussed a little on the jazz thread :)

i am listening to Miseducation for the first time, having disliked the singles at the time.