a poll: the miseducation of lauryn hill

"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.

Lindsay Zoladz had a (as always) very good piece about it in The Ringer too.

*today not too

🖼

i have never heard this album. maybe i should.

― Mr. Snrub, Wednesday, January 7, 2009 12:17 AM (thirteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Only took another thirteen years. It’s really good!!

should songs be about THAT THING?

classic album my ass!

― I, Contrarian-Ass Mutha (some dude), Wednesday, March 25, 2009 12:09 PM

recent rolling stone list has me thinking again about how overrated and totally unimpressive this album is. it was highly anticipated and i remember listening on release day thinking, "the next song will be the knockout" and that never happened. certainly could've been worse, i guess. it was just so milquetoast and unenthusiastic. and then to find out she was not compensating people properly and it was just . . . yeah, quite disappointing.

what say ya'll?

(ps— i don't hate it, it's just really boring. 2.5 mics at best.)

every song on this album rules

"miseducation overrated" is a corny opinion imo

Every song.

why don't i remember any of them after the album ends?

It's a landmark, etc. I didn't and don't much care for it -- her beats are better than her tunes. "Lost Ones" remains a fucking jam.

About the only things I can remember are the sound of a school bell and the phrase "You might win some but you just lost one."

wow austin. this is like when one of my oldest friends told me he wasn’t feeling Fury Road. i was like….. i thought i knew you

if anything miseducation is, to quote Alba from long ago, so overrated it’s underrated

here's how i always looked at it:

there was two versions of lauryn: "fu-gee-la" badass do it all b-girl or "killing me softly" pop radio crooner.

they tried to mash the two together and invited carlos santana to get even more boomers on board. nah, pass.

I think you looked at it wrong.

It isn't a binary. The singer-rapper-producer loved '70s balladry, and for college-age me I appreciated her tutorial in Roberta Flack, who only recently has earned the plaudits she deserved.

if you can’t remember “ex-factor” the problem is you

longtime fugees fan ready for her to get her spotlight proper — was that not the correct vantage point?

of course it happened anyway, but i wasn't on board because the music just wasn't that good.

also funny you say that, alfred. i initially heard roberta flack's first take around the same time. it sounded like the "real" version of what miseducation was trying to do.

if you can’t remember “ex-factor” the problem is you

― J0rdan S., Saturday, June 11, 2022 11:44 AM

you mean "can't it be all so simple (lauryn hill remix)"?

(said as someone who doesn't really think wu-tang is worthy of their hype either)

https://c.tenor.com/eajqzzS4FTsAAAAC/ah-sunlight-i-hate-sunlight-zartan.gif

Hey where'd you get that video clip of me.

i'm trying to think of something nice to say about this album and the only thing i can come up with is "at least it wasn't so bad that it made me angry." because there were plenty of albums in 98 that did. some really good beats on here i guess.

speaking of, unrelated: one of the most confusing things ever in the liner notes is david axelrod's "tony poem" receiving a sample credit on "every ghetto every city" (one of the better tracks on here, tbh). there's no sample of "tony poem" in that song and i don't think i've ever seen an explanation of how/why that happened. it says the song "contains replayed elements of" tony poem on newer pressings, but uhh? not really? the beat does kind of sound like the breakdown in "tony poem" but that was such an obscure record at the time, i don't think they needed to worry about getting sued. the confusion was compounded when she got in trouble for not giving the musicians on the album their proper credit. but sure, go ahead and list samples that aren't in there????

xpost to alfred