Public Enemy: Classic or Dud?

"Devil's Haircut" contains a sample from "Out Of Sight" (James Brown) published by Fort Knox Music BMI, performed by Them, courtesy of the Decca Record Co.; a sample from "Soul Drums" (Bernard Purdie) published by Tenryk Music BMI, performed by Pretty Purdie, courtesy of Sony Music; and elements from "I Can Only Give You Everything" (Philip Coulter/Thomas Scott) published by Carbert Music ASCAP.

"Hotwax" contains a sample from "Song For Aretha" (Bernard Purdie/Horace Ott/Robert Thiele) published by Tenryk Music/Well Made Music BMI, performed by Pretty Purdie; and a sample from "Up On The Hill" (Monk Higgins/Alexandra Brown) published by Special Agent Co./Tippy Music Publishing ASCAP, performed by Monk Higgins & The Specialties, courtesy of Blue Note Records, a division of Capitol Records, Inc.

"Lord Only Knows" contains elements from "Lookout For Lucy" (Mike Millius/Don Thomas) published by by Southern Music Publishing Company, Inc. ASCAP performed by Mike Millius, courtesy of MCA Records, Inc.

"The New Pollution" contains a sample from "Venus" (Brad Baker) published by Sonny Lester Music Publishing Co. ASCAP, performed by Joe Thomas, courtesy of LAC Ltd.

"Jack-ass" contains a sample from "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" (Bob Dylan) published by Special Rider Music SESAC, performed by Them, courtesy of Decca Record Co. Licensed from Exile Productions Limited.

"Where It's At" contains a sample from "Needle To The Groove" (Embden Toure/Khaleel Kirk) published by Hit And Hold Music, Inc. ASCAP, performed by Mantronix, courtesy of Warlock Records.

"Sissyneck" contains elements from "The Moog And Me" (Dick Hyman) published by Eastlake Music, Inc. ASCAP, performed by Dick Hyman, courtesy of MCA Records, Inc. and elements from "A Part Of Me" (Paris/Taylor) published by Zethus Music, administered by Chappell & Co., Inc. ASCAP. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.

"Readymade" contains excerpts from "Desafinado" (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Newton Mendonca) published by Bendig Music/Carcovado Corp. BMI, performed by Laurindo Almeida And The Bossa Nova All Stars, courtesy of Blue Note Records, a division of Capitol Records, Inc.

"High 5 (Rock The Catskills)" contains elements from "Mr. Cool" (Vincent Willis) published by Cotillion Music Inc./NAP Publishing Co./ Sylheart Publishing Co., administered by Warner Tamerlane Publishing Co., Inc. BMI performed by Rasputin's Stash, courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corp., by arrangement with Warner Special Products, Inc.

(I thought you were familiar with the Dust Brothers, that's basically their entire MO)

https://www.musictech.net/guides/essential-guide/landmark-productions-beck-odelay/

tons and tons of instrumentation

I mean, that's what makes it interesting tbh - it's not a repeat of Paul's Boutique, it's way more of a mishmash of different approaches and techniques.

like, Lord Only Knows is not just an 8-bar loop of Lookout For Lucy, in fact the recorded sample is just the first few seconds of the song - the rest is studio-recorded stuff.

who are you arguing with?

who can keep track any more

By '94 and Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age they sounded like most every other rap act that was using 8-bar drum loops and single-source samples.

also Apocalypse 91 is not produced by The Bomb Squad, and the "Bomb Squad Production" credited with half of Muse Sick is aiui completely different people to the Bomb Squad that made the first three PE albums, just Hank popping in and giving a thumbs up or thumbs down to some apprentices occasionally

hmm looks like four tracks are probably Hank productions recovered from the supposedly lost disks, eight are actively credited to other people with Hank's imprimatur, seven produced by ex-members of The Bomb Squad, and a Flav track by one of Hank's apprentices who'd previously done half of Griff's solo album.

PR BTW:

"Flavor Flav has been on suspension since 2016 when he was MIA from the Harry Belafonte benefit in Atlanta, Georgia. That was the last straw for the group. He had previously missed numerous live gigs from Glastonbury to Canada, album recording sessions and photo shoots. He always chose to party over work.

"Public Enemy Radio toured Europe and co-headlined with the Wu-Tang Clan in May 2019 without Flavor. They have also done numerous benefit shows without Flavor. While Public Enemy Radio was moving forward, Flavor Flav was starring on the reality show "Growing up Hip Hop New York,” where an episode featured his children discussing an intervention and putting him into rehab. It’s time to move on and everyone wishes Flavor well."

the supposedly lost disks

are you saying they weren't lost? idgi

yah I've always been dubious about how much of that story is true, given the fact the Bomb Squad had already split up at that point, and that Hank has barely done anything at all since. whether the dog ate his homework or not, I think it's really unlikely that he actually had albumsworth of backing tracks stockpiled.

I can see that. Shocklee clearly a guy that burned out (and got burned, I suppose)

Been revisiting their later albums today. "He Got Game" sounds pretty naked, maybe the leanest production of any PE album by a good margin, but I dig it. Lyrical focus brought on by Spike's film may have helped. Clumsy title aside, 2007's "How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?" is actually really good, better than I remembered - I think Gary G-Wiz of the Bomb Squad handles most of the production.

after the first 3 record titles, which are all classic, PE album names become v bad

for reference :)

worst Public Enemy album title

Sweet Jesus, I forgot about "New Whirl Odor." That's as unfortunate as "Puke-a-hantas".

Next one'll be some nonsense political spoonerism like Allah, a Biden Sit is In

I remember there being lots of tension circa Muse Sick also, that Def Jam were pressurising PE to drop their tempos to fit with the west coast sound of the day. There was a Chuck D interview with Melody Maker the week before their Phoenix appearance that was all about that.

https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/public-enemy-the-greatest-rap-band-in-the-world-ever

Xxxxxp wouldn’t these lost disks have resurfaced/been bootlegged by now?

Either that or some fledgling producer released an amazing album of beats then mysteriously stopped recording

my mom stole them and recorded PBS's I Claudius over them

Anyone know which album sessions produced which outtake on that first side of"Greatest Misses"?

??? they're all new recordings

Tracks 1-6 were supposed to be "previously unreleased outtakes."

when?

on wikipedia

Why?

who?

...Stole the Soul? (Sir Jinx Stolen Souled Out Reparation Mixx)

on wikipedia

oldest version 22 June 2006

Categories: Public Emeny albums / Greatest hits albums

Revision on Revision as of 19:34, 17 October 2018 changed "It features new tracks (1-6)," to "It included previously unreleased outtakes (1-6)"

Washington Post, 1994:

PE's 1992 "Greatest Misses" echoed 1973's "Dylan," a collection of marginal outtakes and leftovers that belonged on a bonus disc, not a bona fide one.

not saying that's right or wrong, but that info clearly predates 2018

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/08/24/public-enemy-classic-rap/f6dae98c-97c2-4ba3-a9e3-3773fc8904a7/

LA Times, 1994:

Public Enemy first stumbled with its 1992 album of outtakes, “Greatest Misses.”

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-08-19-ca-29095-story.html

my recollection is that it was promoted as six new tracks, six (mostly new) remixes (plus the Word performance) but obv that is inadmissable as evidence

the printed credits on the 1992 release Greatest Misses, however, indicate that they can't be outtakes from anything older than 1991 release Apocalypse '91, so I refer the honorable member to my earlier ???

"Apocalypse '91" outtakes seems reasonable I guess?

but yeah, ???

FWIW, Erlewine's AllMusic review simply refers to them as "new songs" / "new material"...

Also, if it's a helpful piece of the puzzle, Discogs.com user "tiddlerz" remarks -- "this is being filed under a comp but its fucking banging and essential as any PE album in my opinion."

I'll say this for How Do You Sell Soul..., the single "Harder than you Think" is an essential PE jam for me

tie goes to the runner rules

“Harder Than You Think” is so good

There’s a lot of great stuff on There’s a Poison Going On too, which people miss because it’s like their fourth slept-on release in a row at that point

I love this beat

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=62nCe2a1zsc

There’s A Poison sounds like it was recorded on styrofoam

GREAT track, but I was surprised to find that "Harder Than You Think" hit #4 on the UK singles chart, which makes it PE's highest charting single there. (And it did it five years after it was released.)

^ when it was used as the theme to Paralympics coverage on UK television

Still going through late era PE. I would add 2012's "Most of My Heroes Still Don't Appear on No Stamp" as another keeper - Chuck's physically sounding a bit older, but he still has a commanding authority. 2002's "Revolverlution" is a mixed bag by design, but throw out the four fan remixes and the live cuts weighing it down and it's probably another keeper. I'm going to miss Flav's levity and absurdity on these records, and he's still an underrated multi-instrumentalist.

Turns out, Flavor Flav's firing was an elaborate hoax to promote a new album, LOUD IS NOT ENOUGH, that was dropping on April Fools' Day (today).

Posted yesterday on March 31: https://www.enemyradio.net/news/a-hoax-that-aint-no-joke

More here: https://pitchfork.com/news/chuck-d-says-flavor-flavs-public-enemy-firing-was-staged-to-promote-new-song-and-album/

🙄

um.