De La Soul - Classic or Dud?

i'm in.

Yep

in for poll

listening thread would be fun

I’d be game.

I would follow this thread esp if the tru headz here can break down the sample spotting

i will reup og mp3s if anybody wants to a/b.

listening thread is a fantastic idea

agreed

Confirmation about the replays:

So here's a question about replays: if they couldn't clear, say, a James Brown sample, studio musicians can re-create/re-record that. But why can't someone go into the studio and, doing an Eddie Murphy impression, say, "Anybody in the audience ever get hit by car?"

I think that would be extremely noticeable. Plus, isn't his voice slightly sped up/higher in the sample?

I think doing a replay indicates they cleared the rights to the composition but not the performance....

It was that sped up, I never knew it was Eddie Murphy

nice to see that scotty hard has been involved.

also, look at the swerve re questions re samples :

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/feb/23/de-la-soul-interview-belated-streaming-debut

Yeah I love Scotty Hard. Also interesting that given the sample replays, this must have involved going back to the multitracks, and presumably remixing and remastering the records.

not going to lie, there was a time i would buy anything with scotty hard involvement.
his solo album, 'the return of kill dog-e' on wordsound was one of those cds that when i found it made me grin from ear to ear.

I worked with him on a project recently; he mixed this album, which my label released. Nice guy, and very pleased when I told him that I still listen to the second New Kingdom album about once a month.

the fact there is a connection from this place to the genius behind so many albums i have in the archive ..
once again ilm delivers.

the rhyme scheme in magic number is so strange, is there a story/logic behind it?

streaming version sounds very loud to my ears

Tbh I started checking for him after hearing Medeski, Martin, and Wood's 'Combustication' in high school, which I still think is an incredible sounding album, some of the best drum sounds ever.

Today, De La Soul announced The DA.I.S.Y. Experience at Webster Hall in New York City on March 2. This immersive activation honors the life and legacy of the late David “Trugoy The Dove” Jolicoeur, and the influence and impact of pioneering New York hip-hop trio De La Soul, which he co-founded with fellow members Kelvin “Posdnuos” Mercer and Vincent Lamont “Maseo” Mason Jr.

“The DA.I.S.Y. Experience”—named for the group’s song “D.A.I.S.Y. Age” off 3 Feet High and Rising, and standing for “Da Inner Sound Y’all”—will morph Webster Hall into the ultimate celebration of De La Soul on the eve of the group’s music arriving on streaming services March 3. Produced in conjunction with Amazon Music, the event will unite family, friends, and fans for a celebration of Dave and De La Soul. The venue will be transformed with artwork from the group’s classic album, 3 Feet High and Rising.

The Originals (Stretch Armstrong, Clark Kent, Rich Medina, and Tony Touch) will curate a DJ set dedicated to the De La Soul’s legacy. Fans can watch the set on Maseo’s Twitch Channel starting at 8 p.m. ET. Meanwhile, Posdnuos and Maseo, along with other VIPs, will be on hand at the event to celebrate their brother Dave. Fans can RSVP to the free event here: thedaisyexperience.com.

The Amazon Music channel on Twitch will livestream a series of interviews with friends of De La Soul and special guests, hosted by Rob Markman and Free Marie, starting at 10:30 p.m. EST.

Are these reissues going to have replayed elements instead of original samples? Major bummer if the samples aren’t 100% present and correct.

Are these reissues going to have replayed elements instead of original samples? Major bummer if the samples aren’t 100% present and correct.

Will the physical reissues of your albums be exactly the same as the originals, or did you need to redo some of the samples? johnnymoseley
Posdnuos: A lot of work went into getting hold of the masters and remastering, but everything will sound as tight and beautiful as you remember.
Maseo: It was frustrating that our first six albums weren’t on Spotify [owing to record company disputes]. It felt like we were being erased from history. Newer fans would ask: “Where’s your older stuff?” Now, they’ll be able to get it.

Well this makes it sound like these reissues will be shit shows featuring garbage relays of the original samples. I’ll wait and see but I’m the answer to this direct question is troubling.

i mean i thought we all agreed that the "official" version of "magic number" (that's been there for several weeks now) definitely has some missing / different elements?

(and i like it just fine?)

(I'm happy you like it just fine.) (I don't.)

I read that Prince Paul was working on the sample re-dos on the reissues as well

see to me, that's a great sign.

Prince Paul needs a luden.

In light of that Deborah Mannis-Gardner interview I posted upthread, it's probably a good idea to buy a physical copy of any other hip-hop album you'd want prior to the mid-'90s. It just sounds like there's a ton of albums out there that are extremely vulnerable to litigious rights holders, including some that I would count among my very favorites.

is there a thread on attempts at re-recording/recreating recordings? wheatus' teenage dirtbag 2020, taylor swift's old albums, or the kind of blue note for note cover album from 2014

(I'm happy you like it just fine.) (I don't.)

It's taken them this long to reissue them as they'll be coming out, and they had to jump countless hurdles and jump through endless hoops to get there. If you want a copy of the original, they are plenty of them out there. These reissues are as good as they can manage them at this moment in time.

Yeah, "Magic Number" was on the radio, and I tried listening out for the replayed and/or changed things. Then "has anybody in the audience" popped up and I realised that radio stations still have the originals in their database, and I doubt they'll be updating them anytime soon.

Camper Van Beethoven rerecorded a bunch of songs for a greatest hits collection.

I think the Violent Femmes did this for Blister In The Sun on some soundtrack album.

Prince threatened to do it but as far as I know never got around to it.

I think this will be much different than Def Leppard re-recording "Rock of Ages" or whatever. Thinking it'll sound more like the Chic "sample" in "Rappers Delight".

They aren't touching the original vocals I assume, so it's a bit like a remix that's trying to sound as close to the original as possible

I was curious about this (and avoiding some work this morning) so did a quick a/b of what's on Spotify to the original CD.

The only other change besides Eddie Murphy I heard in The Magic Number was the "do the shang-a-lang" sample is at a lower pitch than the original. Maybe they used a harmonizer or something on the original and didn't on this, but it sounded like the same source (not a replay) just pitched differently. I can't hear anything else on that or Eye Know, but curious about the rest of the albums.

What does a “sample redo” mean in this context? Might they be replacing the samples with different but similar samples where the rights can be secured? Or recording “covers” of the sampled performances. Or resampling the original snippets but this time with the rights pre-cleared?

Pierre Menard, author of 3 Feet High and Rising.

i'm concerned that even if the sample replacements sound the same, just knowing that they replaced them is going to make it psychologically difficult for me to enjoy the reissues

It's Joaquin Phoenix saying How High's the Water, Mama?

By dint of replacing or cutting samples, the songs will have been mixed again from the ground up (probably no automation/recall in those days, or if there was, and by some miracle they still had the floppy disks, it'd be specific to whatever desk they originally used) The Magic Number sounds louder now because it is a modern remix and master, although you can hear that they've referenced the original, all the grain in the vocal tracks is still there, I think the panning is different in places though.

listening to buhloone mind state (original vers no streaming baby) one cool thing about this album is while theyre at the height of their dense abstract lyricism even when you cant literally understand what theyre talking about when you dont catch all the references it still feels like it make sense it never comes off as cryptic its still engaging, to me at least :)

"fuck being hard Posdnuos is complicated" is one of the greatest lyrics ever

its a forceful straight forward line that pops out of the weeds of a more... complicated song

It's unfortunate they waited this long to essentially admit defeat and redo the albums without the samples. In my opinion, it's wrong to redo these albums like this. It completely eliminates the historical significance and original charm / joy of these albums. Does anyone believe the new versions will become the ultimate versions to listen to?

seeing as almost everyone uses the streams yeah prob

personally if it takes a close side by side listening to tell the difference i dont really see the big deal

if theyre obviously different and worse thats bad tho