QUESTLOVE'S MUSIC IS HISTORY: THE ALBUM VERSION

Photos courtesy of Discogs Released: 1980 Label: Ware Records Side A 1. This is a Party Side B 1. The "Micstro" * *-Questlove: Even though the MC RC La Rock (not to be confused with T LaRock or Scott LaRock) came from Brooklyn, this song is a Philly classic.  In my opinion, it's one of the greatest of the first wave of old school rhymes that came out between 1979 and 1982.  This was before hip-hop songs were treated as pop songs.  At first hip-hop was filled with these long songs, six or seven minutes at least, and as long as fifteen.  There were no breaks.  You had to keep the party going.  Full Force the moved toward the "Hip-Pop" format with the UTFO ("Roxanne, Roxanne," which was also the first time we heard a breakbeat sampled in hip-hop (Billy Squier's "The Big Beat").  Compact, catchy rap songs?  That was unthinkable just a few years earlier.  If you look on the credits of LL Cool J's debut album, Radio , back in 1985, it say...

Photos courtesy of Discogs Released: September 1980 Recorded: 1980 Label: Columbia Records Side 1 1. Spiraling Prism 2. Calypso* 3. Just Around the Corner Side 2 1. 4 AM 2. Shiftless Shuffle 3. Textures *- Questlove- "When D'Angelo was recording Voodoo , he made a bridge out of the intro of this song, though the song with it didn't make it onto the album. Years after that I finally got Mr. Hands .  It's the classic Miles lineup playing here (along with Sheila E. on percussion) and Herbie does something similar to what Miles did in "Nefertiti," stays stable and lets Tony and Ron run rampant.  Great song, but the melody was so hypnotic I didn't want to leave it for the Brazilian coda, which kind of gets dropped on your head like an ACME anvil.  When I hear it all I can think of is Tom Willis on The Jeffersons , and that little cha-cha dance he did."

Photos courtesy of Discogs Released: May 22, 1980 Recorded: December 1979-March 1980 Label: Motown Records Side 1 1. Upside Down 2. Tenderness 3. Friend To Friend 4. I'm Coming Out Side 2 1. Have Fun (Again) 2. My Old Piano* 3. Now That You're Gone 4. Give Up *- Questlove- "I'm probably the only listener of this song who doesn't see this as "Diana's Chic song," even though they are all over her entire album.  She's way more present in it than people think.  Another rare example of Rodger's masterful rhythm ax getting upstaged (this time by Bernard Edward's basswork)."

Photos courtesy of Discogs Released: March 16, 1980 Recorded: November 1979-February 1980 Label: Cotillion Records Side 1 1. Got To Love Somebody 2. You Fooled Around 3. I'm a Good Girl 4. Easy Street Side 2 1. Reach Your Peak* 2. Pretty Baby 3. How To Love 4. Let's Go On Vacation *- Questlove- "It's really hard to capture an understated compelling keyboard performance, especially in the post-disco period.  On songs like this, I immediately tune in to Raymond Jones's funky keyboard work in the chorus instead of what Nile Rodgers's guitar is doing.  Which is an achievement in itself."