About 10 years ago, I found this disc in the clearance bin for $1. How could I pass that up? Turns out it was a dollar well-spent. Just as hip-hop was turning harder, P.M. Dawn went the other way, making otherworldly soundscapes that were more melodic and less percussive while having gnostically spiritual, troubled lyrics. The duo was definitely more interested in making a genre-redefining artistic statement than selling records which is a good thing since, unfortunately, their music never sold like it probably should have. Prince Be moves so smoothly between singing and speech that you won't even notice the switch. I enjoy it and I'm definitely not a hip-hop guy (or would this music be considered post-hip-hop?).
Press of the time:
- Stereo Review: "light years beyond anything else in the genre"
- CashBox: "Damn, this album is crazy-dope!"
- Billboard: "a startlingly deep and satisfying record"
- Entertainment Weekly (A): "P.M. Dawn point toward a new world for rap, in which full and lush sounds are heard next to the stark and harder style of today."
Album chart peaks:
- US Billboard Top 200: #48
- Billboard R&B: #29
Tracks: I usually listen to this one top-to-bottom, but my favorite track is Reality Used To Be A Friend Of Mine. Running a close second is the #1 hit Set Adrift On Memory Bliss which smartly samples the great Spandau Ballet song True (you should also seek out the Richie Rich Mix of the song). Also good are To Serenade A Rainbow, Even After I Die, and Beautiful. The dance collaboration with DJ Todd Terry, Shake, is so out of character for this group and for this album; I can't ever decide if I like it or not.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I discovered Reality Used To Be A Friend Of Mine when it appeared in the horrid 1992 movie Encino Man, starring Brendan Fraser, Sean Astin, and Pauly Shore. Ever since I first heard the song, the chorus will repeat itself in my head when things aren't going my way.
Previously revisited for the blog:
The Bliss Album...? (1993)
Encino Man was all kinds of awful and I am a fan of Fraser, Astin and even Shore (bud-dy). My least favorite neice (who shall remain nameless because she might be reading this) LOVED that movie when she was 8 years old in 2000. She spent a week with us and that was all she watched. Must have blocked out the soundtrack.
ReplyDeleteI scarfed up the first three P.M. Dawn discs as they were released - for me, their music defied categorizing (I have them listed as "alternative rap" in iTunes) and although they tended to try too hard sometimes to be different.
Was wondering whatever happened to them the other day so I looked them up on Wikipedia. Made me sad. (Prepare yourself before you go looking.) So I put on their music and I wasn't so sad anymore. During that listening session, THIS SONG was the one that me groovin' again and I upped it to a 3 star song in my library which affects several smart playlists. What do you think of it? Do you have that third album, Jesus Wept?