Monday, August 31, 2009

Melanie Fiona Samples The Zombies And Gives It To Me Right

Seriously, the instrumental background of the Zombies late 1960s classic "Time Of The Season" features one of the hottest, slinkiest beats ever. That funky guitar and organ, the piano coda, the knock-kneed drum sound and breathy "ah" just scream electric acid sex and I am surprised it hasn't been sampled earlier. Actually, a rapper named Necro did sample the beat and chorus for a stupid and filthy single called "Who's Your Daddy" a few years ago and he did it quite poorly.

Now, in 2009 (42 years after the original) two singles have been released featuring the crazy good beat. The better of the two is by Melanie Fiona, a Canadian R&B singer who has had a minor hit in her home country. I've been hearing "Give It To Me Right" on DMX satellite radio and have been crazy about it ever since. Between the beat and Melanie's soulful voice, it has a sweet Amy Winehouse feel that is both retro and really fresh and cool. She's currently managed by Jay-Z's Roc Nation, so I'm really hoping for big things from this really awesome song. Listen here.

Mook N Fair's "Who's Your Daddy" is more straight up rap, the duo rhyming over the chorus and beat from the song. It's not as clever, and the rap is very basic brag raps about money. You can listen here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Okay, if you know me, and I think you do, then you know how I feel about these songs. But as you like them, I will try not to pour a Niagara Falls amount worth of haterade on them.

But I will say that "Time of the Season" is one of my all time faves and while both songs do try to alter the original a little, it's still not enough to make me think they could hold their own without the sample.

The rap song I can forgive because rap's foundations are on sampling music, but I heard the R&B song when in Maine with my parents and could not stand it!

The main reason: clearly, they employed instruments to record it, so why not redo the original with new music without the sample! It could have had a very retro Amy Winehouse feel with actual talent. But I will stop as I don't want to be "that guy"...

C. Paul Keller said...

It's all good Junior! I knew as soon as I started vibing on "Give It To Me Right" that you'd probably hate it. But teh reason I write about music is because I love discussing it, and discussion often fosters disagreement.

I didn't really like the rap one, but I mostly thought it interesting that two songs would sample the same track within a few months of each other.

I have a feeling your gonna love/hate this week on P&C, because I have one more sample-centric post coming besides the Jason DeRulo one from yesterday. It's an unofficial theme!