Guru - Jazzmatazz Voume 3: Streetsoul - 2xLP

Virgin (2000)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years. 

The third volume of Guru’s Jazzmatazz came out in 2000, which is way past my usual hip hop cutoff year of 1994.  It’s always been my feeling that anything that came out in 1995 or later wasn’t really worth my time.  As I’ve been digging deeper into albums thatI missed the first time around, I’ve realized that while that is true in thevast majority of instances, it’s also incorrect in quite a few cases as well.  Jazzmatazz Volume 3: Streetsoul is one of those exceptions. 

My beef with most records that came out after 94 is that the production just seemed to change so drastically.  It rarely lives up to the Golden Age beats that I love so much.  While I can’t say this record is quite as strong as Volumes 1 or 2, it’s a hell of a record to have come out in 2000.  The beats are still smooth and jazzy, not too dissimilar from the prior volumes.  Gang Starr always had a pretty unique sound and they kept that sound more consistent than most over the years.  I will be writing about their album Moment ofTruth in the upcoming weeks, as that was also one I didn’t really pay attention to the first time around.  But as far as this one goes, I really cannot complain about the production or Guru’sexcellent rhymes and delivery. 

The one thing I don’t love is the fact that more songs have R&B crooning in them than I would prefer.  I realize it’s a staple of jazz, but it’s never been something I’ve really been a fan of.  Give me a nice hook, but I don’t really need much singing in my hip hop.  That said, I am glad I was able to hunt down a copy of this LP at a decent price.  It tends to get kind of pricey, though I’m not sure there’s a huge demand for a reissue.  There is a Volume 4 that I have listened to online, but it’s not really a priority for me to pick up. The production takes a pretty steep nosedive between this record and that volume. 

Guru - Jazzmatazz Voume 3: Streetsoul:

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mzV2onP2QiYcJfKwoTO6M2mWbgoqUn8Tc

Guru - Jazzmatazz Volume II: The New Reality 2xLP - Orange Vinyl & Purple Vinyl

Vinyl Me Please (2018, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

I was a huge fan of the first Guru Jazzmatazz record.  In no small part because of how much of a Gang Starr fan I was.  Jazzmatazz Volume II came out in 1995, which is where the dark ages of hip hop starts for me.  I'm aware of so few hip hop records that came out after 1994 as I pretty much completely moved away from it.  That's mostly just due to the shifts in sounds and not being able to find what I was looking for anymore.

But, I recently decided to give this album a shot, as I never listened to it when it originally came out.  And you know what, it's pretty good.  It isn't as good as any of the Gang Starr records or the first Jazzmatazz record, but those are all pretty high bars to try to reach.  But listening to it in 2022, while not being in the thick of hip hop falling to pieces, I'm able to just listen to it as a new record.

As it turns out Volume II is a pretty solid hip hop record.  It still sounds like the golden era to me, though there's an over reliance of R&B singers providing crooned hooks.  I don't really need that as I've never been a fan of that sort of thing, but the strength of the beats make up for it.  No surprise that they're very jazzy, but they still have a pretty strong boom bap vibe, even if it's a bit lower key than most.

I missed the boat when Vinyl Me Please reissued this back in 2018, so I did have to pay collector prices for a copy, but I found a really good deal on this one and didn't really over pay too much, especially since VMP pressing tend to be pretty expensive to begin with.

Guru - Jazzmatazz Volume II: The New Reality:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n8owXsPEXAr7pA_ogSy2-G7N2ATxE4Viw

Guru - Jazzmatazz Volume 1 LP

Music On Vinyl (2022, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

When this album originally came out in 1993, I was a huge Gang Starr fan.  I was quite obsessed with Gang Starr's third album that had come out the prior year, Daily Operation.  When I saw the video for the the song "Loungin," I immediately tracked down a copy of the album.

At the time I remember liking it, but being a little disappointed when comparing it to Daily Operation.  From a production standpoint, this album has more in common with something like Tribe Called Quest than it does Gang Starr, but that's fine, I love Tribe.  Where the record lost me back then (and now a bit to, if I'm being honest), where the really long stretches in a lot of songs where Guru isn't rapping and the preponderance of R&B style singing in the choruses of more than a few songs.

I have been hunting for a copy of this for a while.  Music On Vinyl reissued it in 2018, but I must have just missed the boat as I could only find it for really high collector's prices for the past few years.  But luck finally changed and MOV reissued it again this year, allowing me to pick up a copy at a more reasonable price.

Listening to it now, I have an even greater appreciation for what Guru was trying to do.  He's definitely pushing the jazz envelop further than most groups of that era.  That said, the complaints I have from when I was sixteen are mostly the same ones I have now.  Too much singing and too many horn solos.  When it's Guru rhyming over jazzy beats, I love it.  When it meanders, I tend to be less interested.  He did three volumes of these Jazzmatazz records.  I've never heard the other two and I think it's time to correct that.

Guru - Jazzmatazz Volume 1:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mUxGEWlIkGtxdtloxTCwNkFP2-OX_HKhc

The Pale Faces - Guru 7" - Blue Vinyl

Punk Fox (2014)

Hey, it's another one of those rare instances where someone actually sends me a record to review. It's always pretty fun and exciting to get a mystery package in the mail like that.  This is actually the 2nd record I've gotten from the Punk Fox record label, which is surprising as I wasn't all that into the 1st release they sent me.  Well, it's still nice to be thought of, but unfortunately for me The Pale Faces is one of those records that I'm destined to never play again.

First off, if you look up this band online and end up on their Facebook page there's never ending talk of the 'collective' they're part of.  It's been my experience that people who refer to their friends as a collective are usually kind of pretentious .  I can't say that for sure about The Pale Faces and they may be super cool folks, but I can tell you that I don't really like their record.  

A-side "Guru" is built over a chugging guitar riff that goes nowhere, lots of "oooohs" instead of lyrics and the loudest mixed shaker egg you've every heard on a record in your entire life.  Geez, I can't even believe how loud they left that thing in the final mix, it's borderline absurd.  The B-side "Nature Calls" isn't much better.  This time they add a wacky organ sound to the mix and then play the guitar riff on top of it almost note for note.  Again, the song is repetitious and just does absolutely nothing for me.  Oh, it also comes with a DVD, but this isn't I Buy Way Too Many DVDs Dot Com and I have no motivation to see or hear any more of this band.

I don't like writing bad reviews and I feel especially guilty when it's not something I bought on my own, but someone sending me the record because they think I'll like it.  That being said, I just don't like The Pale Faces.  Hopefully the next time Punk Fox sends me a record I'll be more into it.  If they ever send me anything again.

The Pale Faces - "Guru":

http://goodtimecollective.bandcamp.com/track/guru