Queen - The BASIC Bootlegs

Okay, here it is! Over the weekend I finally obtained a copy of the BASIC Bootlegs album and have been listening to it pretty regularly since. Before I go any further, if you're a Queen purist you're going to be majorly disappointed, whereas if you have a taste for the experimental you'll find this to be a fascinating excursion. As fascinating as this album is though, that alone couldn't save it from a fate of non-release and it makes a lot more sense after hearing what is assumed to be the near final product.

A track by track description of the album and the bonus tracks I've included follows below, but first I want to chat about the quality of the contents and the source of the tracks. Regarding the source, I purchased a download of two bootleg compilations assembled by a Queen fan that sells his CDs and DVDs via his website. Despite the fact I'm not a fan of bootleggers who charge exorbitant fees for material for which they don't own the rights, this person was very polite and even though I'm posting these tracks I'm leaving the remaining majority of the recordings from his collections out of circulation, at least by my hands. The majority of the tracks featured here were already available to collectors so I don't think I'm doing him any harm. With that said, the sources of these tracks is peculiar as many of the tracks' spectral data falls well below the full frequency range, generally inferring they're transcoded MP3s, but for the tracks that didn't receive official releases the ranges differ considerably and there is a large wall of empty background data behind the music, generally the first thing to disappear when an MP3 is created, so I have to assume these were either sourced from an unmastered copy of the album or transferred from a tape, though tape rips never sound this good so I have to assume it's the former, meaning these are probably ripped from one of the official CD-Rs that were issued as promos in 1999 by Hollywood Records. Of course this is all just a theory and I'm ready to proven wrong by anyone that knows better, and I know there are many that do, so please correct me if I'm wrong, I'll be happy to admit my fault.

yar, there be noise from the chyskillz remix!

Queen - The BASIC Bootlegs

01 We Will Rock You (Ruined by Rick Rubin)
This is the same version that appears on the officially released single. Definitely the better of Rick's two remixes, Chad Smith and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers add drums and bass respectively, while Brendan O'Brien gets a mix engineering credit and DJ Zulu Afrika Islam provides the scratches and cuts. As to who provides the additional guitar, they remain uncredited. Maybe a previously unused performance by Brian May? Regardless, Rick got it right by not removing the stomp-stomp-clap-pause from the original, only changing it a little.

02 Don't Try Suicide (Grandmaster Muggs Remix)
This is less a remix and more an original track with lots of samples from the original Don't Try Suicide. I've never heard Muggs rap so I can't tell you if that's him on vocals, but the whole track is rather peculiar since it sounds like something Cypress Hill would have done and Muggs' flow sounds very much like that of B-Real. I'd love to know if Cypress couldn't be cleared for the vocals so Muggs recorded B-Real's rhymes.

03 Another One Bites The Dust (Chyskillz Remix feat. Ice Cube, Hi-C & Chyskillz)
Like Muggs' remix, this is more an original recording, although this features even less of the original. Apart from the song's title being chanted repeatedly and the bass line running throughout, there is practically nothing in common between this and the original version. As for who is responsible for this mix, Chyskillz of Onyx fame mentions in the intro that they're going to remix this track in his style. Ice Cube, who generally gets the credit for this track when it's mentioned, only provides the first verse for which he doesn't even sound engaged.

04 Under Pressure (Mr. Mixx Remix)
I'll admit I'm not very familiar with the works of Mr. Mixx as I know him only through his association with the 2 Live Crew, but this sounds nothing like 2LC and was rather unexpected. It's more like a club track for a primitive rave party. Pretty damn cool!

05 We Are The Champions (Ruined by Rick Rubin)
Again, the same as the officially released single version. This works a little better after having listened to it several times but Rick definitely ruined this one more than he improved it. Chopping the vocals so they'd run in time with James Brown's Funky Drummer break was a good idea in theory, but it really doesn't pay off in execution. The credits on this one are the same as Rick's We Will Rock You remix.

06 Fat Bottomed Girls (Organized Konfusion Remix)
I have to assume Pharoahe Monch and Prince Po are fully responsible for this remix as they did most of their own production work in the early nineties. This isn't a bad remix or anything but it doesn't beat the original. Interestingly, a previously unreleased alternate take Freddie's vocals are used in this remix. Overall, this is simply an attempt to add a little bit of hip-hop rhythm to the song with OK rhyming about big booty beauties and how they can't say no to their charms.

07 Dragon Attack (Jack Benson Remix feat. R.A.K.)
This is the same remix that was released on the 91 reissue of The Game. As I wrote earlier, it's assumed that Jack Benson provided the remix and R.A.K. the rap, although I can't find any information about who R.A.K. might be and Benson's career, at least in the world of studio musicians, seems to have ended in the very early nineties. This isn't much of a description for this remix, but it sounds like the type of thing you might have heard in a Super Nintendo game circa 91, so think about it the next time you're playing Super Metroid or Castlevania IV.

08 Another One Bites The Dust (Phase 5 Dusted B-Boy Version feat. Raw Fusion)
On the promo CD featured at discogs, this mix is credited to Phase and Rave, whereas the reality is that this is merely an edit of the version that appeared on the BASIC beats sampler. Maybe Ogilvie edited this version, but otherwise it's Phase 5's same mix.

09 Stone Cold Crazy (Re-Produced by Trent Reznor)
Reznor's fantasticly overdriven remix still shines! Same as the version released on the promo single.

10 Dragon Attack (Dave "Rave" Ogilvie Instrumental Remix)
This doesn't seem like it should be here, but it kind of fits in at the same time. This is a rather straight remix of Dragon Attack, adding nothing new yet removing Freddie's vocals. The mix is kinda weak and removes a lot of the dynamics from the original version, to which I have to wonder why they didn't just use an instrumental of that version. While this is a bit of a disappointment, Dragon Attack is also one of those Queen tracks that could easily be sampled and turned into a monster hip-hop jam by a skilled producer, so in a twisted way it makes a lot of sense that they would have included an instrumental version of this track, much in the same way that James Brown's Funky Drummer was re-edited into a DJ friendly track for the In The Jungle Groove compilation.

bonus tracks:
Most of these appeared in the previous post of Queen remixes but I wanted to include them since they're from the same era as the above compilation and are thematically similar if not cut from the identical cloth.

11 Flash's Theme (Mista Lawnge Remix)
Mista Lawnge of Black Sheep fame provides this cut and scratch remix of the mostly instrumental Flash's Theme. This would have fit perfectly on the BASIC Bootlegs album so who knows why it wouldn't have been included.

12 Bicycle Race (Junior Vasquez Remix)
Less a club track and more of a polished hip-hop remix, Junior brings a solid remix that sounds great.

13 Another One Bites The Dust (Dave "Rave" Ogilvie Alternative Remix)
This rather odd remix was released on a Hollywood Records promo compilation named Freakshow, which is an oddly appropriate title in conjunction with this track. It sounds more like an exercise in industrial rock dynamics as there is a lot of distortion and not much attention paid to keeping the groove intact. I like it but it seems more like a throwaway.

14 Another One Bites The Dust (Phase 5 Long Dusted B-Boy Version feat. Raw Fusion)
The full version of the all over the place Phase 5 remix, it goes on for over ten minutes and features samples from all over the place. Is that a Captain Kangaroo sample I heard in there? This mix is so scattered it's ridiculous, but that's a lot of the fun of it. It sounds like an excuse to put every cool record you can think of into a crazy remix which is one of the great hallmarks of early hip-hop party remixes. The edit from the main album doesn't do it justice.

15 Seven Seas Of Rhye (Freddy Bastone Remix)
I don't know how involved the band was in approving the remixes intended for the BASIC Bootlegs album or the Hollywood Records reissues. If they were involved, one has to assume that they must have liked this particular track, with it's cheesy, early nineties house flavor, and hated a number of the more hip-hop oriented remixes. On the other hand, maybe they weren't involved at all the Bootlegs album didn't get released due to sample issues and guest clearances. Either theory may hold some water, but this track still somehow saw release. Everything great about early nineties house is turned into bad excuse for someone to use a generic rhythm loop and add twinkling piano. Maybe it had more charm in 91, but it's pretty dated now.

16 Tie Your Mother Down (Re-Produced by Trent Reznor)
This is the same version that has been circulating, although the source on this seems to be a bit clearer and fades out properly instead of cutting off. I figured the spectrals would look better but they look far worse than the version I uploaded previously. Regardless, Trent's minimal and funky remix is as good as ever. Someone should produce a bootleg 12" or 7" of both of his remixes and sell them to indie shops. That's the kind of bootleg that's worth purchasing!





By the way, here is a link to a pseudo-bootleg remix EP that Z-Trip and Murs made a few years ago. There are remixes of Prince's Kiss and Queen's We Will Rock You, both of which suck miserably, but the remix of Fat Bottomed Girls completely makes up for how bad they are. Get this and listen to the Fat Bottom Remix and prepare to be blown away by how stupid good it is!

Queen - Remixes for Hollywood and BASIC

Before we go any further, this is NOT the BASIC Bootlegs album, rather this is a collection of tracks from various sources that were commissioned by Hollywood Records and Hollywood BASIC in the early nineties. Several of these made the cut on the Queen reissues of that era, all of which are now out of print, while others appeared on the BASIC beats sampler and others remain unreleased. If I can find the BASIC Bootlegs album I'll definitely post it, so let's all keep our fingers crossed!

I want to make it clear that I'm not anti-Hollywood Records or even that much against Disney, especially since I was a Disney fan-boy back in the day, although that's a different story. I get the impression that Hollywood Records is and was always a label with integrity, but when your parent organization has a different perspective and goals it can be difficult to operate as one might see fit. Disney, despite having dealt with controversy throughout the years via labels like Miramax, prefers their name be associated with family friendly materials, and the current Hollywood Records roster, filled with Disney stars and youth-oriented musicians, seems to reflect Disney's goals more accurately. Nonetheless, you can't blame them for trying, even if the machine seemed to be pulling in two separate directions on a pretty consistent basis.


Queen - Hollywood Remixes

01 Flash's Theme (Mista Lawnge Remix)
That's Mista Lawnge of Black Sheep fame! This appeared on the Flash Gordon soundtrack reissue.

02 Bicycle Race (Junior Vasquez Remix)
Taken from the Jazz reissue, I was expecting a cheesy house track but Junior goes for a more hip-hop oriented sound. Dated but not bad at all.

03 Dragon Attack (Jack Benson Remix feat. R.A.K.)
Jack Benson, from what I could find, was a studio engineer/producer in the early nineties. His discogs reference seems to go cold around 1991. As for R.A.K., I can't find anything about him. Any ideas? Regardless, this appeared on the reissue of The Game. Like Junior's remix, dated but enjoyable. This was to appear on the BASIC Bootlegs compilation.

04 Stone Cold Crazy (Trent Reznor Remix)
Apart from the appearance on the BASIC Bootlegs CD-R, the only other release of this mix was on a promotional single for Stone Cold Crazy. That's where this version is taken from and it's a notable upgrade sound-wise by comparison with the tape rip I'd originally posted a while back. I prefer the tape rip because this version is kinda flat, but it still sounds excellent. Awesome remix! This does appear on the BASIC Bootlegs compilation.

05 We Will Rock You (Ruined by Rick Rubin)
06 We Are The Champions (Ruined by Rick Rubin)
Both of these remixes were officially released on a maxi-single in the early nineties. Rick's version of Rock You is awesome, though I can't really get into his take on Champions. The verses are broken up so the song will play in 4/4 time over the Funky Drummer break. Maybe it'll grow on me, but it's still Rick so I can't hate.

07 Another One Bites The Dust (Phase 5 Long Dusted B-Boy Version feat. Raw Fusion)
This is the same version as posted in the BASIC beats sampler. It seems that it was scheduled for the BASIC Bootlegs compilation but I can't quite verify that. The CD-R's label references a version by Phase and Rave, and while I'd assume Phase to be short for Phase 5, I don't remember the credits listing Dave "Rave" Ogilvie, the only person I can think of using the name Rave at that time, as a contributor to this remix.

08 Seven Seas Of Rhye (Freddy Bastone Remix)
This is a cheesy house remix included on the reissue of Queen II. I'm including it here for posterity as, unlike many of the other remixes that appeared on those early nineties Queen reissues, this is a legitimately altered version of the song. There were a number of other remixes included on those reissues by great names like Matt Wallace and Susan Rogers but they sound more like remixes for clarity's sake rather than a stylistic change.

09 Tie Your Mother Down (Trent Reznor Remix)
This is the same version that I posted a while ago and that appears on the Tainted Touch Of Trent's Caress tape. Apparently a lot of Queen fans hate this since it strips away so much of the original, but I think it's great. You can always count on Trent!

Hollywood BASIC: BASIC beats sampler

If you're not familiar with Hollywood BASIC, lets take a moment to discuss this anomaly of the early nineties hip-hop scene. Generally recognized as the brainchild of Dave "Funken" Klein, a writer and purveyor of hip-hop culture, the label was home to Organized Konfusion, a young DJ Shadow, Digital Underground associates Raw Fusion, African hip-hop duo Zimbabwe Legit, rapper Charizma and his partner Peanut Butter Wolf, real-life convicts the Lifers Group and the South Central soundtrack.

Everyone should know who Organized Konfusion are, as well as DJ Shadow, and Raw Fusion, consisting of Money B and DJ Fuze, had a few moments in the spotlight, though it's understandable you might not be familiar with Lifers Group or Zimbabwe Legit. As for Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf, their only releases via BASIC were a flexi-disc given away with an issue of Bomb Hip-Hop magazine and a promotional cassette, both featuring a single track, although those tracks and much more eventually gained official releases years later on Stones Throw Records.

Hollywood BASIC was a sister label to Hollywood Records which was distributed by Elektra in the early nineties, so their distribution was pretty good all things considered and a lot of their singles got played on Yo! MTV Raps, but video play never necessarily translates into record sales and a lot of the label's releases slipped into obscurity. Now, if you're wondering how an early nineties hip-hop powerhouse like Elektra, what with it's major label distribution via Warner Bros., could fail at selling artists with easy cred like Organized Konfusion and Raw Fusion, it should be noted who the Hollywood labels owners were, and that would be an entertainment entity that while amazingly successful rarely sold much of anything with an edge, and when they attempted to do generally failed miserably, and that wonderous entity would be...

Disney

The people that signed the Insane Clown Posse without realizing how stupid an idea that was from the start, the people that canceled the Insane Clown Posse album after it had been sent to retail, the people that would sign any group as detestable as the Insane Clown Posse and drop them without at least imagining the amount of money they could have made despite having a track record for doing things of that sort to begin with, that's Hollywood Records and they're owned by Disney. They also signed a lot of interesting acts that had plenty of credibility and talent like the Butthole Surfers, Danzig, Indigo Girls, Sparta, Big Kenny of Big & Rich, The Dead Milkmen, Fishbone and Fastball among many others, although I bet most people had no idea any of these groups and artists had anything to do with this label which seems to be cursed by its association with its parent entity. Their biggest act was arguably Queen, for which they purchased their catalog rights and proceeded to reissue their albums in the US, often with bizarre practices like including vaguely altered remixes of album tracks as bonuses and funding countless producers to create stylistically divergent remixes, most of which have never seen the light of day with only a handful having been issued via promotional releases.

Anyway, Hollywood BASIC, apart from suffering the Disney curse, was dealt a death blow when Dave "Funken" Klein lost his battle with cancer, and the label disappeared completely in the mid nineties with several unreleased records in its archives including the unreleased Queen remix compilation, the hip-hop themed BASIC Bootlegs. The label truly had it's heart in the right place though, as is evident from the amazing BASIC beats sampler. Alongside tracks from all of the artists on the label's roster, barring Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf, you also get a cross section of bizarre interludes including angry messages from members of Lifers Group, Rick Rubin singing badly, someone getting really pissed off about Milli Vanilli and lots of other oddities. It reminds me of what is generally becoming a lost era of hip-hop, the crazy early nineties when bizarre interludes and general confusion was accepted and encouraged, making things very "interesting"!

If you love hip-hop, you'll love this. Seriously, just grab this and enjoy it, there isn't anything else that needs to be said!


Hollywood BASIC: BASIC beats sampler

01 You've Reached BASIC
02 Organized Konfusion - The Rough Side Of Town (South Side)
03 Niz-Nuts
04 Lifers Group - The Real Deal (Shadow Remix)
05 Women's Bathroom
06 Raw Fusion - Rockin' To The P.M. (Oaktown Homies Remix)
07 Rick Sings
08 Queen - We Will Rock You (Ruined by Rick Rubin)
09 Zimbabwe's In The House
10 Zimbabwe Legit - Rhymin' Wit The African Symphony
11 Bomba Fleur
12 Last Acustic Remains - untitled
13 Hank Love
14 Hello
15 Raw Fusion - Throw Your Hands In The Air
16 Ass Out The Bed
17 Lifers Group - Belly Of The Beast
18 Report The BASICs
19 Queen - Another One Bites The Dust (Long Dusted B-Boy Version)
20 Rockbarry
21 Organized Konfusion - Open Your Eyes
22 Money Back
23 Shadow - BASIC Mega-Mix


So, now that you've got this, anyone got a copy of that Queen BASIC Bootlegs album? From what I understand, it is circulating among Queen fans but is generally looked at as heresy since there are a lot of rappers making guest appearances. It's got production from DJ Muggs, Dave "Rave" Ogilvie, Trent Reznor, Rick Rubin, Mr. Mixx and appearances from Ice Cube and Money B. Apparently a David Cohen and Femi Jiya remix of The Miracle was also made for it but wouldn't have made the cut. You can see a little more about it here. So, anyone wanna have pity on me so I can share it with everyone else?



On a final note, there was yet another short-lived sister label of Hollywood Records, Hollywood METAL, their rock and, uh, metal label. Apart from promotional appearances by a few of that label's artists, there were no releases by the METAL label. Once again, how are you supposed to do business as a respectable label when the mouse is clearly holding the reigns?

Milk. - Never Dated

Continuing with the slept-on theme, here's more proof that Rick Rubin never truly grew out of hip-hop, he just grew a beard and got weirder. That's not meant to be taken as disrespect, but how many people can you think of that produced Neil Diamond, Donovan, Danzig, Slayer, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, LL Cool J, Run-DMC and more? I'll leave that list thoroughly incomplete because I could spend all day writing it, but it certainly takes someone with a unique perspective to effectively work with such a diverse list of artists.

Rick Rubin didn't produce Milk., rather he signed him to American Recordings and got the Never Dated album released in 1995. Milk., and yes that period belongs after his name, handled all the production apart from a remix by Joe Quixx and King Tech with guest vocals from the jazzyfatnastees as well as a track with co-production from Ad Rock of the Beastie Boys. As for where you may have heard Milk. from before, he's the man who provided the vocals in Audio Two, generally remembered for the awesome Top Billin', although Never Dated is just as good as anything Audio Two ever recorded with Milk. coming hard and the beats being very solid. So, why didn't it blow up then? Well...

I've mentioned before that American Recordings seems to have a poor reputation regarding the availability of it's catalog. If you're signed to American and your name isn't Johnny Cash, or if you're not part of Slayer, your catalog will most likely languish somewhere in the digital realm without mentions, reissues or any push from whatever label holds your rights. Again, none of this is meant as disrespectful to Rick, but it's clear that his label's legacy will best be remembered for Mr. Cash's late-period career resurrection and as an off-shoot of Def Jam. Back to Milk. though, it probably didn't help that his solo debut is just over twenty-five minutes long and, no matter how good it was, saw release in the mid-nineties during the peak of gangsta rap and grimy, underground hip-hop. On top of that, while it may have been intended purely for entertainment purposes, the phone call interludes on the album, with Milk.'s friends and associates calling him angrily regarding work he was supposed to turn in may be another reason he remained more of an old-school memory than a then-modern contemporary.

Whatever the real reason for Milk.'s lack of solo success, he's in top form on Never Dated, bringing lots of classic boom-bap beats and flows. It also helps that the record is practically over before it starts because his high-pitched voice might burn some listeners quickly. Unfortunately, the best moment on the record is of course Spam, the collaboration with Ad Rock and Mike D. on drums. Milk. would most likely claim people were playing favorites with Spam as the single, especially with the Beastie association, but it's the only track here that has a real chorus and sounds truly focused, whereas tracks like Go 2 Hell! and Rude & Cocky sound like they might have been mostly written off the top of his head, and that's not necessarily a good thing. Some rappers really shine when going off the beat, but Milk. simply sounds like he's giving a stream-of-consciousness rant when he tries to experiment.

All in all, Milk.'s Never Dated isn't going to change your life but you'll probably find yourself singing Get Off My Log if you're not watching yourself. The remix is even better with the extra chorus vocals from the jazzyfatnastees. Too bad things didn't work out for Milk. but at least Never Dated is a fun listen. Enjoy!


Milk. - Never Dated

01 Intro
02 Get Off My Log (feat. Big V)
03 Laid & Paid II
04 Spam (feat. The King Ad Rock)
05 Rude & Cocky
06 Go 2 Hell!
07 Ask Me How Thick
08 Smoke Up My Ass
09 Get Off My Log (the jazzyfatwoody remix)

N.I.C.E. Vinyl #6: LL Cool J

LL Cool J's I Need A Beat was the very first release on Def Jam back in 1984, that is if you're not counting T La Rock and Jazzy Jay's It's Yours which was a joint release with Partytime the same year. It's a Rick Rubin production as all the earliest Def Jam singles were and while LL is in his early, pre-Radio form, he still manages to rock the bells and keep the crowd moving. This track also gets a co-writing credit from one A. Horovitz, aka Adrock of the Beastie Boys, although his name was strangely removed from the track's credits on Radio. The story I've heard is that Rick Rubin was already getting a little power hungry and decided half of the credit looked a lot better than a third. Of course, it could also have been to establish LL's reputation as an MC and the writer of his own rhymes, but I'm more likely to believe the latter story as Rubin's abuse of his relationship with the Beasties is legendary, especially since they contributed more to the start of Def Jam than they ever receive credit for.

This is the original version of I Need A Beat, as opposed to the version which appears on Radio which is a remix by Jazzy Jay, although it only notes that on the album's inner sleeve. You might have to listen with headphones to notice the beat has been tuned to LL's voice. The credits read "Reduced by Rick Rubin" and list J. Burzootie as the mix engineer. Burzootie also gets credit for a remix on the b-side. Herb Powers gets the mastering credit and the vinyl sounds like a million bucks! There is also a message in the runout groove from Herb, listed there as Herbie Jr., which states "You think this is f____d up, it's gonna get worse".

This and the MCA and Burzootie record, Drum Machine, are both on my dream list of vinyl to own, so I was totally shocked when I came upon this record the other day for a buck or two, and it's an original 1984 pressing to boot! Since I'm still lacking in the employment field at the moment I have made a conscious decision not to spend any money on entertainment, but with the holidays having just passed, me having a little extra cash in the pocket and knowing where I could snag a copy of the Graffiti Bridge soundtrack on vinyl, I decided to drop into a little shop in Kent called, I believe, The Vinyl Exchange. Nice shop, good selection, and lots of expensive rarities all along the walls, though there is a ridiculous section of cheap dance 12"s from the seventies through the nineties in the back of the store and I found this, along with some stuff from Wang Chung, Junior, Greg Phillinganes and Blowfly in that section for a total of less than ten dollars. The Graffiti Bridge vinyl, which is in great shape, was nine dollars and they wouldn't run the transaction on my card for less than ten so I went digging. I thought about posting the Blowfly 12", Rapp Dirty, for which the b-side, Blowfly's Rapp, is legendary, but I was legitimately afraid I'd offend someone, so if people want me to post that let me know. As for the rest of the stuff mentioned, there will be some more vinyl posted in the near future as well as some stuff I've been sitting on.

One important thing to note about this rip, while the vinyl is old and a little beat up it still played rather well, but I didn't bother with manual declicking and used iZotope RX's excellent declicking software. I just didn't want to sit around for an hour and half watching for clicks. As I've said before, all praise to PBthal and the other vinyl ripping geniuses, but I'm definitely not on their level! Enjoy!


LL Cool J - I Need A Beat

FLAC

V0 MP3

01 I Need A Beat (Vocal)
02 I Need A Beat (Zootie Mix)
03 I Need A Beat (Instrumental)

Mick Jagger & The Red Devils - The Famous Blues Session

This is a recording I found out about via Dan Leroy's book The Greatest Music Never Sold. I remember reading an online review of the book where someone complained that a chapter about Mick Jagger's solo work from his later career shouldn't be a concern of anyone, but they must not have read the book because Mick has very little to do with the story.

The Red Devils were a blues-rock band from LA featuring members of The Blasters (Bill Bateman, drums) and The Knitters (Johnny Ray Bartel, bass) but the majority of the focus fell on the band's vocalist and harmonica player, Lester Butler. Not to ignore the other band members (Dave Lee Bartel and Paul Size, both guitarists), but Lester got a lot of hype for his presence and the band got signed to Rick Rubin's American Recordings where they released one album, King King in 1992, and an EP in 1994. The album is considered a classic and Rubin gets props for recording the band live without overdubs to capture their vibe, but he had bigger things in store for them.

While producing Mick Jagger's Wandering Spirit, it was decided that the Devils would back Mick on a collection of classic blues covers. What followed was described by the band as Mick, whom they had just met, essentially becoming one of the guys and they all fell in love with him. An album's worth of songs were recorded but sat in the vault with no promise of release. Mick had said he loved the recordings and might release them as an album unto itself, but his relationship with the band became strained when he stopped communicating with them regularly. A few shows were performed in the UK with the Devils as his backing band but, apart from that, zilch.

The Red Devils were still working with Rick Rubin, but that became short lived as well. They did some sessions with Johnny Cash, played live with Bruce Willis at Planet Hollywood events and recorded a second album with Rubin on production, but that album remains unreleased and tracks from the Cash sessions wouldn't see the light of day until after his death. Lester Butler began showing signs of drug addiction and his relationship with the group became strained. Rubin, a notoriously anti-drug individual, probably used this as his excuse to stop working with the band, and it was one of many factors that lead to their downfall.

Lester went on to play in the band 13 and continued performing sporadically until his death at the age of 38. In 1998 he suffered an overdose and the two individuals he was with decided to inject him with cocaine rather than perform any lifesaving measures or call 911.

The band has reformed a few times since Lester's death but they openly acknowledge that it will never be the same without him.

As for the recordings with Jagger, the Devils themselves couldn't even get a copy of the tapes, at least not by any direct methods. A few stories circulate about how a tape was acquired, one involving Lester somehow receiving a very poor quality cassette and selling it to bootleggers, but other members of the band have insinuated that a copy was dubbed for them by a secretary at American Recordings, leading to far superior copies circulating. Regardless, apart from one track having been released on a 2007 compilation of Mick Jagger recordings, the sessions remain shamefully unreleased, at least officially.

So, it is with great pleasure that I present to you a copy of these infamous sessions from, of all places, an actual "silver" bootleg CD. Yeah, the quality isn't the greatest, but that's to be expected. I've seen the sessions around elsewhere but I don't recall having heard a superior copy, so I'll be posting these goodies from that silver disc for your listening pleasure. Maybe someday Rick and Mick (a supergroup begging to be formed folks!) will come to some kind of agreement and these recordings could be given an official release, but until then, we'll just have to settle for second hand copies of these great tracks.

If you'd like more info on the Red Devils, please visit No Fightin'. They've done a rather nice job covering the story of the band with lots of press clippings, photos and videos to delve into!


Mick Jagger & The Red Devils - The Famous Blues Session


01 Blues With A Feeling (Take 1)
02 Blues With A Feeling (Take 2)
03 Blues With A Feeling (Take 4)
04 Blues With A Feeling (Take 5)
05 I Got My Eyes On You (Take 2)
06 Still A Fool (Take 3)
07 Still A Fool (Take 4)
08 Checkin' Up On My Baby (Take 3)
09 One Way Out (Take 1)
10 One Way Out (Take 2)
11 Talk To Me Baby (Take 2)
12 Evil (Take 2)
13 Evil (Take 3)
14 Evil (Take 4)
15 Ain't Your Business (Take 3)
16 Shake 'Em On Down (Take 1)
17 Somebody Loves Me (Take 3)
18 Dream Girl Blues (Take 1)
19 Dream Girl Blues (Take 3)
20 40 Days 40 Nights (Take 1)
21 40 Days 40 Nights (Take 2)

Kwest Tha Madd Lad - This Is My First Album

If I didn't make it clear how much I love Justin Warfield's album, let me make it abundantly clear that it is fantastic! If I came off rough on him it's not because I don't like or respect him, it's just that someone so talented has such a scattershot career. I would love to see consistent creativity like his on a more regular basis, but it's the people who are a little sharper than the mainstream can handle that have the shortest careers. I'm going to put the One Inch Punch album up in a few days as it's totally worth checking out, I just wish there was more JW stuff.

Kwest is kinda like JW in the sense that hie stuff is just a little too advanced for the mainstream, which is a shame. Like JW, Kwest dropped his album in the nineties on a Warner subsidiary, in this case American Recordings, the post Def Jam label started by Rick Rubin. Rick hasn't spent too much time working on hip-hop related projects since leaving Def Jam in the late eighties, although he shows up more frequently now in that field than he used to (99 Problems FTW!). He did keep an eye on the scene though which led to the signing of Milk (the verbal half of Audio Two) and Kwest Tha Madd Lad.

Milk recorded a short album named Never Dated which he produced mostly on his own and featured a Beastie Boys collaboration, but that couldn't save it from being kinda weak. On the other hand, Kwest got a proper full-length that showed off his awesome skills on the mic. At one point I recall the audacious claim that Kwest did every rhyme on the album off the head, and while that's just not likely, that's probably how almost every track started. He's just incredibly slick and moves from one idea to another with ridiculous speed. He's got a sense of humor and a dirty mouth that should make anyone with an open mind laugh their asses off. Take 101 Things To Do While I'm With Your Girl, where he may not give the full list but you're sure he could spit it at a moments notice and it would be just as dirty as you fear or hope it would be. On Skin Care he lists even more nasty things to do with a ladyfriend, all the while manually bleeping his curses without missing a beat. Then there's Damn where Kwest takes the role of a demon reporting to Satan and listing his failures and successes at break neck speed. Totally awesome!

Kwest's dirty mind was probably the main reason he didn't take off, but it didn't help that the beats aren't all sure-fire hits. Probably half of the album is spot on perfect, but tracks like I Met My Baby At V.I.M. don't help things. Lubrication's beat had to grow on me, but as much as it bored me initially now I'm totally feeling it, but on the radio or MTV you've got one shot to get into the listener's head and if there is a moment of doubt, you're lost. These tracks are too deep to sink right in most of the time, so it's no shock the album flopped, but it's still a shame.

Kwest lingered on the scene for a few years but he has basically been invisible since 1996/1997. He made a return of sorts in 2007 with a compilation of unreleased cuts named, what else, These Are My Unreleased Recordings. There are good reasons why much of those tracks didn't come out but it doesn't make the album any less entertaining. I'm not going to post that since it is available for purchase via sites like Amazon and iTunes, both as physical copy or download, but This Is My First Album is LONG out of print so download and enjoy!


Kwest Tha Madd Lad - This Is My First Album

01 Everyone Always Said I Should Start My Album off With A Bang
02 101 Things To Do While I'm With Your Girl
03 Disnexone
04 I Met My Baby At V.I.M.
05 Blase Blah (Off Tha Head)
06 Lubrication
07 What's The Reaction?
08 Daddiez Home
09 Kwest's Theme Song
10 Skin Care
11 Day In The Life Of My Asspipe
12 Butta-Few-Co
13 Disk and Dat
14 125 Pennies For Your Thoughts
15 Herman's Head
16 Bludawnmeyesneekhuz (Through Tha Eyez Of A Hood)
17 Damn
18 Say My Name Again