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Post by John S. Damm on Oct 23, 2010 12:45:33 GMT -5
So, I've been hearing that he remasters for DF and M&H were poorly remastered using lots of limiting and compression. I also heard that those two weren't remastered with the rest of the new remasters. What do you guys say about it? Oh and to anyone who got the signature box, how do the remasters of the singles sound? I am ashamed to say that I haven't even played Disc 2 from Double Fantasy Stripped Down. I haven't purchased the 2010 reissued Milk And Honey. I still feel the 2000 remastered only Double Fantasy is where it is at: great, great sonics and killer bonus tracks. I'd hunt that one down if you don't have it. By the way, several night ago I played the 2010 reissued Imagine(remastered only) and it is okay, decent sonics in the original 1971 mix we all know(and most love). Still, I prefer the 2000 remixed and remastered Imagien but this time just by a hair.
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Post by Joe Karlosi on Dec 5, 2010 9:17:24 GMT -5
Well, I was waffling a little on this for some time, but I have heard these STRIPPED songs again this morning on a local Beatles radio program, and I have decided finally - I do not need these mutilated versions.
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Post by John S. Damm on Dec 5, 2010 11:15:46 GMT -5
I finally bought at Best Buy the 2 c.d., 2 dvd(one is a Best Buy special) version of BOTR for $19.99. I went to the John Lennon section and briefly held in my hand STINYC which is also $19.99(the other Lennon discs are the high $12.99), the biggest rip-off in the history of Beatles or solo Beatles! STINYC was quickly put back in the bin. We all know that even the fully restored Disc 2 of STINYC is mostly crap, purely of historical interest to us collectors. This was the same crap they pulled on us with the vinyl album version and why I waited to buy it as a kid. I guess someone must recoup the royalties going to Zappa's estate too.
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Post by sayne on Jan 4, 2011 19:25:00 GMT -5
For Christmas I got the Signature Box. I had an afternoon's worth of desk work to do at home, so I put on the headphones and started listening from the beginning. Lots of opinions, but the one I want to share now is this. I, surprisingly, really liked the jams - Lyceum and Fillmore East - on Sometime in New York City. I didn't like them at the time, but now I get it. It was the same with the Apple Jams on All Things Must Pass. Yoko's "vocal stylings" didn't bother me and I dug the energy and the improvisations.
Back in the day, my ears were still tuned to pop/rock radio music. Since then, having gone through punk, new wave, alternative, college radio/indie rock, and NPR, my ears are now tuned to a much wider range of music. I hear no difference between a Yoko shrill and a Jimi Hendrix wail or a Miles Davis burst. The power and energy of the bands on the jams - with no shackles of pop format - really was quite impressive, to me. Didn't understand the music, then. I do, now.
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Post by John S. Damm on Jan 5, 2011 9:06:56 GMT -5
For Christmas I got the Signature Box. I had an afternoon's worth of desk work to do at home, so I put on the headphones and started listening from the beginning. Lots of opinions, but the one I want to share now is this. I, surprisingly, really liked the jams - Lyceum and Fillmore East - on Sometime in New York City. I didn't like them at the time, but now I get it. It was the same with the Apple Jams on All Things Must Pass. Yoko's "vocal stylings" didn't bother me and I dug the energy and the improvisations. Back in the day, my ears were still tuned to pop/rock radio music. Since then, having gone through punk, new wave, alternative, college radio/indie rock, and NPR, my ears are now tuned to a much wider range of music. I hear no difference between a Yoko shrill and a Jimi Hendrix wail or a Miles Davis burst. The power and energy of the bands on the jams - with no shackles of pop format - really was quite impressive, to me. Didn't understand the music, then. I do, now. Signature Box was on my list but alas. We eagerly await a review of the disc with the bonus material. I I have not yet read about it from someone here who actually owns the box.
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Post by mikev on Jan 5, 2011 10:45:06 GMT -5
For Christmas I got the Signature Box. I had an afternoon's worth of desk work to do at home, so I put on the headphones and started listening from the beginning. Lots of opinions, but the one I want to share now is this. I, surprisingly, really liked the jams - Lyceum and Fillmore East - on Sometime in New York City. I didn't like them at the time, but now I get it. It was the same with the Apple Jams on All Things Must Pass. Yoko's "vocal stylings" didn't bother me and I dug the energy and the improvisations. Back in the day, my ears were still tuned to pop/rock radio music. Since then, having gone through punk, new wave, alternative, college radio/indie rock, and NPR, my ears are now tuned to a much wider range of music. I hear no difference between a Yoko shrill and a Jimi Hendrix wail or a Miles Davis burst. The power and energy of the bands on the jams - with no shackles of pop format - really was quite impressive, to me. Didn't understand the music, then. I do, now. Signature Box was on my list but alas. We eagerly await a review of the disc with the bonus material. I I have not yet read about it from someone here who actually owns the box. I just made a clone of the new SIN, but haven't listened yet. I did just view an excellent sync on Jason's youtube page of video footage of Lennon singing Baby Please Don't Go. This audio must be from the remaster, because for the first time, I can actually hear Flo and Eddie (the Turtles) on backing vocals. Originally they were heavily editted out.
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Post by ReturnToPepperland on Jan 5, 2011 19:15:42 GMT -5
For Christmas I got the Signature Box. I had an afternoon's worth of desk work to do at home, so I put on the headphones and started listening from the beginning. Lots of opinions, but the one I want to share now is this. I, surprisingly, really liked the jams - Lyceum and Fillmore East - on Sometime in New York City. I didn't like them at the time, but now I get it. It was the same with the Apple Jams on All Things Must Pass. Yoko's "vocal stylings" didn't bother me and I dug the energy and the improvisations. Back in the day, my ears were still tuned to pop/rock radio music. Since then, having gone through punk, new wave, alternative, college radio/indie rock, and NPR, my ears are now tuned to a much wider range of music. I hear no difference between a Yoko shrill and a Jimi Hendrix wail or a Miles Davis burst. The power and energy of the bands on the jams - with no shackles of pop format - really was quite impressive, to me. Didn't understand the music, then. I do, now. Oh I though for a moment you were wearing ear plugs during Yoko's vocals when you said they didn't bother you. Actually I agree with you on this. I find Yoko's vocals oddly soothing (in limited quantities of course). I was listening to her Let It Be vocal jam and I wondered how history would have changed if Paul had said then and there to John that Yoko should join the band and head it in a new direction.
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diego
Very Clean
Posts: 130
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Post by diego on Jan 12, 2011 16:26:15 GMT -5
For Christmas I got the Signature Box. I had an afternoon's worth of desk work to do at home, so I put on the headphones and started listening from the beginning. Lots of opinions, but the one I want to share now is this. I, surprisingly, really liked the jams - Lyceum and Fillmore East - on Sometime in New York City. I didn't like them at the time, but now I get it. It was the same with the Apple Jams on All Things Must Pass. Yoko's "vocal stylings" didn't bother me and I dug the energy and the improvisations. Back in the day, my ears were still tuned to pop/rock radio music. Since then, having gone through punk, new wave, alternative, college radio/indie rock, and NPR, my ears are now tuned to a much wider range of music. I hear no difference between a Yoko shrill and a Jimi Hendrix wail or a Miles Davis burst. The power and energy of the bands on the jams - with no shackles of pop format - really was quite impressive, to me. Didn't understand the music, then. I do, now. Signature Box was on my list but alas. We eagerly await a review of the disc with the bonus material. I I have not yet read about it from someone here who actually owns the box. The bonus material is nice but nothing spectacular. The outtakes from POB (Mother, Remember, etc.) are very close to the final versions. "Love" is very, very close to the version released on Acoustic. The home demos (Nobody Told Me, Beautiful Boy, etc) sounds pretty much like the demos on the Anthology, like Woman for example, so you can have an idea of how they sound (guitar and some sort of drum machine). They're nice, you can almost put together a Double Fantasy demo CD now. There's a piano version of "Serve Yourself" but it is nowhere near as fun or biting as the one on Anthology. The real gem of the CD for me is a completely different version of "I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier Mamma" which has a bit of a country flavour.
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Post by John S. Damm on Jul 11, 2013 9:50:34 GMT -5
Yesterday PopMarket had the John Lennon Signature Box on sale for $69.99!! I wasn't able to post news of that here but that was $20.00 cheaper than what I paid for it in Feb. 2012 when it was on sale at that same site!
I pulled mine out last night and played POB and Imagine loud and tonight will play the next two, STINYC and Mind Games, and so on.
Wow, those first two sounded fantastic as it has been a long while since I played them. I am re-dedicating myself to John's solo music as I tend to avoid it because it is so finite because John was not allowed to continue which leads to the second point that listening to his music excites me but then I am always reminded how the story ends and it saddens me all over again and then angers me. 33 years on and I still can't deal with it so I often walk away or turn to Paul and George's solo collection. George's passing was just as sad but not as traumatic.
It is time to stop that cycle and for me to just savor what John solo music we have! Man, those first two are powerful albums for sure. I certainly know what's coming but I like a lot off all of John's solo albums so there will be much to enjoy. The remastering sounds great, using the original John-approved mixes!
Last night while everything sounded great, some real stand-outs were "Isolation," "Remember," "Look At Me," "God," "My Mummy's Dead," "Imagine," "Crippled Inside," "It's So Hard,' "I Don't Want To Be A Soldier Mama," "Oh My Love," and "How Do You Sleep." Those just made me literally stop what I was doing and listen with all I had.
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Post by Joe Karlosi on Jul 11, 2013 14:33:12 GMT -5
Last night while everything sounded great, some real stand-outs were "Isolation," "Remember," "Look At Me," "God," "My Mummy's Dead," "Imagine," "Crippled Inside," "It's So Hard,' "I Don't Want To Be A Soldier Mama," "Oh My Love," and "How Do You Sleep." Those just made me literally stop what I was doing and listen with all I had. Hey, don't forget "How Do You Sleep"...! JSD, it's really cool that you're revisiting these. I would like to hear you continue describing your feelings on these albums. The other day I was playing Lennon's 2004 "ACOUSTIC" album in the car. My musically-trained girlfriend laughed when she heard "My Mummy's Dead", which prompted a reaction from me. I said something like, "How can you laugh at this? It's a heat-breaking lament for his dead mother!?". My girl just replied with a giggle, "It's so incongruous!" I explained to her about the original POB album, and the pain throughout, and how this last track was tagged on as a ghostly kind of coda to the record. She then said okay, she didn't realize if it was supposed to be funny or what, just hearing it out of nowhere on the ACOUSTIC album..!
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Post by John S. Damm on Jul 11, 2013 15:06:25 GMT -5
Joe, I knew you mentioned "Acoustic" the other day and I grumbled why that acoustic guitar version of "Grow Old With Me" wasn't on there but I checked Wikipedia(I know, not always accurate) and it says that acoustic GOWM wasn't "discovered" until 2009!
Tonight I will rock out to STINYC where John's vocals are better than his songs, man does he belt out those political songs and he really sings well on WITNOTW. Yoko rock and rolls too like on "Sister Oh Sister." Mind Games will be interesting as I have not heard it yet on these 2010 remasters. I love the 2002 remixed and remastered MG as I felt it breathed new life into those songs so now I will be hearing John's approved mix once again but remastered.
When we peel back these images of "Saint John" or "John the Great Humanitarian" and just tackle the music head on it is really good. Yes, we must still know the context of each album but most of it is about what's going on in his head anyway.
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Post by debjorgo on Jul 11, 2013 17:29:39 GMT -5
Last night while everything sounded great, some real stand-outs were "Isolation," "Remember," "Look At Me," "God," "My Mummy's Dead," "Imagine," "Crippled Inside," "It's So Hard,' "I Don't Want To Be A Soldier Mama," "Oh My Love," and "How Do You Sleep." Those just made me literally stop what I was doing and listen with all I had. Hey, don't forget "How Do You Sleep"...! JSD, it's really cool that you're revisiting these. I would like to hear you continue describing your feelings on these albums. The other day I was playing Lennon's 2004 "ACOUSTIC" album in the car. My musically-trained girlfriend laughed when she heard "My Mummy's Dead", which prompted a reaction from me. I said something like, "How can you laugh at this? It's a heat-breaking lament for his dead mother!?". My girl just replied with a giggle, "It's so incongruous!" I explained to her about the original POB album, and the pain throughout, and how this last track was tagged on as a ghostly kind of coda to the record. She then said okay, she didn't realize if it was supposed to be funny or what, just hearing it out of nowhere on the ACOUSTIC album..! And the first track was Mother, a song where he is angry about not having his mother when she was alive. After exorcising his demons by the end of the album, he is left with sadness over her death.
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Post by John S. Damm on Jul 11, 2013 20:04:20 GMT -5
And the first track was Mother, a song where he is angry about not having his mother when she was alive. After exorcising his demons by the end of the album, he is left with sadness over her death. You know, that is a really good point. I never thought of that, the album comes full circle. It is true though that by the end of "Mother" John's anger has seemingly dissolved and he is a scared, lonely, regretful little boy primaling, "Mommy don't go, Daddy came home!" Very heavy stuff.
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Post by debjorgo on Jul 11, 2013 20:36:39 GMT -5
Mother was an excellent song. I love the way John keeps building up, getting higher with each "Mama don't goooooooooooooooooo!". Christina Aguilera, who does the song on the Save Darfur album can't hit that note. She never nails it.
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Post by mikev on Jul 11, 2013 21:00:19 GMT -5
Mother was an excellent song. I love the way John keeps building up, getting higher with each "Mama don't goooooooooooooooooo!". Christina Aguilera, who does the song on the Save Darfur album can't hit that note. She never nails it. But Babs did!
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Post by debjorgo on Jul 11, 2013 21:22:09 GMT -5
Huh? Yeah, she hits the note!
But this is a little too..., what's the word I'm thinking of..., Oh yeah Streisandny, yeah that's it.
Just kidding. Though, as much as this is her style, (it almost sounds like something from If I Were a Rich Man or something)it's amazing hearing the Lennonisms so strongly in her singing. I'd say she's a fan.
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Post by mikev on Jul 11, 2013 21:44:12 GMT -5
Huh? Yeah, she hits the note! But this is a little too..., what's the word I'm thinking of..., Oh yeah Streisandny, yeah that's it. Just kidding. Though, as much as this is her style, (it almost sounds like something from If I Were a Rich Man or something)it's amazing hearing the Lennonisms so strongly in her singing. I'd say she's a fan. check out the musicians on the album-a who's who of Beatles solo artists...
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Post by debjorgo on Jul 11, 2013 22:02:19 GMT -5
Huh? Yeah, she hits the note! But this is a little too..., what's the word I'm thinking of..., Oh yeah Streisandny, yeah that's it. Just kidding. Though, as much as this is her style, (it almost sounds like something from If I Were a Rich Man or something)it's amazing hearing the Lennonisms so strongly in her singing. I'd say she's a fan. check out the musicians on the album-a who's who of Beatles solo artists... Why don't you just tell me Mike. I don't want to buy the album to find out and wiki's not saying. I could guess. Keltner, Spinoza, is Henry?, that organ?, Nicky Hopkins?,
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Post by John S. Damm on Jul 11, 2013 23:13:03 GMT -5
check out the musicians on the album-a who's who of Beatles solo artists... Why don't you just tell me Mike. I don't want to buy the album to find out and wiki's not saying. I could guess. Keltner, Spinoza, is Henry?, that organ?, Nicky Hopkins?, LOL! I did buy the album many years ago because Babs also does "Love." I love her cover of "Mother" and I think she can relate because wasn't her mom a bitchy stage-mom and her old man died or split? Then again, I don't care that much about her to go look.
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Post by John S. Damm on Jul 11, 2013 23:21:54 GMT -5
Why don't you just tell me Mike. I don't want to buy the album to find out and wiki's not saying. I could guess. Keltner, Spinoza, is Henry?, that organ?, Nicky Hopkins?, LOL! I did buy the album many years ago because Babs also does "Love." I love her cover of "Mother" and I think she can relate because wasn't her mom a bitchy stage-mom and her old man died or split? Then again, I don't care that much about her to go look. Hey, just playing that again, I give Barbra Joan an "A" for effort especially the end. No matter what John thought of her actual performance, he had to be pleased as that was a high profile cover of one of his songs.
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Post by mikev on Jul 11, 2013 23:34:33 GMT -5
check out the musicians on the album-a who's who of Beatles solo artists... Why don't you just tell me Mike. I don't want to buy the album to find out and wiki's not saying. I could guess. Keltner, Spinoza, is Henry?, that organ?, Nicky Hopkins?, I had to dig around again and only found out of the "solo Beatles"musicians Jim Gordon on drums and produced by Richard Perry, but I could have sworn Preston and/or Hopkins were also on it.
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Post by John S. Damm on Jul 12, 2013 10:48:52 GMT -5
Why don't you just tell me Mike. I don't want to buy the album to find out and wiki's not saying. I could guess. Keltner, Spinoza, is Henry?, that organ?, Nicky Hopkins?, I had to dig around again and only found out of the "solo Beatles"musicians Jim Gordon on drums and produced by Richard Perry, but I could have sworn Preston and/or Hopkins were also on it. MIke, I think Billy was but I think I only have this on vinyl so I will have to go to the dungeon at my office to find it!! Hey, debjorgo, don't bust Mike's chops as you teased us on the lead guitar issue for "Hey Bulldog" not sharing what you found out from Nate! At 1:30 a.m. last night I am searching for that because you fired my curiosity on it!!
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Post by debjorgo on Jul 12, 2013 17:34:03 GMT -5
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Post by debjorgo on Jul 12, 2013 18:08:50 GMT -5
Why don't you just tell me Mike. I don't want to buy the album to find out and wiki's not saying. I could guess. Keltner, Spinoza, is Henry?, that organ?, Nicky Hopkins?, I had to dig around again and only found out of the "solo Beatles"musicians Jim Gordon on drums and produced by Richard Perry, but I could have sworn Preston and/or Hopkins were also on it. Jim Gordon, doh. I said Keltner. Did Gordon play on Mother?
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Post by mikev on Jul 12, 2013 19:32:54 GMT -5
I had to dig around again and only found out of the "solo Beatles"musicians Jim Gordon on drums and produced by Richard Perry, but I could have sworn Preston and/or Hopkins were also on it. Jim Gordon, doh. I said Keltner. Did Gordon play on Mother? Gordon played on ATMP I believe.
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Post by debjorgo on Jul 12, 2013 20:07:53 GMT -5
Jim Gordon, doh. I said Keltner. Did Gordon play on Mother? Gordon played on ATMP I believe. I know he played on Material World. He was in the "Last Supper" photo. (Oops, Gary Wright.) Keltner was on that album too. The Mother question was did he play on Streisand's version of Mother, presented here.
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Post by mikev on Jul 12, 2013 20:50:14 GMT -5
Gordon played on ATMP I believe. I know he played on Material World. He was in the "Last Supper" photo. (Oops, Gary Wright.) Keltner was on that album too. The Mother question was did he play on Streisand's version of Mother, presented here. The info I read didn't break it down by track.
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Post by debjorgo on Jul 12, 2013 21:57:32 GMT -5
I know he played on Material World. He was in the "Last Supper" photo. (Oops, Gary Wright.) Keltner was on that album too. The Mother question was did he play on Streisand's version of Mother, presented here. The info I read didn't break it down by track. It was just a bad joke anyway. Jim had some serious mother problems.
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Post by John S. Damm on Jul 13, 2013 3:52:36 GMT -5
The info I read didn't break it down by track. It was just a bad joke anyway. Jim had some serious mother problems. Ouch, that's right, he chopped the old girl up or something! Okay last night I played STINYC, the 2010 remastered version restoring John's original mix and restoring the Zappa stuff on Disc 2. I did not get to Disc 2 or Mind Games as hoped. First, the liner notes to the 2010 re-issue of STINYC are clever, well written and almost had me convinced that STINYC was as good a 1972 album as The Stones' Exile On Main Street! Second, I have always found STINYC a very listenable album and the passion of John and Yoko save it in my opinion. They give it their all. The song lyrics are often too topical thus dated and while I disagree with much of the political sentiments expressed, there is no denying the power and enthusiasm in John's singing. Third, the sonics are horrible on this album for all but Stan Bronstein's saxophone solos! The sax sounds pretty crisp throughout but the vocals are muffled, recorded in a cave or something. Yet John's vocals forge ahead! POB and Imagine had very ggod sonics, some songs sounding like John is right in our living room but such is not the case on STINYC. That may be John's muddied production style! I need to play the 2005 remixed and remastered STINYC which omits most of the Zappa Jam but my memory is that the sonics there were the least impressive of the remixed Lennon catalog from 2000 to 2005. The remixing IMO revitalized Mind Games and absolutely saved and redeemed Rock -n- Roll but no such luck on the 2005 STINYC so it must have been recorded in a muddy fashion. Standouts last night were: "Woman Is the Nigger of the World"(great John vocal but this song just gets more controversial for use of N-word especially after powerful recent CNN news special on that very specific word and the devastating effect it has had on African Americans); "Sisters, O Sisters" (boogie Yoko!); "Attica State" rocks along nicely but these are lyrics I find must offensive, sorry I do not feel sorry for convicted felons especially those who capture and torture guards; "New York City," a song I wish would get more airtime to remind kiddies that John was primarily a Rock and Roller; "Sunday Bloody Sunday," among John's most powerful vocals ever; "Luck of The Irish" for some of John's must lush, poignant singing ever even as he is accusing people of genocide ;and "Angela" for the prettiest ever John and Yoko duet. Good listen for me from what is a predominantly hated album. I think the passage of 41 years since its release has actually helped the album other than the N-word controversy. The day is coming when WITNOTW might be removed from future versions as there is a real movement to ban that word from use by everyone. I must play STINYC Disc 2 before moving on to MG. I also must listen carefully to the Zappa stuff for a first time. The poor sonics though kept my overall experience from being as enjoyable as with POB and Imagine. I think one needs to hunt down a mint 1972 vinyl of this album to get the best listening experience.
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Post by Joe Karlosi on Jul 13, 2013 6:35:35 GMT -5
Standouts last night were: "Woman Is the Nigger of the World"(great John vocal but this song just gets more controversial for use of N-word especially after powerful recent CNN news special on that very specific word and the devastating effect it has had on African Americans); Apparently not devastating enough for black people to refrain from calling each other that and using it on cRap recordings. I don't want this to turn into a political thread or heated argument, but I will say that, if anything, the more taboo that word becomes, the more powerful John's song gets.
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