Earlier this week, whilst discussing the competing versions of Fiona Apple’s new album Extraordinary Machine, I made the point that I have no allegiance to one version of any particular song. If you’ve got something better, bring it on. (This is a point I made back in August, explicitly discussing remixes.)
So, I will provide an example, which provides evidence for the magnificent mutability of pop. Two examples, in fact.
Everybody knows The Neptunes, even if you’ve never heard their name. They are the Hidden Hand, a pervasive conspiracy in pop, R&B and hip-hop. They’ve produced everyone from Britney Spears and Mariah Carey to Beanie Sigel and Jay-Z. Their website lists upcoming projects with Mary J. Blige, Q-Tip, Nelly Furtado, Erykah Badu, and Jennifer Lopez. In 2003, they decided to put together a whole album of their productions, working with a variety of artists. The big hit single was from the more visible half of the team: Pharrell Williams (Chad Hugo prefers to stay back in the shadows, for the most part). “Frontin’,” which also featured rap vocals from Jay-Z, made the Top 40.
Jamie Cullum is a 26-year-old British pop-jazz musician, performing a mix of standard, originals and contemporary covers like he’s Ben Folds meets Bobby Darin. In 2004, Cullum was asked to perform a cover version of a contemporary song on Jo Whiley’s Radio One Show. Jamie chose “Frontin’.” The response was so strong that it was released on a single and added to the twentysomething album as a bonus track. Pharrell Williams heard it and liked it some much that they ended up working together. The tracks they did for Cullum’s brand new album Catching Tales ended up being left off, but Cullum will apparently appear on Williams’ new album, due out in November.
Next, we turn to Julian Cope: musician, writer, historian, shaman, former druggie, and oddball. Cope came out of the Liverpool scene — along with Ian McCulloch (Echo & the Bunnymen), Pete Burns (Dead or Alive) and Pete Wylie (Wah!) — and first made a splash in the band The Teardrop Explodes. Then he went solo; his second album Fried produced the single “Sunspots,” released in early 1985. In 2004, mash-up artist Pop Razors took the vocals from Pharrell Williams and Jay-Z and threw them over “Sunspots,” to create “Frontspots.” Who the hell thinks of this sort of thing? Genius!
So, we went from Pharrell doin’ his hip-hop/R&B falsetto-crooning-thang and then we whip it over to England for the Harry Connick, Jr. treatment, and then while we’re over there, we smash it into a twenty-year-old post-punk single.
And you know what? I like both of these versions better than I do the original track. Go figure.
Jamie Cullum – Frontin’ — BUY
Pop Razors – Frontspots