The Days of Lore

ODB and Sir Paul: A Love Story

Monday, February 1st, 2010 | musiX | 4 Comments

I was never very keen on Danger Mouse’s The Grey Album. A couple of listens and I was done. I give credit to the process of creating it, and there were some interesting parts—but overall it sounded pretty ham-fisted, and ultimately received more attention (lots from Entertainment Weekly … ’nuff said) for the novelty than the actual art.

Six years later and the Fab Four are mingling with another New York crew—the Wu-Tang Clan. This time it’s not a DJ bringing these two institutions together, but a 28-year-old music teacher from Brighton, England. And rather than sticking with one specific album from each as the source material, Tom Caruana used the artists’ entire catalogs. And I must say what I’ve heard is much more interesting than Danger Mouse’s take. Add the fact that Wu-Tang is far more interesting to listen to than Jay-Z.

Caruana posted Enter the Magical Mystery Chambers on his Web site in early January as a free download. And with it, of course, comes his whirlwind 15 minutes of fame. Caruana recently told the New York Times that it’s been downloaded close to 30,000 times, and even got the proverbial Wu-Tang hand sign from Chef Raekwon.

My favorite of the bunch is Caruana’s reworking of ODB’s “Got Your Money,” with a little help from Sir Paul and “You Never Give Me Your Money.” Now I love the Beatles, but how about mashing up some Stones? Maybe with The Roots? How about Elton John and Eminem … wait. Have a better idea? Post it in the comments section. And download the entire album here free.

“Got Your Money” - Wu-Tang vs. The Beatles

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Tags: Danger Mouse, Enter the Magical Mystery Chambers, the Beatles, The Grey Album, Tom Caruana, Wu-Tang Clan, Wu-Tang vs. The Beatles

Hand jive

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 | musiX | No Comments

I just saw Wu-Tang Clan live for the first time. Not a minute went by where RZA or some Wu-Wear wearer in the audience didn’t flash the Wu-Tang “W” (place thumbs together and hold it high!). I recall seeing photos of people making the same hand sign at Weezer shows. It got me to thinking about all the different ham-fisted hand salutes …

Of course, there’s the classic devil horns, which originated … well, it’s been argued by scholars of metal as to who started it. Some say it was Ronnie James Dio. Gene Simmons claims it was He who first drew devil horns as illustrated on the cover of 1977’s Love Gun album … of course, according to Gene Simmons, he also started the concept of sex with groupies. And sex in general … oh, and breathing.

But there are others. Van Halen had one—sort of a variation of the devil horns where you form a diamond by placing your pointer fingers and thumbs together and formed what I guess was a “VH.” And then there’s the lovable li’l heart sign, shown left at an M.I.A. concert. If you go to a metal show, they’ll maybe raise a clenched fist or simply flip the classic I’m-pissed-at-the-world (i.e. my parents) middle finger.

I think next time I go to a rock show I’m going to drop the “OK” sign. It just says, “Hey, nice job.” Unless you’re in Brazil or Spain, where it means “asshole” or “cuckoldry.” I think Gene Simmons invented those, too.

Tags: Gene Simmons, KISS, Love Gun, M.I.A., Ronnie James Dio, RZA, Van Halen, Weezer, Wu-Tang Clan