Music for a Monday: Diggin' Bob James

In college, my friend Dustin put me on to this group called the Electric Company. They had this one track "Where Would You Be" with a dope remix, all soulful and playful, that I couldn't listen to enough. In 2002, the internets were still getting themselves together, and I never learned more about Electric Company. I sort of liked it that way, though. There was mystery about them--what else might get released? How would I hear it? When are they going to blow? It was the mental state to which I had become accustomed while growing up with unreliable music magazines and an AOL account, and it's one which I think about all the time. This is a romantic notion, but I find something charming when I stop and consider the way that music heads in the 60s and 70s, for instance, would have to wait in between records with relatively little information, few loose tracks floating around, and a far more attenuated connection with artists nonetheless holding them over. It's hard to find that same innocent amusement as a rap fan in 2010 now that artists and labels make videos for everything--(wack) trailers for mixtapes, (worthless) behind the scenes footage, (useless) interviews about nothing--and a willing set of rap blogs and news outlets post them without fail. It's harder not to know.

Anyway, Electric Company never went anywhere, they changed their name (kind of), and they remained in relative anonymity. Only, the "Where Would You Be" remix created a legacy in my mind that persists. I still love that track, and I still attach to it the naive enthusiasm that grew out of my ignorance about the group. "Where Would You Be" collected dust in my head, but that only made the group more inscrutable, cementing its odd legacy in my personal universe.

So, you can only imagine how pleased I was the other day to stumble across Bob James's "Blue Lick" while researching the Digable Planets' Blowout Comb and realizing that Electric Company had appropriated "Blue Lick" for its legendary remix track.

Enjoy a brief stroll down Straight Bangin' Memory Lane.

Bob James, "Blue Lick"


Electric Company, "Where Would You Be" Remix


Digable Planets, "Jettin'"