Has anyone -cough- downloaded -cough- this??? Besides me...hehe -looks nervously awaiting police to arrest me immediatly for piration-.

Its rather excellent!!

For those ill-informed "The Grey Album" is a mix from DJ Dangermouse, using the beats from The Beatles' "White Album" and vocals from Jay-Z's "Black Album".

It's quite wonderful! Both good for hip-hop fans in need of intelligent lyrics and beatles fanatics craving an oppurtunity to point out each single beat and riff in an album.

I know dangermouse has done other things...anyone know them???

~Eccentro

Yeah, I've really enjoyed the Grey Album since I "aquired" it earlier this year. I often put the songs on rap mixes for get togethers. People thinks it's weird at first but usually come around.

People have kinda gone overboard with the whole Jay-Z mash up idea since; however, fans of the Grey Album would also, I think, be drawn to "The Slack Album" which is a combo of Jay-Z's "Black Album" and Pavement's "Slanted and Enchanted." I have also heard "The Black and Blue Album" which is a mashup of Jay and Weezer. Mostly, it consists of speeeding up or slowing down the tempo's of the different songs till they match. It's quality is significantly poorer then the Slack or Grey Albums, but it is entertaining nonetheless.

(fetish put his hand up)….

Yes….the Grey album is a (dare I say it) Exceptional album in its own right…

Admittedly it’s not a new idea, its an idea that dates waaay back via bootleg Mixtapes, but….as they say, it’s all about the implementation.
I downloaded the album, and the recognition of picking out which Beatles songs were used was highly entertaining at first. But once the novelty wore off, I thought that I probably won’t return to it for a while.

But a friend who isn’t really into Rap, took a copy off me, due to my early enthusiasm and I was surprised to hear that a week later he was regularly listening to it (so much so, that he downloaded the Beatles ‘White Album’, and Jay-Z’s ‘Black Album’).

His interest spurred me to return to the album, and listen to it just as commercial record (rather than a musical experiment), and I have to say that my appreciation, for this album has grown significantly. (even though I enjoyed it hugely first time around).

I’d even go say far as the say, that a lot of the songs surpass the tracks on the ‘Black Album’ (especially “Encore / 99problems”)…

Maybe it’s the “Cut & Paste” aesthetic, or the familiarity of the Beatles tracks, or the way that the rock instrumentation is chopped up & reinterpreted, and made to fit with the raps, but it's just so refreshing to listen to the album, and it manages to (for me) beat Jay-Z's commercial release easily.

BTW: There’s the “Double Black Album” which is Metallica’s ‘Black album’, mixed with Jay-Z ‘Black Album’…..very good, very different, but the ‘Grey Album’ still feels the definitive version.

fetish

xx

Are all these variations on the "Black Album" done by Dangermouse??? If not, what other projects has DJ, done??

~Eccentro

quote:

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Originally posted by Eccentro:
Are all these variations on the "Black Album" done by Dangermouse??? If not, what other projects has DJ, done??

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No, they aren't. The whole Jay-Z remixing thing was huge after the making of the Black Album, and the Grey Album wasn't even initially the most high-profile of these. Or the best.

As for DM, he's the production half of the duo DM + Jemini, who put out a CD last year called Ghetto Pop Life that I don't really like that much. As to other projects, I'm not really sure.

Just a question. What is it that makes Jay-Z's "Black Album" so congenial to remixing whereas other albums havent so heavily been mixed? Or, am I incorrect, there?

~Eccentro

*has an original of The Grey Album*

Luckily they shipped out my copy before the record label dealt with them


Eccentro: The Black album has been remixed so much because roc-a-fella made sure that accapellas were freely available, on vinyl at first, from places like hiphopsite.com. They released them officially on CD last month i think.

Its kinda like Nas albums, Columbia always release accapellas for them too, but only in edited form.

Apart from Ghetto Pop Life, DM & Jemini just released an EP of remixes and stuff a bit ago i think. Dangermous just produced a new song for Murs that was on some compilation and he's playing and lollapalooza this year as well.

Yeah I also have an original copy, which I shall seel for a handsome price in a few years....hopefully.

Black Album remixes:

White Album - Kno of Cunninglynguists
Brown Album - Kev Brown (ATOJ producer)
Grey Album - Beatles & Jay-Z
Silver Album - RJD2
Black is Back - 9th Wonder
Purple Album - Prince & Jay-Z
Black vs Black - Metallica and Jay-Z

Can't really think of any more at the minute.

Jay-Z vs Illmind - The Black and Tan Album
The Black Album Unplugged (Jay-Z / Nirvana)
The Black Album Encored
Jay-Z / Pete Rock - The Black Album

The Grey Album is a more consistent album than the Black Album. "Helter Skelter/99 Problems" is great. "Moment of Clarity" on the Black Album had the cheesiest production ever, so Dangermouse would've improved on it no matter what he did.

I wonder if Jigga's heard it.

quote:

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Originally posted by Buck "Sweetie" McGuck:
The Grey Album is a more consistent album than the Black Album. "Helter Skelter/99 Problems" is great. "Moment of Clarity" on the Black Album had the cheesiest production ever, so Dangermouse would've improved on it no matter what he did.

I wonder if Jigga's heard it.

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Nah The gimmick of the grey album and the other remix albums wears very quickly, the grey album moreso due to the shitty quality (whether its intended or not its annoying).

The only song improved upon is Moment Of Clarity, but it's not hard to do better than Eminem's god-awful beat.

quote:

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Originally posted by Daddy Fat Sax:
The gimmick of the grey album and the other remix albums wears very quickly

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IMHO it's the Black Album itself that gets boring very, very quickly. The Grey Album is at least a half-step up. The only tracks on the Black Album I really liked were "99 Problems" and "What More Can I Say." "Moment of Clarity" is just awful.

quote:

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Originally posted by Vykromond:


"Moment of Clarity" is just awful.

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yeah, eminem cant produce for poo

quote:

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Originally posted by The Pope:

quote:

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Originally posted by Vykromond:


"Moment of Clarity" is just awful.

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yeah, eminem cant produce for poo

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Wait, Eminem produced "MoC" on...The Grey Album or the original Black album??

Since Im not familiar with how the music industry works I had no idea that one person can produce one track.

Or am I wrong?

quote:

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Originally posted by Eccentro:
Wait, Eminem produced "MoC" on...The Grey Album or the original Black album?

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The Black Album. Danger Mouse produced the entirety of the Grey Album.

Little update on what Danger Mouse is up to...
I read somewhere (mtv.com, I think) that DM has been tapped to produce the next Gorillaz album, presumably replacing Dan the Automator. I'm not too sure, though.

kwakerjak

yeah...i heard dan is going to help produce the next franz fedinand album quite a bit...anyways...kind of interesting.

I really take exception to anything implying that a rap album isn't 80% about the rapper himself as opposed to the production.

It seems odd that they would name something Gorillaz if Dan the Automator didn't have anything to do with it.

My dad hates the grey album, despite being a fan of the beatles and jay-z. I have to partially agree, i didn't like it to begin with, but it's grown on me. I expected more of the beatles (i.e, more of their choruses and famous melodies). i think justify my thug is much improved.
I'm glad there's been so many remixes, it shows jay-z still has street cred, and also, it means that i've still got loads of Jay-z albums ive yet to listen to.