Tim Maia in the 80s

Tim had a bad habit of releasing nearly every album as self-titled, which makes it a bit difficult for fans and collectors to know what's what. He also released albums on handful of labels during his career, but the ones to really look for are the releases on SEROMA, based on his birth name SEbastiao ROrigues MAia. This is the label that put out his two Racional albums, the first pressing of his Ela Partiu/Meus Inimigos single, his highly sought-after 1977 all English-language album and the album that we're gonna listen to today, Seroma.

By most counts Tim's quality output begins to suffer as soon as the dreaded 80s arrive with his albums for Odeon (Reecontro, 1979) and Polydor (S/T, 1980) keeping up the disco pace, but overall they're weaker than everything that preceded them. The story goes that Tim was upset about the direction is career was taking and the pressure to produce big hits, likely a result of his top-selling album from 1977 "Tim Maia Disco Club" which was on another label, Atlantic. In between his 1980 and 1983 Polydor albums, he decided to record an album on his time, with his own money and with his select group of friends and musicians. The album is called "Nuvens" and is the last great Tim Maia album.

What prompted me to post these songs was that: 1) I have a CD-rip of the album courtesy of DJ Greg Caz (seeing as most of my music is currently in storage until I move into my new apartment), and 2) my good friend Bradley sent me a copy of Nelson Motta's biography of Tim Maia. You can find the book here for purchase on eBay. The picture above is of Tim and Nelson soon before Tim's passing.

Tim Maia - Nuvens
A classic Maia ballad. Those outro horn lines just kill me.

Tim Maia - Ar Puro
Tim's environmental plea for "Pure Air" . . . kinda ironic given how much grass this guy smoked!

Tim Maia - Apesar Dos Poucos Anos
This is my jam! I love how the song cuts out for a bit longer than you think it would before picking up right where it left off.

All three of these songs are from Side 1 of the album and there were plenty more to choose from. Never on CD . . . cop the LP if you see it. It shouldn't set you back more than $30.

Brazilian Fire or Fizzle?

I'm gonna make this a quick post . . . In honor of my good friend Bradley who will be heading down to Brazil soon for a great journalistic expedition, I'm posting some tunes from a forthcoming mix that I'm working on. I personally love all four of these songs, but if you feel like chiming in let me know if you like, really like, kinda like or don't like these songs. Strong suggestions either way will influence my decision to include them on the upcoming mix.

Emilio Santiago - O Amigo de Nova York
I was considering bidding on this one when the bidding was in the $30 range, but then it got kinda crazy.





Abaete - Pisa no Tabuado
An all-time favorite of mine that I got off an early Greg Caz comp then managed to track down in Brazil on the vinyl.






Taxi - Melo da Garrafa
Smooth Brazilian funk produced by Lincoln Olivetti. Love the groove here.







Jorge Ben(jor) - Para Que Digladiar
One of the last great Jorge Ben albums and my favorite track off of this album.

I Can't Wait . . . For My Family To Get Here

Play this, then read on . . .
I Can't Wait - Nu Shooz

Download: I Can't Wait

I'm from Portland, Oregon. Born and raised and darn proud of it. I've been thinking in the past couple years, when the idea of "settling down" rears its head that I'm glad I'm from a place that I have no problems returning to. No offense to every other city, town or rural landscape, but Portland is pretty darn ideal and an even mix of small town, greet a stranger on the street charm and big city cultural creativity. Some have even said its where hipsters go to retire. I'm not gonna even get into whether or not I'm a hipster and the implications for my impending "retirement," but basically, it's all true.

My mom and two (of three) brothers will be coming to visit me in NYC for Thanksgiving next week, so I'd like to take this time to share a little bit of Portland's musical heritage. Who is from Portland you ask? Well, aside from any number of recent indie -rock transplants whom I'm woefully ignorant of (excepting Stephen Malkmus, but back when he was in Pavement), Portland is the home to two legendary one-hit-wonder bands: The Kingsmen and Nu Shooz.

Naturally, both bands are white, but both of their immortal hits "Louie, Louie" and "I Can't Wait" are clearly inspired by genres a wee-bit darker than blue. I'm now gonna make a left-field pronouncement. Are you ready? Portlanders love to dance and they are funky in their own jerky, caffeine and micro-brew addled way. I'm sure somewhere down the way there will be a "Louie, Louie" post if only to publish the x-rated lyrics that my mom remembers from back in the day as passed to her by her girlfriends' cousin or something who was in The Kingsmen.
"I Can't Wait" is a perfect song. With John Smith's James Brown-esque chicken scratch guitar licks and its ubiqitous 80s synth beat. But really it's about Valerie Day's vocals and the HUGE hook. The song had a long history that seems pretty unfathomable today when pop-songs have shelf-lives of a couple weeks before they work their way to the MP3 scrap-heap.

On a recent trip back home I found this 7" single from 1984. I first I though it was just the 45 single of the famous song, but unlike the album (a copy of which I picked up in Brazil, not that you can't find it at any thrift store) it was released on "Poolside Records" where as the 12" single and the album were released on Atlantic Records. I gave it a listen and indeed its a very different version.

I Can't Wait (Poolside version) - Nu Shooz

Download: I Can't Wait (Poolside version)

I think it was this version that featured some horns from members of another local band, The Crazy 8's. One of my school buddy's older brother was/is a member of the band it wasn't until my 10-year high school reunion that I figured this out and realized that he played on the original "I Can't Wait."

It took Nu Shooz nearly two years to go from this Poolside version to their chart-topping album. I found this timeline of the Nu Shooz story on this website:





June '79 - John Smith founds Nu Shooz in Portland, Oregon.
May '83 - Percussionist Valerie Day becomes lead vocalist.
Summer '84 - Nu Shooz records "I Can't Wait" with Fritz Richmond (Jim Kweskin Jug Band) as engineer. Smith and band manager Rick Waritz co-produce.
April '85 - "I Can't Wait" breaks on Portland's #1 Top-40 station, KKRZ FM (Z?100), and quickly becomes a regional Top 10 hit.
Fall '85 - Warner Brothers Records extends a demo deal to Nu Shooz, but passes on the band soon afterward, stating "We've already got Madonna."
Winter '85 - Dutch producer Pieder "Hithouse" Slaghuis discovers "I Can't Wait" on Hot Trax. His re-mix on Dutch label Injection Records becomes a hot-selling import in the United States and tops dance charts around the world.
January '86 - Atlantic Records signs Nu Shooz. Recording sessions begin at Atlantic Studios in New York and the Sunset Sound Factory in Los Angeles.
March '86 - The band's first album, Poolside, is completed after just 6 weeks. Fusion legend Jeff Lorber co-produces with Smith and Waritz.
Summer '86 - Nu Shooz tours 70 US cities in 73 days.
September '86 - "I Can't Wait" reaches #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
October '86 - Nu Shooz earns a Gold Album with Poolside.
November '86 - Shep Pettibone's (George Michael, Janet Jackson) re-mix of follow-up single "Point Of No Return" reaches #28 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Winter '86 - The band is nominated for a "Best New Artist" Grammy Award (Bruce Hornsby and the Range later win the award).

It might take awhile for a song to hit, but once it does it's inescapable. Next, if they song's beat is sufficiently funky and has some instrumental passages long enough to double-up and rhyme over, then you have the ideal recipe for an old-school hip-hop jam:

I Can't Wait (To Rock the Mic) - Spyder-D

Download: I Can't Wait (To Rock the Mic)

and the flipside of the 12":

Download: I Can't Wait (To Rock the Mic) Instrumental

If these four versions of the song aren't enough for you, last year Nu Shooz reunited and recorded an unplugged version of the song that you can here on their website here. The unplugged version is pretty nice, showing off Valerie's vocal chops. The remix that is also available sounds like Nu Shooz meets Portishead, meets Dr. Dre . . . see for yourself.

keepin' it real in the 503