Justin Black ‏@justinblack09 18h

@flytetymejam "Like You Don't Love Me" is a great track from "Damita Jo" What are your favorites from that record?

james harris ‏@flytetymejam 12m

Honestly a hard album to listen to. Too many cooks. "R&B Junkie" and "Truly" are untainted. I can listen to each and smile. @justinblack09

P.S. Jimmy is also releasing 3 books in the future!!!

ames harris ‏@flytetymejam 7m

3 books. 1) A biography, 2) a book about partnerships, 3) a history scrapbook with pics, lyrics, track sheets etc. @Seventh_Child

HAPPYPERSON said:

P.S. Jimmy is also releasing 3 books in the future!!!

There was an album released not long ago of recordings by a band Jimmy was in as a teenager called Mind & Matter.

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Mind & Matter

1514 Oliver Avenue (Basement)
$15.00 (CD) / $18.00 (LP) / $9.00 (MP3)

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Jimmy Jam Harris was just 16 when he began writing and arranging for Minneapolis 11-piece Mind & Matter. Boasting a perfectly calibrated vocal quartet, an aggressive rhythm section, and stacks of Rhodes, Rolands, and Hammonds, the danceable act failed to win favor with frigid Midwest audiences. Tracked in 1977, this bundle of never-before-released basement demos throw Harris’ beloved Philadelphia Sound into an unfinished root cellar, pelting it with Clavinet attacks, disco skats, and infectious hooks. Named for the street address of its underground uptown genesis, 1514 Oliver Avenue (Basement) is James “Jimmy Jam” Harris’ first foray into songcraft and an organic Minneapolis-vintage alternative to a late ’70s Prince songbook gone increasingly synthetic.

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1. No One Else Can Do It To Me Baby
2. Wonder Of It All
3. Love Is Like a Fire
4. I Don't Know Why (I Love You Like I Do)
5. Disco Child
6. When You're Touching Me
7. Would Be Mine
8. Virgin Lady
9. Now That I Don't Have You

It's a gabarage album Ciara and j-Lo could make better shit than that.

Erm I disagree, aside from a couple filler at the very beginning and in the second half, it's a MUCH easier listen than All For You or Discipline!

Island Life, I Want You, Slo Love are EVERYTHING!

Cut a couple tracks and needless interludes it made an interesting album. I do understand how it is complicated.

Easily my favorite Janet album of the 00's.

I guess ten years later I still can't criticise it.

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[Edited 3/9/14 18:52pm]

Yep. I like it a lot too. Is there ego speaking on his part? The first one since control, where Jam and Lewis didn't basically run the show as producers and songwriters and other people were included. Is it that hard to share the spotlight?

Ah that's a shame Jimmy Jam doesn't like it. It is her best since 'The Velvet rope' - not one bad song IMO.

Gunsnhalen said:

It's a gabarage album Ciara and j-Lo could make better shit than that.

Lol that was cute.

[Edited 3/10/14 6:26am]

Cinny said:

Easily my favorite Janet album of the 00's.

I guess ten years later I still can't criticise it.

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[Edited 3/9/14 18:52pm]

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Yeah, I think its better than all of her 00's output. Although there were many cooks in the kitchen, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis tracks always seem to shine best with her. I guess you can't discard those years of chemistry.

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Don't get me wrong Dallas Austin, Kanye and even BAG & Arnthor gave her some good stuff too. As a matter of fact, I'd like to see her work with BAG & Arnthor again just to see what they come up with.

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Also, those books sound interesting. I'm sure there's a lot of wisdom he could share on partnerships. I remember him saying they split everything down the middle, 50/50 regardless of the amount work included in a song.

[Edited 3/10/14 6:39am]

I have to agree with Jimmy Jam on this: Damita Jo is not that great of an album. In my opinion, Janet's last good album was All For You which she released in 2001. Everything after that was so-so. Be mindful that I love Janet's music but those albums (Damita Jo, 20 Y.O., and Discipline) were not good albums at all. They lacked direction and they reeked of contractual obligations. I know Janet could've done a lot better than that and as an admirer of her music and a supporter since the days of "Young Love" and "Don't Stand Another Chance," I felt cheated. There are a few cuts that I really like on Damita Jo like "Island Life" and "R&B Junkie" but I knew she could've done better than that!

Yep, It was all down hill after "All For You" was released. DJ was an ambitious piece of work with little to no direction. Jimmy Jam is actually being kind. "Dream Street" had more replay appeal.

I'd still like to hear the original uncensored (pre-Super Bowl fallout) version of this record. Remember they ended up toning it down after the backlash began. Although I liked the record, I think the original vision of it was probably better before the label got scared and watered it down.

legendofnothing said:

Yep, It was all down hill after "All For You" was released. DJ was an ambitious piece of work with little to no direction. Jimmy Jam is actually being kind. "Dream Street" had more replay appeal.

BS!

Of course he doesn't like it, half the strong recordings were left off the record! Could This Be Love, Clap Your Hands, Pops Up etc . those shit on the majority of the tracks musically and vocally. I think it's a weak album too overall but has some good and underrated moments. It made me cringe a little too in the beginning.

Discipline was a step back in the right direction, and All For You was the last overall good album though it was not in the same vein as the masterpiece Velvet Rope

Damita Jo had that track "Put Your Hands On" as a b-side, right? "So here we are baby.." Or was that A4U? My vote for Janet's best track post Velvet Rope.

jeidee said:

Damita Jo had that track "Put Your Hands On" as a b-side, right? "So here we are baby.." Or was that A4U? My vote for Janet's best track post Velvet Rope.

B-side to 'All nite' from the Damita Jo era and on the Japanese edtion of 'DJ' along with 'I'm here' - two amazing tracks:

alphastreet said:

Of course he doesn't like it, half the strong recordings were left off the record! Could This Be Love, Clap Your Hands, Pops Up etc . those shit on the majority of the tracks musically and vocally. I think it's a weak album too overall but has some good and underrated moments. It made me cringe a little too in the beginning.

Discipline was a step back in the right direction, and All For You was the last overall good album though it was not in the same vein as the masterpiece Velvet Rope

'Clap you hands' and 'put it on you' were crap.

'Could this be love' used the same instrumental as 'Truth Hurts' by Usher - good vocals but 'like you don't love me' is far superior.

Now 'pops up' that was the shit! Janet should have drenched the album in filthiness - got it all out of system and moved on totally from the next project.

I always liked this little ditty that Rich Harrison produced for her during those DJ sessions....

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Those people at Virgin truly lost it with this album. They scrabbled at the last minute and compromised (in my opinion) the original intent of this album. I still say its better than 20 Y.O. (hated that name) and Discipline (eventhough she redeemed herself some with that one).

Some of the things that got left off Janet's albums were very good songs. One of my favorites was a track called "Who" that is just killer!

mancabdriver said:

alphastreet said:

Of course he doesn't like it, half the strong recordings were left off the record! Could This Be Love, Clap Your Hands, Pops Up etc . those shit on the majority of the tracks musically and vocally. I think it's a weak album too overall but has some good and underrated moments. It made me cringe a little too in the beginning.

Discipline was a step back in the right direction, and All For You was the last overall good album though it was not in the same vein as the masterpiece Velvet Rope

'Clap you hands' and 'put it on you' were crap.

'Could this be love' used the same instrumental as 'Truth Hurts' by Usher - good vocals but 'like you don't love me' is far superior.

Now 'pops up' that was the shit! Janet should have drenched the album in filthiness - got it all out of system and moved on totally from the next project.

put it on you was pops up's bastard brother, love pops up! Like You Don't Love Me is also a strong one

I didn't know Usher used the music for could this be love, will check it out...that song was awesome, reminded me a little of mj's butterflies and neo soul in general

thesoulbrother said:

Some of the things that got left off Janet's albums were very good songs. One of my favorites was a track called "Who" that is just killer!

She sounds amazing on that and it was strong enough to be a single or album track, but I guess the album took a different direction musically, so I can see why it was a bonus track in the end

thesoulbrother said:

Some of the things that got left off Janet's albums were very good songs. One of my favorites was a track called "Who" that is just killer!

One of the Janet b-sides i don't like. I think during the AFY period her output was pretty poor. Lack of b-sides and an album full of fillers.

1. All Nite (Don't Stop)

2. R&B Junkie

3. I Want You

4. Like You Don't Love Me

5. Slolove

6. Just A Little While

Would have made a spectacular EP...

Ironically! Kanye told me that JJ&TL didn't give him the producers credit, that he deserved for that album....

mancabdriver said:

Ah that's a shame Jimmy Jam doesn't like it. It is her best since 'The Velvet rope' - not one bad song IMO.

I strongly disagree. Like I've said in previous Janet-related threads, The Velvet Rope was and still is Janet's final masterpiece to date. Damila Jo is no where on the level of The Velvet Rope.

All For You was the last time she was great. I'll never forget how disappointed 95% of the fans were with Damita Jo in 2004. Even those who thought it was ok expected a lot more because it was Janet.

The thing 4 me with "Damito Jo" was the title. Sucked. Who the hell calls her that other than family? And then 2 go public with it was just bizarre to me. "All 4u" was good until that godawful "Son Of A Gun" song showed up. It was then, in my opinion, that she first started showing signs of goin' downhill. The first single killed whatever hopes there were for it and songs that should have been singles which were passed up 4 other songs ruined it as well. For instance, "My Baby" produced by Kanye was KILLER! That joint has "HIT" written all over it. "You Ain't Right" and the title cut too. There really is some good shit on "Damito Jo" tho. "20 y/o" was yet another title disaster. What was she THINKING?! "Discipline?" Bangin', but again, a lack of sumpthin'. "Feedback" was a step in the right direction. Hopefully, she'll come back out and KILL it. Jimmy's right in a sense.

[Edited 3/13/14 17:00pm]

whitechocolatebrotha said:

The thing 4 me with "Damito Jo" was the title. Sucked. Who the hell calls her that other than family? And then 2 go public with it was just bizarre to me. "All 4u" was good until that godawful "Son Of A Gun" song showed up. It was then, in my opinion, that she first started showing signs of goin' downhill. The first single killed whatever hopes there were for it and songs that should have been singles which were passed up 4 other songs ruined it as well. For instance, "My Baby" produced by Kanye was KILLER! That joint has "HIT" written all over it. "You Ain't Right" too. There really is some good shit on "Damito Jo" tho. And "20 y/o" was yet another title disaster. What was she THINKING?! I don't think dem Jacksons are very bright anyway. There's always somethin' short-circuiting in their little talented pea-brains that most people can't attest 2. "Discipline?" Bangin', but again, a lack of sumpthin'. "Feedback" was a step in the right direction. Hopefully, she'll come back out and KILL it. Jimmy's right in a sense, but it could be due to the fact that she went with other producers instead of with Flyte Tyme, which may have left a bitter taste in his mouth.

I agree that All 4 U was her last masterpiece. Son of A Gun imo was the one misstep

on the album and it got released as a single. I think it killed the momentum of

the album. I also think You Ain't Right should have been a single too. That was my

favorite uptempo jam on the album. Damita Jo was a mixed bag for me. I like the rock tinged A Little While, Spending Time With You, R&B Junkie, Thinking Bout My Ex, and

a few others. The album wasn't bad at all it just wasn't quite up to the standard of other

Janet classics. There were a few songs that raised an eyebrow like Strawberry Bounce and All Nite(Don't Stop) which were poor single choices imo. It was a fairly good album but

not a cohesive one.

phunkdaddy said:

whitechocolatebrotha said:

The thing 4 me with "Damito Jo" was the title. Sucked. Who the hell calls her that other than family? And then 2 go public with it was just bizarre to me. "All 4u" was good until that godawful "Son Of A Gun" song showed up. It was then, in my opinion, that she first started showing signs of goin' downhill. The first single killed whatever hopes there were for it and songs that should have been singles which were passed up 4 other songs ruined it as well. For instance, "My Baby" produced by Kanye was KILLER! That joint has "HIT" written all over it. "You Ain't Right" too. There really is some good shit on "Damito Jo" tho. And "20 y/o" was yet another title disaster. What was she THINKING?! I don't think dem Jacksons are very bright anyway. There's always somethin' short-circuiting in their little talented pea-brains that most people can't attest 2. "Discipline?" Bangin', but again, a lack of sumpthin'. "Feedback" was a step in the right direction. Hopefully, she'll come back out and KILL it. Jimmy's right in a sense, but it could be due to the fact that she went with other producers instead of with Flyte Tyme, which may have left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Hey phunkdaddy! Y'know...I totally 4got about "Thinkin' "Bout My Ex" and y'know...THAT ONE could have been the BIG ballad, but as per usual, they really EFFED that one up! LOVE "You Ain't Right!"

I agree that All 4 U was her last masterpiece. Son of A Gun imo was the one misstep

on the album and it got released as a single. I think it killed the momentum of

the album. I also think You Ain't Right should have been a single too. That was my

favorite uptempo jam on the album. Damita Jo was a mixed bag for me. I like the rock tinged A Little While, Spending Time With You, R&B Junkie, Thinking Bout My Ex, and

a few others. The album wasn't bad at all it just wasn't quite up to the standard of other

Janet classics. There were a few songs that raised an eyebrow like Strawberry Bounce and All Nite(Don't Stop) which were poor single choices imo. It was a fairly good album but

not a cohesive one.