rediscovered cd:jesus wept

Looking at cd;s I haven't heard in ages and I forgot how enjoyable Jesus Wept is by pm dawn.

I just listened to this CD a few days ago. Great stuff!

Dont get me started Easily the best kept secret of PM Dawn, That album holds a lot mysterious vibes, from the terrific intro to the final cuts of a 3 track frenzie of past musical culture. (yes, Prince 1999) They are always gonna be my number one choice for underdogs, Be totally re-invented himself with this album, and it only got better. I got faith his next album will be released soon. F*cked Music turned out to be on the best albums he ever made, and its getting better with age. Its a pop masterpiece, he is total perfectionist when it comes to producing. I must say the Unreleased Vol. 1 was amazing also.. and also getting to know him personally on the pmdawn site, gave me a more profound respect for the man, and how he treats people who appreciate his music, I mean he gave me a Namecheck on the back of his latest single for goodness sake.. I'll always support pmdawn, and hope they put out more music in the future to come.





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[This message was edited Mon Jan 12 19:01:42 PST 2004 by Sdldawn]

chickenman said:

THE ROLLING STONE REVIEW


*** Four Stars





Jesus wept" is a multitracked feast of guitar rock, pillow-soft pop, moody psychedelia and sugary-sweet R&B with only one straight-up rap track on the entire collection. It shouldn't come as much of a surprise: On their third album, P.M. Dawn complete their transformation from a rap-based pop group to something altogether different and wonderful.

It's not that P.M. Dawn – led by Prince Be and his brother J.C. the Eternal – don't operate in the hip-hop arena. Indeed they do. But like the DJs working the fringes of dance music, the duo has taken the sound of hip-hop so far beyond rap that it would be simplistic to discuss its music in those terms alone.

From the start, P.M. Dawn's place in hip-hop seemed defiantly ambiguous. The lush, Anglo-pop arrangements, delicate hip-hop tracks and half-sung, half-spoken vocals of their 1991 debut, Of the Heart, of the Soul and of the Cross: The Utopian Experience, defied categorization and attracted a largely nonrap audience. The New Jersey pair didn't present aural vérité of the hood, nor did it directly address racial injustice; rather, P.M. Dawn waxed existential about God, love and the desire to transcend this unfathomable world. They veered even further afield of conventional rap on their sophomore LP, The Bliss Album ... ?, from 1993.

Not that Jesus Wept is a fringe album. Its overall milieu actually shares more with the slick New Jack sound of Babyface than with the more experimental tinkerings of Tricky. Prince Be and J.C. (a k a DJ Minutemix) use polished, almost overproduced vocal and instrumental tracks to lure you into a world of subtle chaos – a drum track that wanders slightly off beat, an edgy rock-guitar line, a drop-dead confessional lyric like "I can't stop screamin' 'cause I'm failing to entertain all of myself."

Doubt and confusion run rampant through Jesus Wept, an album whose very title suggests disappointment. Prince Be alludes to life's darker mysteries in his various musical shadings and his frequent use of the word shadows. In the psychedelic "My Own Personal Gravity," he asks, "Why am I always misinterpreting my guilt?" Yet he seems confident that if he can just let go of his worldly doubts, he will be redeemed by higher forces.

When you get beyond the incredible candy-coated surface, P.M. Dawn's songs are hardly soft. Prince Be's intelligent, enigmatic lyrics and J.C.'s deft mixes are almost subversive in the way they undermine the rules of every pop genre the duo mines. The sizzling "9:45 Wake-Up Dream" floats over a dub-bass line charged by a fuzzy rock-guitar hook and interrupted by a tempo change, a treated vocal part and faint, computerized bells. Underneath, the seductive poly-rhythmic currents flow like honey from beginning to end.

As P.M. Dawn move further away from rap, their occasional cosmic excesses fit well into the duo's vaguely religious-existential view of the world. "Bless me cursed with colorful emotions," Prince Be appeals to the Almighty in "Sometimes I Miss You So Much." Jesus Wept probably won't win over any hard-core hip-hop naysayers, but as a cohesive set of studio-perfect pop, it stands up to the works of two other legendary eccentrics, Brian Wilson and that other Prince – the one who changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol. (RS 720)



MARK KEMP

without doubt one of my all time fave albums...puppet show,soncheyne etc etc .this cd always makes MY shine!!

jonylawson said:

without doubt one of my all time fave albums...puppet show,soncheyne etc etc .this cd always makes MY shine!!

'Miles From Anything' is so damn cool...god I love that song.

I sincerely want 2 fuck the taste out of your mouth

derek said:

I just love the weird Wizard of Oz vibe to this disc.
A bit mellow in points, it's in regular rotation in my music.

My Own Personal Gravity

No, there ain't nothing special 'bout my life, my egoism is so not,
But oh so comfortably confusion ins my life, pleased to meet you baby, baby,
'Cause I've got infinity to bring me a little paradise...there you are to kiss me,
Must you always live right now? But I always see you right in the middle of
everybody's life, singing everybody wants me there, but everybody
wants to put me down

(chorus)
What could be lonely 'bout you? What could be lonely 'bout you baby?
You're immaculately touched, and they love you that much,
Whatever's lonely bout you only makes me totally convinced that
my own personal gravity serves me well.

Why am I always misinterpretting my guilt? My happiness makes me sad sometimes,
And I'm no guardian angel but I can loan you mine,
They're tickling all my precious depressions

So melancholy's bringing me a little of what he calls paradise,
I'm bored with my elation, it humors me to tears sometimes,
But always manages to put a little hickey on everybody's mind
Why does everybody want me here, but no one here can give me reasons why.

(chorus)

Why do I do everything "dis" integration likes? I'm grieving with my patience's patience,
and all constant information tells me is...no one wants to put me down here
but everyone was dumb enough to come.

(chorus)

Sdldawn said:

I've not heard this cd in years. i used to love it sooo much.
i shall be listening to it as soon as i get home from work today...

VinaBlue said:

My Own Personal Gravity

No, there ain't nothing special 'bout my life, my egoism is so not,
But oh so comfortably confusion ins my life, pleased to meet you baby, baby,
'Cause I've got infinity to bring me a little paradise...there you are to kiss me,
Must you always live right now? But I always see you right in the middle of
everybody's life, singing everybody wants me there, but everybody
wants to put me down

(chorus)
What could be lonely 'bout you? What could be lonely 'bout you baby?
You're immaculately touched, and they love you that much,
Whatever's lonely bout you only makes me totally convinced that
my own personal gravity serves me well.

Why am I always misinterpretting my guilt? My happiness makes me sad sometimes,
And I'm no guardian angel but I can loan you mine,
They're tickling all my precious depressions

So melancholy's bringing me a little of what he calls paradise,
I'm bored with my elation, it humors me to tears sometimes,
But always manages to put a little hickey on everybody's mind
Why does everybody want me here, but no one here can give me reasons why.

(chorus)

Why do I do everything "dis" integration likes? I'm grieving with my patience's patience,
and all constant information tells me is...no one wants to put me down here
but everyone was dumb enough to come.

(chorus)

Sdldawn said:

Dont get me started Easily the best kept secret of PM Dawn, That album holds a lot mysterious vibes, from the terrific intro to the final cuts of a 3 track frenzie of past musical culture. (yes, Prince 1999) They are always gonna be my number one choice for underdogs, Be totally re-invented himself with this album, and it only got better. I got faith his next album will be released soon. F*cked Music turned out to be on the best albums he ever made, and its getting better with age. Its a pop masterpiece, he is total perfectionist when it comes to producing. I must say the Unreleased Vol. 1 was amazing also.. and also getting to know him personally on the pmdawn site, gave me a more profound respect for the man, and how he treats people who appreciate his music, I mean he gave me a Namecheck on the back of his latest single for goodness sake.. I'll always support pmdawn, and hope they put out more music in the future to come.


Please tell of these other projects you've heard.I have been going back lately and looking at my musical life from the past and realizing I have left behind some truly great stuff.I have been revisiting the Basehead and NERD cd's,etc.PM and the first de la and tribe are all very crucial!!Genius at work.Damn!We were listening to good shit,man!!I wish I still smoked weed/I'd take a weekend and visit with old friends,musicala nd otherwise and get "high as hell,man!" as Wyclef said!!


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[This message was edited Mon Jan 12 19:01:42 PST 2004 by Sdldawn]