btw, he said that bootlegs of this album have circulated so much that the label is thinking about not releasing it.

go to myspace.com and search for bilal's profile, he has 4 tracks up. i would link it, but i'm at work.


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[Edited 2/20/06 15:33pm]

sinisterpentatonic said:

here u go:
http://profile.myspace.co...D=45181067

mochalox said:

now if you'd like to link me the whole album, i wouldn't mind and i'll promise to buy the album if it comes out.

sinisterpentatonic said:

I wish I had it to give 2 you... but I don't have it yet.

My husband was listening to it the other day and said he really liked it. This says a lot because we had such a bad concert experience with him, that we basically had written him off.

I haven't listened to it yet, so that's all I got.

minneapolisgenius said:

whaaa? A *bad* concert experience??? Never! Impossible!!
...care to share??? *listening patiently*

He was just really cracked out (or heroined out. I'm not sure which). It all started out ok, but about halfway through the show he left the stage for what seemed like a long time, and then when he came back he could barely stand up. He started singing all crazy, he wouldn't take the lampshade off his head, and at the end he was literally jumping off the amps and then fell onto the drum kit which fell over in a crash. Interesting to watch I guess, but everyone just looked at each other and we burst out laughing. Now that I think back on it though, it was all very punk rock, so I guess I'd go see him again.

It was just really strange, and he was REALLY high on something. That I'm sure of because I know that behavior when I see it.

What WAS cool (for me of course) was that during the time period when he was offstage, the band played some awesome covers of "Whole Lotta Love" and "Purple Haze."

minneapolisgenius said:

that sounds about right for a Bilal show...
here's a old review from one of his fans, Bren it's long but it's funny as H-E-double hockeysticks!

O.k. yall. I got off my ass and took myself over to Cambridge 5
minutes away... and checked out our boy Bilal.

First off, the Place was empty when I got there and there was about
12 reservations but hardly anyone in there. ABout 8 people. EMPTY!!! I'm thinking, "Oh snap this is not good!" But he didn't give enough time for folks to prepare for this show. I mean, I heard about the show here on Saturday through this group! So I was worried that there wouldn't be a performance. 7:30 comes and no Bilal.. More people had come in. About 5-6 more... Then finally a little hope a 12 party group came in. Foreign and I think they were there to just checkout some live Jazz and not really Bilal. But hey... heads are better than nothing. So a total of about 26 people. And if you haven't been in this place. It'snot that big. of a place. IT's very intimate! I mean literally, the place was empty with tables and chairs open.

7:45 pm Bilal walks in and is hanging in the back of the room with some FINE sista'! My goodness the girl was fine. Ok, back to the B-meister. Bilal looked like he was going over a set list for the first show. He had his dreads are twisted up and the boy is sporting a Country Western dress style! That brotha cracks me up at times. He had some leather boots (tan) and some blue jeans and a short sleeve plaid shirt. Very different than I ever seen him dress. But hey, the brotha's a unique and creative individual, right. So I'm cool with his eccentricity. (is that a word?)

Well, the gear for the band was a trio. Drums, Grand piano, Rhodes, and Semi Hollow electric Fretless Bass (sounds just like an upright). THEN I noticed there was a guitar amp. But no guitar... I had a talk with the sound guy when I walked in. He said that Bilal came in and had this amp and was saying that he wanted to connect his Shure SM57 mic into his Guitar amp. I'm like, "Wha?" and started laughing. That brotha cracks me up! So he has 2 mics on the floor. One that is a straight direct feed to the mixer and pa and the other to a guitar amp that is mic'd. He wanted to use that for effect of the reverb and Vibrato effect pedal. I fell out laughing. What mofo goes to a show and uses 2 mics one for effect?!!! I had to give it up to that brotha! CREATIVE... So I was definitely going to be interested in this.

One concern about the sound. The room is bassy and the guy they had mixing was new to this Jazz set up. He normally does Rock music. So I had to holla some tips to boost up the vocal mic becuase B was getting drowned out by the band. It wasn't as clear either. I can only strike that up to inexperience with the genre of music.

So I'm looking around for the band members looking for some young brotha's and I can't see any. Many older brotha's in their late 40's and up... but no young cats. I realized as soon as they hit the stage that the older brotha's were the musicians! First off Steve Scott - I belive his name is, he's the keyboardist/pianist. And the boy is NASTY! Hot ass play who's active behind that piano. Practically dancing under the bench. Singing his solo notes as he plays them. The place is so small you can hear him humming and scatting as he plays with no mic. Top notch. Actually.. all the musicians are top notch. The bass player is nasty. Nuff said... Same with the drummer knocking out some heavy syncopated rhythms.

First off... THIS IS A STRAIGHT JAZZ set! No neosoulsista up in this peace at all... STRAIGHT jazz and nothing but. Very experimental avant garde Jazz here. Those expecting a normal Jazz set is going to be in for disappointment.

Ok, what about the show? I don't know too many Jazz standards but I recognized Autumn Leaves was the show opener. The 2nd track was this mad cool original jazz song. That Bilal had lyrics to. Something about "Why You Break Away" at the end he stated it was an original. And yall, the groove was HOT! I wouldn't mind getting a copy of that badboy! The vocal rhythm was smooth ala Bilal flav as he always does. Keep in mind.. straight lyrics he's singing in the regular mic and when he scats he jumps to the Guitar Effect amp mic. Doing his scatting and noise effects vocally. He also gives the band much room to solo and jam out the tracks. 3rd song was a blues track - that I heard him try to do at the Joe's Pub when the band didn't know blues. "One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer". That segue- way'd into Ray Charles' "Little Red Top"? I think it's a Ray song. I was the only cat in the house giving him some love and hitting him with calls and applause much deserved... Others were being polite. He's still gets a little spacey into the music basically crouched down as he's scatting into the mic in the zone. IF he did one more song.. I can't tell you what it is. 1 hour and the set was over and he did a bit of talking with the comical way he can talk, like a nerdy guy talking. Inviting folks to stay for the 2nd show. Which I was going to do but I decided to go check out another band elsewhere.

As Bilal was walking out.. I went over and talked to Bilal a bit. I told him I was the brotha that edited that promo DVD of him in Joe's Pub at my place. He reminded me about the Blue Note show that my friend recorded. That's the show I have yet to get the tapes on to see how that went down. I guess it's been on Bilal's mind too. I talked to him personally, about the new album... I said under my breath, "Tell me the truth, cuddin', is Interscope fuckin with your shit and not releasing you." He was being polite and most likely unsure who he's talking to so I got the reply, "No, man, I'm still working on it.
We still have to mix some more songs down and hope to drop it in the Summer" But you all in this group and I both know this new album has been put on the back burner constantly. WE first heard it was going to drop last Aug of 2004.. Then I heard again, at the Joe's Pub show that he was trying to drop it in October 2004. Then we heard it was supposed to be dropped in February2005. Then April 2005.. So you all know me, I got real with the negro. I was like, "Come on man.. You know you can't keep mofuckas waiting so long for a new joint when you dropped that first joing back in 2002 or so! What the deal?" He had a huge smile on his face! He just reconfirmed that it is still getting worked on... He also says, he does this different stuff to still be in the music being out there and trying creative things musically to not get stiff.

Well, more power too him...

I plead, if there's any folks in the area! GO CHECK THE BROTHA OUT. I'm planning on SEEING HIM again to night to show some support. I felt so bad that it was empty and that I was basically the only younger brotha in the house! The rest most likely didn't even know who Bilal is. Definitely know one knows the amount of talent in that brotha...

All in all, it was mad cool and I decided to jet the next show. Tonight.. I think I'm going to check out the first show and stick around for the 2nd this time. Send the brotha off with a bit of love here in Boston.

Be cool yall....

one
bren
[Edited 2/21/06 12:11pm]

Interesting. The show I saw started out really funky and then got a real rock vibe to it, and then as I said, it went all spacey, weird, and all over the place. It was packed though. And hot. I felt like I was melting.

And he LOOKED like he was melting.

minneapolisgenius said:

so would you say he was sweating like WH, JB or P?

mochalox said:

sinisterpentatonic said:

I'm not quite sure. He had a lampshade on his head the whole show, but I'm going to have to pick door number 1.

minneapolisgenius said:

Oh shit, you're serious. I just thought he had a funny lookin' hat on.



Oh... and yall please don't bootleg this album