WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.879 Imagine for a second that you're digging in your 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:05.240 backyard. Just, you know, minding your own business. 00:00:05.500 --> 00:00:07.879 Right. Maybe planting a tree or something. Exactly. 00:00:08.300 --> 00:00:10.800 And you hit something solid. So you brush away 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:14.400 the dirt and you pull up this dusty sealed time 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:17.859 capsule that was buried sometime in, let's say, 00:00:18.039 --> 00:00:21.539 the early 1970s. Okay, I can picture it. You 00:00:21.539 --> 00:00:23.660 crack it open and you're expecting to find the 00:00:23.660 --> 00:00:26.120 usual suspects, right? Like a pair of bell bottoms, 00:00:26.859 --> 00:00:30.379 a mood ring, maybe a faded ticket stub. The standard 00:00:30.379 --> 00:00:33.240 vintage stuff. Yeah. But instead, sitting right 00:00:33.240 --> 00:00:36.000 there at the very bottom of the box is the secret 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:39.740 atmospheric blueprint to 1990s East Coast hip 00:00:39.740 --> 00:00:43.049 hop. Which is, I mean... Entirely unexpected. 00:00:43.490 --> 00:00:45.649 You're actively searching for a piece of mid 00:00:45.649 --> 00:00:49.009 -century nostalgia. Instead, you uncover the 00:00:49.009 --> 00:00:51.210 literal foundation of a completely different 00:00:51.210 --> 00:00:53.429 musical revolution. One that wouldn't even happen 00:00:53.429 --> 00:00:56.630 for another 20 years. Right, exactly. And welcome, 00:00:56.750 --> 00:00:59.270 by the way, to this custom deep dive. We are 00:00:59.270 --> 00:01:01.350 so thrilled you're joining us today. Our mission 00:01:01.350 --> 00:01:03.869 for you on this dive is to look at a piece of 00:01:03.869 --> 00:01:06.760 media that honestly... could have easily been 00:01:06.760 --> 00:01:09.900 a forgotten footnote, but somehow just somehow 00:01:09.900 --> 00:01:13.099 became an absolute goldmine. We are looking at 00:01:13.099 --> 00:01:17.040 a Wikipedia article detailing the 1972 soundtrack 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:20.299 for a film called Dollars. Yeah, and depending 00:01:20.299 --> 00:01:21.959 on where you lived at the time, you might know 00:01:21.959 --> 00:01:24.640 it under a different name. It was also released 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:27.640 as The Heist, or even Dollars, but spelled with 00:01:27.640 --> 00:01:29.739 the dollar sign replacing the S at the end. Which 00:01:29.739 --> 00:01:32.760 is very of its era. Oh, totally. It's a 1971 00:01:32.760 --> 00:01:36.219 Heist movie written and directed by Richard Brooks 00:01:36.219 --> 00:01:39.420 and starred Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn. Two 00:01:39.420 --> 00:01:42.120 massive stars. Huge stars. But on paper, if you 00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:43.939 just look at the theatrical posters, it appears 00:01:43.939 --> 00:01:46.560 to be a very standard, you know, by -the -numbers 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:48.420 Hollywood product. Yeah, just another movie. 00:01:48.590 --> 00:01:50.790 Okay, let's unpack this because before we can 00:01:50.790 --> 00:01:53.329 even hear the music or talk about the bizarre 00:01:53.329 --> 00:01:56.390 afterlife of these tracks, we have to talk about 00:01:56.390 --> 00:01:59.530 the absolute legal and corporate gymnastics that 00:01:59.530 --> 00:02:02.010 had to happen just to get these specific people 00:02:02.010 --> 00:02:04.189 into the same recording studio. It is a wild 00:02:04.189 --> 00:02:07.310 story. It really is. The source points out that 00:02:07.310 --> 00:02:09.270 the composer and producer for this soundtrack 00:02:09.270 --> 00:02:11.810 was Quincy Jones. The legendary Quincy Jones. 00:02:11.949 --> 00:02:14.939 The one and only. But at the time, Jones was 00:02:14.939 --> 00:02:17.719 under an exclusive contract with A &M Records. 00:02:18.099 --> 00:02:21.020 Right. But the vocalists that he desperately 00:02:21.020 --> 00:02:23.759 wanted for this project, I mean, heavy hitters 00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:26.180 like Little Richard, Roberta Flack, and Doug 00:02:26.180 --> 00:02:29.060 Kershaw, they were all signed to a completely 00:02:29.060 --> 00:02:31.500 different label group. Warner Brothers and Reprise. 00:02:31.639 --> 00:02:34.479 Yes. Which, if you know anything about the music 00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:37.520 industry then or now, that is a massive hurdle. 00:02:37.639 --> 00:02:40.699 Oh, it's almost unheard of. Record labels are 00:02:40.699 --> 00:02:42.680 fiercely protective of their exclusive talent. 00:02:43.180 --> 00:02:45.000 I mean, you don't just casually borrow someone 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:47.400 else's marquee artist to boost your own project. 00:02:47.539 --> 00:02:49.000 Wait, but that's the thing. The source makes 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:51.699 it sound almost like a polite exchange. It literally 00:02:51.699 --> 00:02:54.800 just says Jones was given permission by A &M 00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:57.340 to do the soundtrack, and Warner Brothers just 00:02:57.340 --> 00:02:59.599 let their artists participate. Glosses right 00:02:59.599 --> 00:03:02.960 over the reality of it. Yeah, because if labels 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:05.340 are as fiercely protective of their stars, as 00:03:05.340 --> 00:03:08.439 you say, why on earth would Warner Brothers let 00:03:08.439 --> 00:03:11.759 their biggest moneymakers go sing on a competitor's 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:14.199 record? I mean, that makes zero business sense 00:03:14.199 --> 00:03:16.680 to me. It's like Marvel lending Spider -Man to 00:03:16.680 --> 00:03:19.860 a DC movie just for the vibes. That is a great 00:03:19.860 --> 00:03:22.860 analogy, actually. It does seem entirely counterintuitive, 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:25.560 but it really highlights a crucial mechanism 00:03:25.560 --> 00:03:28.400 of the music business, which is industry capital. 00:03:28.490 --> 00:03:30.990 Okay, industry capital. What do you mean? Well, 00:03:31.490 --> 00:03:33.330 Warner Brothers didn't waive their exclusivity 00:03:33.330 --> 00:03:37.050 clauses for just anybody. They did it because 00:03:37.050 --> 00:03:40.110 it was Quincy Jones. Oh. Right. At this point 00:03:40.110 --> 00:03:42.430 in his career, Jones was transitioning from being 00:03:42.430 --> 00:03:46.550 this jazz powerhouse to a premier Hollywood composer. 00:03:47.270 --> 00:03:49.610 He had the kind of undeniable industry respect 00:03:49.610 --> 00:03:51.830 that just transcended typical corporate rivalries. 00:03:51.889 --> 00:03:55.000 So he just had that much clout. Exactly. Furthermore, 00:03:55.180 --> 00:03:57.939 the film dropped in December of 1971 and they 00:03:57.939 --> 00:04:00.099 released a promotional single. It was Money Runner, 00:04:00.500 --> 00:04:02.439 backed with Little Richard singing Money Is as 00:04:02.439 --> 00:04:04.919 the B -side. So the labels likely recognized 00:04:04.919 --> 00:04:07.599 that a high -profile Warren Beatty film, scored 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:10.620 by Quincy Jones, was basically cross -promotion. 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:13.599 It would ultimately sell more of their own artists' 00:04:14.060 --> 00:04:17.009 solo records. Oh, I get it. So it was a rising 00:04:17.009 --> 00:04:19.769 tide lifting all boats situation, provided the 00:04:19.769 --> 00:04:22.410 captain of the ship was respected enough. Precisely. 00:04:22.889 --> 00:04:25.730 And you can see that immense gravitational pull, 00:04:26.250 --> 00:04:29.189 not just in the vocalists, but in the liner notes 00:04:29.189 --> 00:04:31.250 for the instrumentalists, too. Oh my gosh, yes. 00:04:31.410 --> 00:04:33.350 If you look at the credits listed in the article, 00:04:33.670 --> 00:04:36.329 the sheer density of legendary session musicians 00:04:36.329 --> 00:04:38.910 is staggering. Just reading the list is a journey. 00:04:39.069 --> 00:04:41.250 I mean, you have Billy Preston on keyboards. 00:04:41.329 --> 00:04:44.629 Yeah. Ray Brown on bass, Chuck Rainey on electric 00:04:44.629 --> 00:04:47.569 bass, Paul Humphrey on drums. It's insane. It 00:04:47.569 --> 00:04:49.730 really is. And if you are listening to this and 00:04:49.730 --> 00:04:51.829 wondering what the actual difference is between 00:04:51.829 --> 00:04:55.269 a marquee artist and a session musician, it basically 00:04:55.269 --> 00:04:57.410 comes down to architecture. Architecture. Yeah. 00:04:57.670 --> 00:04:59.750 A marquee artist is the face on the billboard. 00:04:59.850 --> 00:05:02.970 Yeah. But a section musician is the master carpenter 00:05:02.970 --> 00:05:05.250 who actually builds the house. That is a perfect 00:05:05.250 --> 00:05:07.279 way to put it. Players like Chuck Rainey and 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:09.959 Paul Humphrey, they were the absolute top tier 00:05:09.959 --> 00:05:12.399 hired guns of the era. They didn't just play 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:14.839 the notes on the page. They invented the grooves 00:05:14.839 --> 00:05:17.920 that defined funk and soul. Wow. So putting all 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:20.079 of them in one room wasn't just assembling a 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:22.800 movie soundtrack. It was a summit of musical 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:26.699 titans. Jones leveraged every ounce of his reputation 00:05:26.699 --> 00:05:30.689 to secure the absolute best. players on the planet. 00:05:30.930 --> 00:05:33.110 Okay, so you've got Marvel and DC sharing characters, 00:05:33.529 --> 00:05:35.290 you've got the Avengers of Session musicians 00:05:35.290 --> 00:05:37.750 in one room, all led by Quincy Jones. Right. 00:05:38.009 --> 00:05:41.209 This has to be a platinum, universally loved 00:05:41.209 --> 00:05:43.550 masterpiece, right? Like it should be a complete 00:05:43.550 --> 00:05:45.889 home run. You would certainly assume so. When 00:05:45.889 --> 00:05:48.209 you gather that much talent, the expectation 00:05:48.209 --> 00:05:51.129 is universal acclaim. But actually, the reality 00:05:51.129 --> 00:05:53.490 of its reception is sharply divided. Really? 00:05:53.629 --> 00:05:56.319 Yeah. This album alienated a massive chunk of 00:05:56.319 --> 00:05:58.699 the music press. Which is wild to me, because 00:05:58.699 --> 00:06:00.579 looking at the source material, the critical 00:06:00.579 --> 00:06:03.339 reception is completely all over the map. It's 00:06:03.339 --> 00:06:05.920 very polarized. Let's look at Jason Birchmeyer 00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:09.240 over at AllMusic. He writes that while the vocalist 00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:11.660 might interest some, he calls it, quote, one 00:06:11.660 --> 00:06:14.740 of his less interesting projects. Ouch. I know, 00:06:14.839 --> 00:06:17.060 right? He basically says, it's not worth going 00:06:17.060 --> 00:06:19.420 out of your way to find and that it's best enjoyed 00:06:19.420 --> 00:06:21.959 by fanatics and completists. That is a rather 00:06:21.959 --> 00:06:24.220 dismissive take. It's essentially relegating 00:06:24.220 --> 00:06:26.839 the entire album to a piece of trivia. Exactly. 00:06:26.939 --> 00:06:30.519 But then you flip over to Score Baby, which is 00:06:30.519 --> 00:06:33.319 the site devoted to cult soundtracks of the 60s 00:06:33.319 --> 00:06:36.259 and 70s. Right. And they vehemently disagree 00:06:36.259 --> 00:06:38.420 with all music. They call the dollar soundtrack 00:06:38.420 --> 00:06:41.259 essential. They describe it as an inventive blend 00:06:41.259 --> 00:06:44.040 of experimental jazz and... them in blues. A 00:06:44.040 --> 00:06:46.300 huge contrast. Yeah, they even compare it to 00:06:46.300 --> 00:06:49.160 Quincy Jones's incredible work on They Call Me 00:06:49.160 --> 00:06:52.560 Mr. Tibbs. It is fascinating to see two completely 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:55.319 polar opposite reactions to the exact same audio 00:06:55.319 --> 00:06:57.779 tracks. It really is. And then The Vinyl Factory 00:06:57.779 --> 00:06:59.720 kind of splits the difference, but in this really 00:06:59.720 --> 00:07:02.839 evocative way, they call it a slightly ramshackle 00:07:02.839 --> 00:07:06.240 record, rich with sudden soulful moods and slam 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:10.019 dunk funk. I love that description. Me too. They 00:07:10.019 --> 00:07:12.420 specifically mentioned that it oozes a smooth 00:07:12.420 --> 00:07:15.699 70s vibe with rose pianos and waka waka guitars. 00:07:16.720 --> 00:07:19.360 So what does this all mean? I mean, is being 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:21.980 labeled a record for completists an insult? Or 00:07:21.980 --> 00:07:24.319 is it just critic code for too experimental for 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:26.939 the mainstream? What's fascinating here is how 00:07:26.939 --> 00:07:29.620 the exact same qualities are viewed as flaws 00:07:29.620 --> 00:07:32.600 by one critic and strokes of genius by another. 00:07:32.639 --> 00:07:36.019 Yeah. When all music calls it a project for completists, 00:07:36.620 --> 00:07:39.100 they are really reacting to a lack of traditional 00:07:39.100 --> 00:07:41.720 pop structure. Yeah. But that ramshackle nature 00:07:41.720 --> 00:07:43.639 that the vinyl factory points out. Yeah, the 00:07:43.639 --> 00:07:46.019 ramshackle thing. That is the defining mechanism 00:07:46.019 --> 00:07:48.360 of experimental jazz. You have to understand 00:07:48.360 --> 00:07:51.160 the medium they were working in. Film soundtracks 00:07:51.160 --> 00:07:53.120 often allowed brilliant producers like Jones 00:07:53.120 --> 00:07:55.699 a unique kind of freedom. Freedom, because they 00:07:55.699 --> 00:07:57.860 aren't trying to sell a three -minute pop single 00:07:57.860 --> 00:08:00.560 for the radio. Exactly. On a traditional pop 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:02.819 album, there is immense pressure from the label 00:08:02.819 --> 00:08:05.540 to deliver radio -friendly hits, you know, with 00:08:05.540 --> 00:08:08.060 a chorus, a bridge, and a clean fade -out. Right, 00:08:08.180 --> 00:08:10.860 the standard formula. But a heist movie needs 00:08:10.860 --> 00:08:13.990 tension. It needs atmosphere. It needs strange, 00:08:13.990 --> 00:08:16.629 sudden shifts in mood to match the action on 00:08:16.629 --> 00:08:18.629 screen. That makes a lot of sense. So Jones could 00:08:18.629 --> 00:08:21.649 test boundaries, blend R &B with avant -garde 00:08:21.649 --> 00:08:24.350 jazz, and experiment in ways he simply couldn't 00:08:24.350 --> 00:08:26.589 on a mainstream record. OK, that makes total 00:08:26.589 --> 00:08:29.170 sense. And honestly, those Rhodes pianos that 00:08:29.170 --> 00:08:31.209 The Vinyl Factory mentioned, they're doing a 00:08:31.209 --> 00:08:33.250 lot of the heavy lifting for that atmosphere. 00:08:33.389 --> 00:08:35.549 Absolutely. If you've never seen a Rhodes piano, 00:08:35.629 --> 00:08:38.230 it looks like a standard keyboard. But inside, 00:08:38.350 --> 00:08:40.809 instead of strings, it has these metal tines. 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:43.179 that gets struck by rubber hammers. It's a very 00:08:43.179 --> 00:08:46.220 unique mechanism. Yeah, and it creates this warm, 00:08:46.700 --> 00:08:49.779 bell -like electric tone. But if you hit the 00:08:49.779 --> 00:08:53.039 keys hard, the sound distorts and gets this incredibly 00:08:53.039 --> 00:08:56.580 gritty, aggressive bite to it. It is the literal 00:08:56.580 --> 00:09:00.379 sound of 1970s tension. That physical, mechanical 00:09:00.379 --> 00:09:03.379 reality of the instruments is crucial here. It 00:09:03.379 --> 00:09:05.620 wasn't just synthesized on a laptop. Which is 00:09:05.620 --> 00:09:07.179 a perfect transition, because here's where it 00:09:07.179 --> 00:09:09.970 gets really interesting. The experimental label 00:09:09.970 --> 00:09:12.049 that the critics threw around wasn't just about 00:09:12.049 --> 00:09:14.289 the genres they were mixing, like jazz and funk. 00:09:14.529 --> 00:09:17.370 It was about the literal physical techniques 00:09:17.370 --> 00:09:19.730 they used to record these tracks in the studio. 00:09:20.169 --> 00:09:23.230 The analog reality of 1971 engineering. Yes. 00:09:23.750 --> 00:09:26.389 Throughout the album, there are these harmony 00:09:26.389 --> 00:09:29.769 vocal backgrounds credited to the Don Elliott 00:09:29.769 --> 00:09:32.090 voices. The Don Elliott voices, yes. The source 00:09:32.090 --> 00:09:34.470 notes they provide backing to otherwise instrumental 00:09:34.470 --> 00:09:38.210 pieces. But the absolute jaw -dropping reveal 00:09:38.210 --> 00:09:41.190 for me is on the Roberta Flack track. When you're 00:09:41.190 --> 00:09:44.889 smiling, the whole world smiles with you. Oh, 00:09:45.070 --> 00:09:47.330 this part is amazing. You listen to it, and Flack 00:09:47.330 --> 00:09:51.070 is backed by this lush, sweeping 20 -voice choir. 00:09:51.450 --> 00:09:53.649 But the source reveals that 20 -voice choir is 00:09:53.649 --> 00:09:56.669 actually just one man. Just one? Don Elliott, 00:09:56.750 --> 00:09:58.830 who was a frequent collaborator of Jones, it's 00:09:58.830 --> 00:10:02.169 just him, multi -tracked over and over and over 00:10:02.169 --> 00:10:04.590 again. It is an absolute mammoth feat of audio 00:10:04.590 --> 00:10:06.299 engineering. But wait, how do you even get 20 00:10:06.299 --> 00:10:08.120 voices stacked on top of each other without a 00:10:08.120 --> 00:10:10.200 computer? I mean, there's no Pro Tools in 1971. 00:10:10.379 --> 00:10:12.919 No, not at all. There's no digital software where 00:10:12.919 --> 00:10:15.720 you just copy and paste a vocal take. I am trying 00:10:15.720 --> 00:10:17.860 to wrap my head around the painstaking physical 00:10:17.860 --> 00:10:21.720 reality of recording one guy 20 separate times 00:10:21.720 --> 00:10:24.659 onto analog magnetic tape. It is incredibly difficult. 00:10:24.779 --> 00:10:26.860 It requires a process called bouncing, and the 00:10:26.860 --> 00:10:29.799 margin for error is effectively zero. Zero margin 00:10:29.799 --> 00:10:33.070 for error. Literally zero. Picture yourself sitting 00:10:33.070 --> 00:10:36.509 at a mixing desk in 1971. You're working with 00:10:36.509 --> 00:10:39.230 a four -track or maybe an eight -track tape machine. 00:10:39.710 --> 00:10:42.029 Okay. So to get 20 voices, Don Elliott has to 00:10:42.029 --> 00:10:44.909 sing three distinct harmony parts onto three 00:10:44.909 --> 00:10:47.870 separate tracks. Then the engineer has to mix 00:10:47.870 --> 00:10:50.590 those three tracks perfectly and bounce or combine 00:10:50.590 --> 00:10:52.860 them down onto a single open track. Just to free 00:10:52.860 --> 00:10:54.779 up the tape so he can sing more layers. Yes, 00:10:54.860 --> 00:10:57.360 exactly. But here's the mechanism that makes 00:10:57.360 --> 00:10:59.620 this so dangerous. Every time you bounce analog 00:10:59.620 --> 00:11:02.360 tape, you suffer what is called generation loss. 00:11:02.539 --> 00:11:05.100 Generation loss. Yes. The magnetic tape literally 00:11:05.100 --> 00:11:08.200 degrades. It has a layer of static and tape hiss. 00:11:08.379 --> 00:11:11.679 Oh, wow. So if you do this 20 times poorly by 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:14.100 the final bounce, the vocals will sound like 00:11:14.100 --> 00:11:16.320 they're buried under a waterfall of white noise. 00:11:16.519 --> 00:11:19.559 That sounds like a nightmare. It is. Quincy Jones 00:11:19.559 --> 00:11:21.659 and his engineers had to manage the acoustic 00:11:21.659 --> 00:11:24.620 frequencies and the physical tate so flawlessly 00:11:24.620 --> 00:11:27.740 that by the 20th voice it still sounded like 00:11:27.740 --> 00:11:31.139 a pristine sweeping choir behind Roberta Flack. 00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:33.240 That is just, I mean, one slight mistake on the 00:11:33.240 --> 00:11:35.539 mix down and you ruin hours of work. You can't 00:11:35.539 --> 00:11:38.139 just hit undo. No, you have to physically rewind 00:11:38.139 --> 00:11:41.039 or in some cases, take a literal razor blade 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:43.940 to the tape, cut out the mistake and splice it 00:11:43.940 --> 00:11:46.379 back together with adhesive. Razor blade. That 00:11:46.379 --> 00:11:49.000 is so stressful. Even think about. But it speaks 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:51.840 to the broader philosophy of the album. Jones 00:11:51.840 --> 00:11:54.299 wasn't just composing notes on a page. He was 00:11:54.299 --> 00:11:56.500 using the recording studio itself as an instrument. 00:11:57.080 --> 00:11:59.200 He was pushing the physical limits of magnetic 00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:02.259 tape to architect unique sounds. Which totally 00:12:02.259 --> 00:12:04.539 explains some of the other bizarre and brilliant 00:12:04.539 --> 00:12:06.539 inclusions the article mentions. Right. Like 00:12:06.539 --> 00:12:08.899 you've got Doug Kershaw, who is primarily known 00:12:08.899 --> 00:12:12.279 for country and Cajun music, playing a solo violin 00:12:12.279 --> 00:12:14.620 on a funk track called Red Eye Run and Train. 00:12:14.860 --> 00:12:17.889 A very unexpected pairing. Totally. And then 00:12:17.889 --> 00:12:21.049 there's this massive sprawling track called Brooks 00:12:21.049 --> 00:12:25.169 50 Cent Tour main title collage that clocks in 00:12:25.169 --> 00:12:27.889 at an exhausting nine minutes and 35 seconds. 00:12:27.889 --> 00:12:30.990 And it features vocals by Little Richard. And 00:12:30.990 --> 00:12:33.570 that is exactly why The Vinyl Factory highlights 00:12:33.570 --> 00:12:36.470 those sudden soulful moods. When you have a nine 00:12:36.470 --> 00:12:39.009 and a half minute collage or a 20 voice choir 00:12:39.009 --> 00:12:41.590 constructed from one man's vocal chords, you 00:12:41.590 --> 00:12:44.549 are creating an emotional texture that a standard 00:12:44.549 --> 00:12:47.200 three minute pop song simply cannot achieve. 00:12:47.500 --> 00:12:49.159 Yeah, it's completely different scale. Exactly. 00:12:49.299 --> 00:12:52.279 It requires time, space, and a profound willingness 00:12:52.279 --> 00:12:55.179 to be entirely unconventional. So we have this 00:12:55.179 --> 00:12:57.580 wildly unconventional, incredibly difficult to 00:12:57.580 --> 00:13:00.480 record album. And despite all the genius behind 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:03.179 it, that meticulous sonic architecture really 00:13:03.179 --> 00:13:05.639 might have just faded into obscurity as another 00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:09.879 forgotten 1970s movie tie -in. I mean, it was 00:13:09.879 --> 00:13:11.720 tied to a Warren Meade film that came out, had 00:13:11.720 --> 00:13:14.559 its theatrical run, and largely faded from the 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:17.100 mainstream. consciousness. If things had progressed 00:13:17.100 --> 00:13:19.779 normally, it would have easily remained a piece 00:13:19.779 --> 00:13:22.799 of obscure trivia. It would be locked away for 00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:25.559 those completists the All Music Review mentioned 00:13:25.559 --> 00:13:29.100 to hunt down yard sales. But it didn't stay buried. 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:31.779 No, it didn't. Because there is a specific group 00:13:31.779 --> 00:13:34.480 of people who meticulously hunt for forgotten 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:37.259 sounds. The crate diggers. The architects of 00:13:37.259 --> 00:13:40.039 the next era. Exactly. The hip -hop producers 00:13:40.039 --> 00:13:42.519 of the 1990s. This is where the story of the 00:13:42.519 --> 00:13:44.620 dollar soundtrack takes on a f - fascinating 00:13:44.620 --> 00:13:48.700 second life. It shifts from a 1970s film score 00:13:48.700 --> 00:13:51.860 to the backbone of a new genre. The source material 00:13:51.860 --> 00:13:55.269 lists out this incredible afterlife. GameStar, 00:13:55.490 --> 00:13:57.789 Absolute Royalty, and East Coast Hip -Hop sampled 00:13:57.789 --> 00:14:00.330 the track Snow Creatures. Plassy. Then you have 00:14:00.330 --> 00:14:02.610 Mobb Deep sampling a track called Kitty with 00:14:02.610 --> 00:14:05.269 the Bent Frame. And the article explicitly notes 00:14:05.269 --> 00:14:07.509 that this Mobb Deep sample is connected to their 00:14:07.509 --> 00:14:10.590 legendary track, Shook Ones Part 2. Which, for 00:14:10.590 --> 00:14:13.409 anyone familiar with 90s rap, is arguably one 00:14:13.409 --> 00:14:15.590 of the most famous, atmospheric, and menacing 00:14:15.590 --> 00:14:17.610 beats in the history of the genre. I have to 00:14:17.610 --> 00:14:20.450 admit, as a fan, the journey of these songs is 00:14:20.450 --> 00:14:23.549 completely staggering to me. It really is something. 00:14:23.759 --> 00:14:26.539 Quincy Jones creates Kitty with the Bent Frame 00:14:26.539 --> 00:14:30.460 to score a tense scene in a 1971 Hollywood heist 00:14:30.460 --> 00:14:33.340 film. The critics call it a ramshackle mess. 00:14:34.059 --> 00:14:36.820 And then, decades later, that exact piece of 00:14:36.820 --> 00:14:40.559 audio becomes the dark, gritty foundation of 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:43.240 90s East Coast hip hop. It's poetry, really. 00:14:43.399 --> 00:14:45.960 But wait, I need to ask. Why this album? With 00:14:45.960 --> 00:14:48.500 millions of records pressed in the 70s, why were 00:14:48.500 --> 00:14:51.100 90s producers so obsessed with an obscure Quincy 00:14:51.100 --> 00:14:53.539 Jones film score? If we connect this to the bigger 00:14:53.539 --> 00:14:56.700 picture, it really illuminates the entire philosophy 00:14:56.700 --> 00:14:59.789 and mechanism of hip hop sampling. OK, how so? 00:15:00.110 --> 00:15:02.370 You see, the exact elements that made this album 00:15:02.370 --> 00:15:04.889 seem ramshackle and experimental to a traditional 00:15:04.889 --> 00:15:08.570 1970s critic are precisely the qualities that 00:15:08.570 --> 00:15:12.289 provided the raw, atmospheric textures that 1990s 00:15:12.289 --> 00:15:14.669 hip -hop required. Oh, wow. So the lack of a 00:15:14.669 --> 00:15:16.690 traditional pop structure was actually a selling 00:15:16.690 --> 00:15:18.769 point for a producer in the 90s. Absolutely. 00:15:18.990 --> 00:15:22.169 A hip -hop producer using an Akai MPC sampler 00:15:22.169 --> 00:15:24.850 isn't looking for a finished polished song to 00:15:24.850 --> 00:15:27.149 copy. Right. They're looking for isolated moments. 00:15:27.330 --> 00:15:28.990 They are hunting for what is called a break. 00:15:29.289 --> 00:15:31.970 The break. Yeah. That's the few seconds in a 00:15:31.970 --> 00:15:33.909 track where the melody drops out and the drummer 00:15:33.909 --> 00:15:37.110 just keeps the rhythm going. That isolated drum 00:15:37.110 --> 00:15:39.549 break by Paul Humphrey can be looped infinitely 00:15:39.549 --> 00:15:42.269 to keep a dance floor moving. Just playing that 00:15:42.269 --> 00:15:44.610 same couple of seconds over and over. Exactly. 00:15:44.830 --> 00:15:47.990 or they're looking for a weird resonant chord 00:15:47.990 --> 00:15:51.389 from that Rhodes piano we discussed, or the eerie 00:15:51.389 --> 00:15:54.029 tension of a 20 -voice choir made of one man. 00:15:54.289 --> 00:15:56.389 So they aren't taking the whole song at all. 00:15:56.409 --> 00:15:58.809 They're literally slicing it up. Exactly. It's 00:15:58.809 --> 00:16:01.970 like taking a magnifying glass to a massive, 00:16:02.409 --> 00:16:05.610 complex Renaissance painting. You find one tiny 00:16:05.610 --> 00:16:08.529 brushstroke of strange dark blue paint in the 00:16:08.529 --> 00:16:11.059 background. and you zoom in on just that one 00:16:11.059 --> 00:16:14.200 stroke to paint a completely new, gritty, modern 00:16:14.200 --> 00:16:16.639 portrait. I love that image. Quincy Jones built 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:20.000 a sonic landscape so rich and layered that producers 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:22.379 30 years later could just chop up a two -second 00:16:22.379 --> 00:16:25.320 waveform, pitch it down so it sounds deeper and 00:16:25.320 --> 00:16:27.820 more menacing, and build an entire world out 00:16:27.820 --> 00:16:29.980 of it. That makes the completist insult look 00:16:29.980 --> 00:16:31.860 pretty foolish in hindsight. I mean, the music 00:16:31.860 --> 00:16:34.580 didn't die, it evolved. It found its true audience. 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:36.940 And it wasn't just hip -hop that repurposed it, 00:16:37.080 --> 00:16:39.419 either. The article mentions international and 00:16:39.419 --> 00:16:42.019 cross -genre covers that kept this music alive 00:16:42.019 --> 00:16:44.720 across the globe. The reach extended far beyond 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:46.620 the boroughs of New York. Right. You've got La 00:16:46.620 --> 00:16:49.220 Mangus Band, which is a Spanish funk band, doing 00:16:49.220 --> 00:16:52.080 a full cover of Money Runner. Yeah. And then 00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:55.200 Corduroy, an acid jazz band covered Little Richard's 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:59.360 Money, is on their 1992 debut album, Dad Man 00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:02.690 Cat. and then they played it again on a 1994 00:17:02.690 --> 00:17:05.410 live album recorded all the way in Japan. That's 00:17:05.410 --> 00:17:07.970 amazing. The cultural penetration of this one 00:17:07.970 --> 00:17:12.069 obscure soundtrack is everywhere. It speaks to 00:17:12.069 --> 00:17:15.029 the universal appeal of those raw, isolated grooves. 00:17:15.549 --> 00:17:17.829 Once the music was decoupled from the heist movie, 00:17:18.250 --> 00:17:20.309 it became a toolkit for musicians across the 00:17:20.309 --> 00:17:22.609 world, regardless of their native language or 00:17:22.609 --> 00:17:24.890 genre. And that, ultimately, is why you should 00:17:24.890 --> 00:17:27.630 care about this dupe dive. It proves that true 00:17:27.630 --> 00:17:29.789 creative genius, whether that's Quincy Jones 00:17:29.789 --> 00:17:32.710 manipulating analog tape to sneak a 20 -voice 00:17:32.710 --> 00:17:36.029 choir into a movie score or assembling a cross 00:17:36.029 --> 00:17:38.569 -label supergroup of session players just to 00:17:38.569 --> 00:17:40.569 get the perfect funk groove, it never really 00:17:40.569 --> 00:17:43.130 dies. It just transforms. Exactly. It doesn't 00:17:43.130 --> 00:17:44.970 matter if the critics don't get it right away 00:17:44.970 --> 00:17:47.069 or if they dismiss it as an experimental mess. 00:17:47.329 --> 00:17:50.569 It just goes underground. It waits in the dusty 00:17:50.569 --> 00:17:53.789 vinyl crates acting as a time capsule, patiently 00:17:53.789 --> 00:17:56.130 waiting to be rediscovered by the next generation 00:17:56.130 --> 00:17:58.529 of visionaries who know exactly what to do with 00:17:58.529 --> 00:18:00.730 it. And this raises an important question, something 00:18:00.730 --> 00:18:03.430 really compelling to think about long after we 00:18:03.430 --> 00:18:05.789 wrap up today's deep dive. What's that? Well, 00:18:06.809 --> 00:18:09.910 if an overlooked, supposedly completist soundtrack 00:18:09.910 --> 00:18:14.410 from a 1971 heist movie ended up secretly shaping 00:18:14.410 --> 00:18:18.829 the atmospheric sound of 1990s hip hop, what 00:18:18.829 --> 00:18:22.990 supposedly throwaway or background piece of media 00:18:22.990 --> 00:18:25.750 being produced right now might end up being the 00:18:25.750 --> 00:18:28.579 secret foundation for the music of 2050. Oh, 00:18:28.660 --> 00:18:31.519 man. That is a wild thought. Right. Imagine some 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:34.200 random compressed menu music from a smartphone 00:18:34.200 --> 00:18:37.079 game today being slowed down and looped to become 00:18:37.079 --> 00:18:40.099 the backbone of the next global musical revolution 00:18:40.099 --> 00:18:42.319 30 years from now. It's entirely possible. It 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:44.319 just goes to show you never really know what 00:18:44.319 --> 00:18:46.440 you're going to find when you crack open that 00:18:46.440 --> 00:18:48.140 time capsule. You might just find the future. 00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:50.579 Very true. Well, thank you so much for joining 00:18:50.579 --> 00:18:54.059 us on this deep dive. Keep digging, keep listening, 00:18:54.059 --> 00:18:55.480 and we'll catch you on the next one.