Wednesday, June 18, 2008

On Vacation

No worries all - I am taking a short break to head back to Ohio and be with my family as we celebrate the wedding of my cousin Tasha.

See you next week!

Peace.Love.Live.
JPB

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Happy Blogaversary to ME!


I noticed that a lot of people have been celebrating the anniversary of their first blog post. I wasn't even sure when I started...so I looked - and would you believe it? My first post (albeit boring and stupid) was on 6/1/2004. MAKING MY BLOG 4 YEARS OLD THIS MONTH!!!!

So Happy Anniversary to Catchr's Pad, and to me for managing to make something out of it only 4 years after I started!!





Peace.Love.Live.
JPB

Music From The Edge: Jennifer Paige




Jennifer Paige has managed to beat some terrible odds. Missing the "teen scene" boat (almost entirely), the release of her self-titled debut album on Edel America (August 11, 1998) saw the release of "Crush" as its lead off single.

Radio fell in love with Jennifer christening her as the next artist to watch. Amazing vocals and a well written track propelled Jennifer to the top of the charts (Billboard Top 100 #3, Billboard Top 40 Mainstream #3, Billboard Top 40 Tracks #7).

The release of "Always You" didn't fare as well, in fact it failed to chart (but managed a strong showing on the dance charts - #6 on Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play). This was a disappointment to Edel America, as they were hoping the second single would propel the full-length album up the charts....it stalled out at #139 on The Billboard 200 (Heatseekers #39).

But the strength of "Crush" gave Jennifer a pass - and a chance at a second album. Fate would not be as kind the second time around. The release of Jennifer's sophomore album "Positively Somewhere," filled with a more mature sound, was released on 9/18/2001, exactly 1 week after the horrific events of 9/11/2001.

No one was in the mood to buy music. The album lacked a strong lead off single and the release disappeared without so much as a blip on the Billboard Charts.

Edel America had signed a 3 record deal with Jennifer - so to fulfill this contract, they released "Flower: The Hits Collection" on 10/05/04 and promptly dropped Jennifer Paige from their roster. Amazing how 2 full-length albums and 1 HIT song constitute having a "HITS COLLECTION???"....labels are a wonderful beast aren't they?

Not to worry....Jennifer Paige has completed what she hopes will be her comeback album on her own imprint Glor-Paige records, titled "Best Kept Secret." It was released world-wide (except the U.S.) on 04/25/2008, with no U.S. release date set as of today.

Download: "Crush" (US/CD5)

Bitrate: 320 Kbps

Tracklisting:

1) LP Version
2) Dance Mix
3) Instrumental

Bonus Bonus Bonus

THE VIDEO


Enjoy!

Peace.Love.Live.
JPB

Music From The Edge: She Moves (Take Two)




I was perusing my collection of CDs and CD singles trying to figure out what I would feature next, when I came upon the first single from She Moves titled "Breaking All The Rules." This was originally supposed to be the post for my She Moves blog entry - but I couldn't locate it...which is what happens when you are an audiophile like myself and have over 10,000 CDs), so I had to settle for the second release, "It's Your Love"

Not much else to really add about the group, but I like the song!

Download: "Breaking All The Rules" CD5

Bitrate: 320 Kbps

Tracklisting:

1) LP Version
2) Radio Mix
3) Bass Rules Mix
4) Berman Brothers Dance Mix

Enjoy!

Peace.Love.Live.
JPB

Monday, June 16, 2008

Music From The Edge: Junior Vasquez




Junior Vasquez is by far a god. I love him. His mixes are fresh and contemporary (even 10 years later). "Come Together" [yes....the Beatles tune reworqued for the dance floor!!!] was released in 1998 (Rank: Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play #15 Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Single Sales #23)as a lead track from his Junior Vasquez Live Volume 2 double CD compilation.

Some speculate that the controversy surrounding Junior and Madonna prompted him to release "Come Together" as a sort of 'peace offering' to Madonna. Well, Madonna can be an unforgiving diva...... not to mention, if Junior was truly trying to apologize to Madonna....why would he name all of the tracks "Junior's Revenge?" ....we may never know!

Be sure to check out track 1...(the BEST track).

Download: "Come Together" CD5

Bitrate: 320 Kbps

Tracklisting:

1) Junior's Revenge Mix
2) Junior's Revenge Organ Mix
3) Junior's Bootleg Mix
4) Junior's Revenge Radio Mix

BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS





A little background: Madonna has sworn to never work with Junior ever again, after he released "If Madonna Calls," (Released 7/29/1996...Rank: Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play #2, Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Single Sales #8) which features her voice on his answering machine. Basically, this song is a "dis" towards Madonna for not following through on her promise to appear for a surprise performance @ one of his parties. To this day, even though Junior has remixed her work (none officially), she has kept her promise and has not worked with him.


BONUS BONUS BONUS
Download: "If Madonna Calls" CD5

Bitrate: 320 Kbps

Tracklisting:

1) X-Beat Radio Edit
2) JR's House Mix Radio Edit
3) X-Beat Mix
4) Tribal Break
5) JR's House Mix

Enjoy!

Peace.Love.Live.
JPB