I think I've documented my love for Alvin Cash pretty well, but oh my.
I think we've all heard terrible tracks with rock & roll stars from another era coming back and trying to rap like all the kids have been doing. But rarely do you get a CALL-OUT track. Let me list the horrors:
- It's one huge, terrible bass solo
- a very dissonant bass solo
- He claims that he's been rapping "before rappin' was here"
- He doesn't really rap any more than he ever did(n't) but now puts extra emphasis on his couplet rhymes
- He specifically calls out certain rappers like Run DMC and Kool Moe Dee
- He blatantly claims that he's doing it for money
- He whips out "motherfucker" at the end, which just felt un-called for
- Not a single "ooooh-whee", "Have mercy!" or anything!
I'm sure you can add your own. Here have a listen and think to yourself "Nooooo Alvin, don't do this!"
Alvin Cash - Cash is Back on Track
The flipside isn't miserable, it's just one of the million covers of Big Jay McNeely's "There is Something on your mind" with Shirley King jumping on to chew him out.
Judging by the other Triple T Alvin Cash single "I'm betting" which I haven't heard, this is around 1988. There's not an ounce of the danceable Alvin we know and love. Interestingly, when I look at the Something On Your Mind at just the right light, there's a tiny scratch on the wax that says "To Sweet Johnny Cash" in cursive. I couldn't get it in the picture
