Library Album Find#2 When You Step into the Stacks Anything Can Happen

Posted almost 5 years ago
...The Carnival was another find I uncovered at the library and I think it was wayyy ahead of its time; a highly under-rated album in some circles when it came out...it was the first solo effort of the newly ex-Fugee, Wyclef Jean and it dropped back when I worked at the record company that released it back in NYC...he was there all the time and the look he had on his face wasn't necessarily worry but it definitely appeared to be trepidation on how his new stuff was going to be taken by the rest of the world, he was doing some real experimentation in the studio for the album and The Score had been such a huge critical and commercial success, that the word around the campfire was "how in the hell was he going to top that?"..with the heat of his former group's massive hit album quickly cooling, I remember seeing him in the building all the time on his way up to the 18th floor...Jean was taking a bold step by infusing foreign sounds into the hip hop mix (now its de rigeur but this was eleven years ago) and I could kind of feel his plight (he collaborated with a pre-Mis Educatioin, Lauryn Hill, Bob Marley's I-Threes and even the Salsa Queen Celia Cruz on this album)...when I first heard the rough mix, I liked it-- so when I peeped the album cover in the library bin, I was like "oh yeah, THAT'S RIGHT!"

Comments (21)

  1. CrashPryor says "Sang Fézi" was also one of my favorite cuts off of this album when it was released I used to pump this every morning before I got to work in the archives dept...check that Haitian/ French flow... ~CAqlezBon6X.mp3~
    Permalink posted 04/29/2007
  2. Me and the Horse I Rode In On says I'm a regular at the local library in my little danish hometown...........but still I was surprised to both you and Kevin speak about going there. There's something about Crash in LA that makes the word library seem out of place. Know what I mean?
    Permalink posted 04/29/2007
  3. CrashPryor says haha...I love the library, son...they got great books in there...still got my card to the NYC public library too...
    Permalink posted 04/29/2007
  4. Me and the Horse I Rode In On says HAHA.............yeah I forgot about the books. I was only thinking about the music. Speaking of books. The Books - Lemon of Pink. There's a chance you'll be thanking me for this.
    Permalink posted 04/29/2007
  5. Me and the Horse I Rode In On says ~kACokaUhSMH.mp3~
    Permalink posted 04/29/2007
  6. dharmachris says Carnival is blowing my mind.. thanks for that. Libraries are serendipity factories. Like using an old style book dictionary, instead of Dictionary.com, leafing through the pages to find a word and seeing others that grow your knowledge. Will we lose that with on demand media 24/7?
    Permalink posted 04/29/2007
  7. CrashPryor says @Horsey: dude, I can hear the hum on the needle arm on that one...nice, analog via digital... @dharma: I doubt it...even the alacrity of an online word search can't take the place of finding it for yourself on the printed page for yourself...I'm hopeful, that the urge to figure shit out for ourselves won't be evolutionarily siphoned out of our DNA...
    Permalink posted 04/29/2007
  8. mktackabery says nice post crash. I kinda missed Wyclef, I gotta make up for that, for sure.
    Permalink posted 04/29/2007
  9. steve simon says i have not heard him in a long time either, nice
    Permalink posted 04/29/2007
  10. CrashPryor says @michelle: cool. get this album...it was so different when it dropped and I think one of the stronger solo joints from the Fugees outfit, mind you, this was before The MisEducation of Lauryn...I liked it and am glad I found it again... @Steve: nice...hope you have it; find it out there...
    Permalink posted 04/29/2007
  11. Rawkkiddoh says Such a great album, and who could forget the non album version of Gone Till November. That song did it alone for me, and the rest of the album was a bonus.
    Permalink posted 04/29/2007
  12. CrashPryor says ..word...I just couldn't get with that tune's theme right now (you know my plight) but it is a great cut...maybe I'll have a better take on it when I'm chillaxin' in Deutschland....
    Permalink posted 04/29/2007
  13. contrabandwidth says I worked in a record store in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania when "The Score" blew up. Out of nowhere really. Then "Killing Me Softly" dropped and, boom! The smartest thing they ever did was to not release that song on a single, because I remember so many people asking for the single and shrugging when we told them there was no single, nor would there be - and then they would buy the album without hesitation. I mean it was a great album, but we were selling the album for like $17!
    another great encounter was when the founder of Ruff House Records (The studio is in Conshehocken, PA) would stop by to see how the album was doing. We told him we couldn't keep it on the shelves. I asked him what ever happened to The Goats, he just shook his head in a disappointed manner and kind of told me it was a long and disappointing story that he didn't want to get into. I'll post on The Goats later...
    Permalink posted 04/29/2007
  14. CrashPryor says ..the Goats, now that's a name I haven't heard in a minute...I worked in a record store when I first moved out here and crossed tracks with Jerry Wexler we talked Atlantic era jazz for a grip, I don't even think he was buying anything, he just wanted to talk shop at the time...I'm interested in that story, so throw it on, I'd like to read it...
    Permalink posted 04/29/2007
  15. Mike the Knife says I may be in the minority, but I liked "The Carnival" as much as any Fugees album when it came out. Abso worthy of a revisit, C.P.
    Permalink posted 04/29/2007
  16. TroyPowers says Yeah, The Carnival was an awesome album. I can still listen to it all the way through a couple times. I think it was experimental without being TOO experimental. The music was definitely always sharp.
    Permalink posted 04/30/2007
  17. Cody B says I was working in a store when it came out. What a great listen it is. And, yeah, he was brave to put it out. He was rewarded though and I think it gained him a lot of respect from a lot of folks.
    Permalink posted 04/30/2007
  18. CrashPryor says @Oatmeal: yeah, I think the places he went with The Carnival speaks to what he added to the Fugees artistically very ambitious...I'm glad he was able to pull it off.. @Mikey: word. If you still have it, try throwing it on in the morning when you wake up and get your day started...I just did it and it still works... @Troy: yeah, I think it was a bit too experimental for some of the "hard-liners" who wanted to keep the genre static...later on he tended to over-reach but I guess that's what experimentation is all about... @contraband: word. I'll check it... @Cody: yeah, eventually those aforementioned "hard-liners" got the zap on their domes and came around but I remember back in the City it was a like it or hate it situation for a minute...
    Permalink posted 04/30/2007
  19. ladyIoanna says man that's original, really loved it, I got excited...also the "SangFezi" one was like right on, for me it's a discovery ( and the video posted by oatmeal was fabulous )- you made my spirit high, thanks..
    Permalink posted 04/30/2007

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