Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Mixerr Album Reviews #1,649

Blackout by Lil Louis was released as a promo on vinyl in 1989 by FFRR and Epic to promote his From The Mind Of Lil Louis album that would be later released that year. The single has a very deep house sound mixed with electronic music. These songs were played  around the world in nearly every club and at every party back in 1989.

Blackout came from the 1989 album From The Mind Of Lil Louis. The song Blackout has a deep house sound mixed with electronic music and dance. Back in 1989, the song was played around the world in nearly every club and at every party. Its uplifting vocals are what really energize the song. The song Blackout utilizes a time signature of 4|4.

However Lil Louis gets in touch with his religious side by quoting some scriptures from the Christian Old Testament book. Such as mentioning The Lord is my shepherd from Psalm 23. Psalm 23 is the 23rd psalm of the Book of Psalms.

The first verse quotes the beginning of from the Christian Old Testament and Book of Psalms.

[Verse 1]

The Lord is my shepperd, I shall not want
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures
He leaded me beside the still waters
He restoreth my soul
He leaded me in a path of righteousness
For His name's sake
Yeah
Though I walk to the valley of the shadow of death
I will fear no evil, for thou art with me
Thy rod and thy staff comfort me
Thou preparest a table before me, in the presence of my enemies
Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup's runneth over
Surely goodness and loving kindness
Shall follow me all the days of my life
And I will dwell in the House of the Lord
Forverer

In the middle of the song is where Genesis 1:1-10 is quoted. Revelation 6:12 is quoted as well. These are the scriptures listed below.

[Genesis 1:1-10]

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth
And the earth was without form and void
And darkness was above the face of the deep
And the spirits of God moved upon the face of the waters
And God said "let there be light", and there was light

[Revelation 6:12]

And I beheld when he opened the sixth seal
And Lord there was a great earthquake
And the sun became black a sackcloth of hair
And the moon became as blood
And the stars of heaven fell to the earth even as
A fig tree casts her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind
And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together
And every mountain and island were moved out of their place

The message at the end of the song tells us to seek out the truth. The message at the end of the song is “The truth is now, don't wait, too late to wake up” .


I Called U (But You Weren't There) is a hilarious electronic song that uses a house soundscape. A piano accompanies the house soundscape along with a saxophone. An Afro-centric percussion ensemble is used. Djembe, shakers, conga, and bongos are used. The vocals are what make the song unique along with the Afro-centric percussion which is used.

The song is about an ex-lover trying to get back into Lil Louis’ life by stalking him. She continuously calls him over the phone. She gets into his business by stalking him every chance. Some call this song the “ballad of the psycho ex-girlfriend”. The vocals are what make the song unique. The song is definitely something that the guys can definitely relate to.

The song begins with a telephone ringing. Lil Louis picks up the telephone to answer whoever is calling. A man in the back asks Louis if that is another prank call. Read the lyrics below.:

Lil Louis: Hello....hello?
Man in the background: Louis, is that another crank call?)
Lil Louis: No, I know who it is.
*Lil Louis hang up the telephone*

Apparently an ex-lover is stalking Lil Louis wondering about his whereabouts. It is a female who calls him again. She questions where did he go. Her response was “I called you but you weren’t there.” . Lil Louis tells her “I was out taking care of business.” . She proceeds to tell him she was following him in her blue car. She asks “Why can’t we start again?”

Lil Louis clearly does not want anything to do with her. If you listen closely to her vocals over the phone, she sounds as if she were drunk. Some call this song the “ballad of the psycho ex-girlfriend”.

I Called U (But You Weren't There) charted at #16 on the BillBoard in the UK in January 1990 and at #23 in Ireland in January 1990. I Called U (But You Weren't There) also charted at #48 on the BillBoard in Belgium in March 1990. The song was a hit in several European countries in 1990.


Nyce & Slo uses a repetitive house soundscape. The song’s tempo transitions from downtempo to mid tempo pretty quick. Tempo transitions back and forth from downtempo to mid tempo and back downtempo. The song had people acting wild and crazy on the dance floor in not just Chicago, but in other countries across the globe. Nyce & Slo is a fine example of Chicago house. Of course Nyce & Slo is a very sexual song and a straight club banger!

The repetitive nature of this song many annoy listeners and detract them away from listening to this song entirely. Of course this might cause listeners to skip the song completely which is understandable.

Tony Humphrey co-produced this song with Lil Louis in 1989 just before the release of . Peter Black is the person playing the piano and Lil Louis is in charge of the vocals.

Vocals change as well as frequency is changed throughout the song. The woman’s voice who is saying “Boy boy boy” is soon muffled over by Lil Louis saying “okay okay okay”. This is because Lil Louis and Tony Humphrey were trying to give us a futuristic electronic experience with club music. The bass line is muffled pretty cleverly.


I rate this single, Blackout, 4/5****!

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