Jungle Brothers - Done By The Forces of Nature

Controller_7

Couldnt find a previous thread.

Despite the terrible mastering job, this album is incredible. Revisited this week. Please to discuss.

DOR

Oddly enough I was thinking about making a post on the JB's last week.

I've always thought they were kinda underrated. While people were always listening to them, they never got the same type of shine of say Tribe or De La.

Personally I'm more fond of Straight Out The Jungle. But Done By the Forces of Nature is a great album on it's own.

From "What U Waitin' 4" to "Tribe Vibes" and "J. Beez Comin' Trough" down to "Good Newz Comin". Most of the tracks are fairly solid with just a bit of filler.

Crazy to think the album is 23 years old...

volumen

Jungle Brothers are one of my favorite hip hop groups and this is one of my favorite records in general. I never get sick of Good News Comin. Ironically the girl I was seeing used to get freaked out by all the rap music I listen to but GNC sounded like the dance music she liked and she totally got into the Jungle Brothers as they got more dance oriented. They were always forward thing musically all the way back to I'll House You so no surprise they took it all the way.

Yes, the mastering was pretty bad on Done By The Forces of Nature! I actually wore out my CD to the point I had to play it much louder than other stuff. A lot of that was just the bad mastering to begin with but I made it even worse through repeated plays. I didn't realize how bad the mastering was until I got the LP and realized it sounded as bad as my CD.

I think all their LP's are good. I like J Beez With The Remedy and it was another record that would turn my rocker/punk friends and they would say they liked how trippy it was.

Raw Deluxe with Roc Radia (RIP) How Ya Want It production and True Blue Stereo MC mixes. Yes please.

VIP with a newly emerging Black Eyed Peas on one track. Another LP with a number of solid club songs.

All That We do was great because my rap friends said "what is this stuff?" and my rave friends said "wow, who are these guys" . From Black is Black to converting white ravers to their side. Pretty cool.

Over all a very solid group. It would be nice to see all 3 members do something again.

pimlicosquirrel

Possibly my favorite rap record ever, easily the most listened to largely due to my partner who dances to this while cooking, cleaning, whatever regularly. Copped on vinyl the day it came out, this and Straight out the jungle when played shake loose many great memories.

badder_than_evil

An underrated LP on the Production tip.

So many nice uses of samples..really nice cuts by Sammy B..a vibe all the way through.

Tribe Vibes - Such a great beat. What was the rave tune that used Sammy B cutting up "The name of the game is rapture"??

Belly Dancing Dina is the only lame track..but that is just because of the subject matter.

DJBombjack

badder_than_evil said:

What was the rave tune that used Sammy B cutting up "The name of the game is rapture"??

4:00

matamatic

badder_than_evil said:

Tribe Vibes - Such a great beat. What was the rave tune that used Sammy B cutting up "The name of the game is rapture"??

Go stetsa 1

soup

One of my favorites.

b/w

I was surprised by how good Crazy Wisdom Masters is.

batmon

GOAT B-Side

badder_than_evil

DJBombjack said:

badder_than_evil said:

What was the rave tune that used Sammy B cutting up "The name of the game is rapture"??

4:00

Thanks..but I was talking about a rave tune that used Sammy B cutting up that line from Tribe Vibes throughout..

Sunfade

batmon said:

GOAT B-Side

Best shit ever. I made some noise freestyling over this in 8th grade. It got me to first base with this girl Tory.

Sunfade

I wonder if all the sampling was done on an MPC60? It sounds like one.

Sunfade

Of course we all ride for the first two. But who rideth for J. Beez With The Remedy?

B/W

Shrooms

DJBombjack

Eggplant Xanadoo said:

Of course we all ride for the first two. But who rideth for J. Beez With The Remedy?

B/W

Shrooms

Always dug '40 Below Trooper' and 'On The Road Again' but can't speak for the rest of the album

username

DJBombjack said:

Eggplant Xanadoo said:

Of course we all ride for the first two. But who rideth for J. Beez With The Remedy?

B/W

Shrooms

Always dug '40 Below Trooper' and 'On The Road Again' but can't speak for the rest of the album

And the "song" that is completely bugged out. Whenever a thread comes round for "best psychedelic rap album" I don't think
this one is mentioned (but should be). Just Pharcyde. Has anyone heard Yomo and Maulke (sp) lp, great west coast rap psych.

I think "I'm in love with Indica" is also on the third lp. I'd Like to read more about the album and the drug influence (links?). I think most
people moved on after the 2nd album and the third album was overlooked (a la paul's boutique when it first cam out. I remember
"40 Below" was the first single (decent fast tempo). No promotion and i never see the vinyl for the third lp. Let me locate the cassette
and relisten. From what I remember, it drags out on the second side. Now that I've relistened, the second half bugs out even more.

My Jimmy Weighs a Ton (Great love song) The title is not "on the road again" but used as lyrics (FYI)

I ride (but I tend to dismiss this term "ride") as it is played out.

Juan Cocktolstoy

"What U Waitin 4?" was so much fun to dance to and the video displayed the same! "Beadz on a String" was my cut too.
B/W
I had the Yomo and Maulkie cassette through Eazy E affiliation, "For The Love of Money" I played plenty of.

DJBombjack

username said:

My Jimmy Weighs a Ton (Great love song) The title is not "on the road again" but used as lyrics (FYI)

Actually, it's the name of the song on the 12" single, remixed by Q-Tip - it wasn't featured on the LP.

username

o.k.

do you happen to have the 3rd album on vinyl?

soup

username said:

I'd Like to read more about the album and the drug influence (links?).

Incomplete and one sided but...

http://www.theunheardmusic.org/2012/01/09/david-williams-talks-about-the-jungle-brothers-and-crazy-wisdom-masters-and-how-you-can-help-originally-posted-august-6th-2011/

Sunfade

username said:

o.k.

do you happen to have the 3rd album on vinyl?

I have the promo and it's a very light pressing.

My favorite song on the album has always been "Good Lookin' Out"

DJBombjack

http://www.discogs.com/sell/list?release_id=617472&ev=rb

Take your pick

the_dL

I had the tape which I listened to non stop, but because the lp is so quiet I dont often find myself listening to it. I really like all albums up until VIP (which had 1 or 2 good tracks) then I kind of switched off

skullsnaps

I was the publicist for this record and was lucky enough to hang around in the studio with these guys, De La Soul and Tribe Called Quest (I was also their PR guy. They were really nice guys. I agree this album is definitely underrated. The JBs were also one of the best live hip hop groups of their era.

Controller_7

There is a lengthy thread on the third album. I bought a cut out promo cassette in high school and always liked it. I have it on vinyl too.

Done by the Forces has some incredible production. It's quiet, but still bumps if you turn it up. Great samples and pretty much a fun vibe all the way though.

DJ_Enki

DJBombjack said:

Eggplant Xanadoo said:

Of course we all ride for the first two. But who rideth for J. Beez With The Remedy?

B/W

Shrooms

Always dug '40 Below Trooper'

volumen

skullsnaps said:

I was the publicist for this record and was lucky enough to hang around in the studio with these guys, De La Soul and Tribe Called Quest (I was also their PR guy. They were really nice guys. I agree this album is definitely underrated. The JBs were also one of the best live hip hop groups of their era.

Yea, people that liked this record played it over and over. It had some killer production and rhymes even if the final product was mastered quiet. Was that a know issue at the time?


Were you still with them on J Beez wit the Remedy? I'm sure people would like to hear if that was just some acid fest or some commune with VALIS.

username

skullsnaps said:

I was the publicist for this record and was lucky enough to hang around in the studio with these guys, De La Soul and Tribe Called Quest (I was also their PR guy. They were really nice guys. I agree this album is definitely underrated. The JBs were also one of the best live hip hop groups of their era.

Publisist for the 3rd album? Public Relations as well?

What exactly did you do for the album sales? It seems like a failure? Maybe the music's fault. I think most failed
to comprehend or maybe it was over reaching and far too advanced and ahead of its time, or just the drugs over did the whole thing.

coqui

Eggplant Xanadoo said:

Of course we all ride for the first two. But who rideth for J. Beez With The Remedy

That's a crazy trilogy right there, starting with the super-tight debut through to the expansive sound on Forces and ultimately ending up in the utterly decomposed wasteland of the third record.

J. Beez With The Remedy is my favorite rap album of all time. I never get tired of hearing it and tend to start it over as soon as it ends. Just really really feel everything about it, from the beats to the flow (probably half-imagined this, but I always got the slightest sense of Wu-Tang and Cypress Hill in their delivery here, really aggressive in places), also the production is very unique in and of itself.

I actually think the compromised nature of the album really works in it's favor too, the more straight up tunes like "My Jimmy Weighs A Ton" and "Good Lookin' Out" are like lush summer jams skewed just enough, skeletal tracks like "All I Think About Is You" and "Spark A New Flame" and the rnb vocals scattered throughout the record really balance out the (excellent) unhinged moments.

Speaking of which, Crazy Wisdom Masters is great too... I wish we got even more unreleased tracks, but I'll take the two that were given: "Battle Show" is hard and "Ra Ra Kid", damn.

Apologize for the rambling post about this album (and not even about the album this thread is about!) I could go on and on about this one, and like the man said, I'd love to get some in-depth info about the sessions beyond the scattered bits I've heard here and there. As for Done By The Forces Of Nature, killer lp front to back... put "Doin' Our Own Dang" on the first rap tape I ever made for my little brothers and that last part "Good Newz Comin'" always brings a tear to my eye!

username

soup said:

username said:

I'd Like to read more about the album and the drug influence (links?).

Incomplete and one sided but...

http://www.theunheardmusic.org/2012/01/09/david-williams-talks-about-the-jungle-brothers-and-crazy-wisdom-masters-and-how-you-can-help-originally-posted-august-6th-2011/

thanks. Not that insightful.

skullsnaps

I only worked with them for Done By The Forces Of Nature. It was at an independent PR firm, I think we actually did a good job drumming up press attention, but the label (who had spent a lot of money to sign them) Warner Bros, didn't really know how to promote and push hip hop at all. They were managed by Red Alert Productions (DJ Red Alerts management company) and I think they might have been a little over their head too in dealing with Warner. Side note, Chris Lighty (RIP) had been their road manager and was now their personal manager at Red Alert. Another Red Alert employee, Dave Funkenklein, was one of the coolest people I ever met in the music biz. Anyway, my job was the generate press pre album release and then hopefully grow the press interest if/when the record started to sell. You have to recall this was 1989 and most mainstream newspaper/magazine writers who covered music were completely ignorant about rap music. I would get asked some many dumb questions. Often, small town newspapers would just reprint my press release as an article. I remember that one writer read the liner notes of the album, saw Africa "Baby" Bambaataa's name and just assumed it was the guy who made Planet Rock and this was his new group. It was an interesting time.

future

Controller_7 said:

There is a lengthy thread on the third album. I bought a cut out promo cassette in high school and always liked it. I have it on vinyl too.

Done by the Forces has some incredible production. It's quiet, but still bumps if you turn it up. Great samples and pretty much a fun vibe all the way though.

Does a quiet sound indicate poor production? These days it seems like a lot of albums are compressed and mastered at distorted volumes, but I've heard of the opposite problem with an album losing range while also being too quiet.

Always wondered how & why that happened.