Success is much more timing than talent. When you exist is much
\nmore important than what you release; Kansas probably couldn’t get
\nsigned today, Lauryn Hill would have been laughed out of the record
\nlabel’s offices ten years ago. Those are the breaks, most of the
\ntime. But because of that, a lot of interesting music gets lost in
\nthe shuffle, only to resurface echoed in the work of later artists.
\nThe current hip-hop\/funk movement is a reflection of past artists’
\nwork, the groundbreaking done when it was still fringe, still
\nmarginal<\/p>\n
.<\/p>\n
The Dan Reed Network was one of those fringe artists. With a
\nshort (1987-1993) career plagued by record company mispromotion and
\nboundless ambition, they managed to turn out three CDs of pretty
\ninteresting music, as well as a debut EP. The highlight of their
\ncareer was 1991’s
\nThe Heat<\/i>, an ambitious politically-themed CD that managed to
\nbe both serious and raucous, a well-balanced mix of fact, funk, and
\nfun.<\/p>\n
The Network’s sound was a pastiche, part funk, part metal, part
\nhip-hop, part synthesizer rock. This led to a textured sound that
\nyou could still rock out to, a dichotomy of technique and power
\nthat very few bands could match. _The Heat_ is by far their best
\nCD. From the opening drive of “Baby Now I” to the backbeat of “Mix
\nIt Up” to the soft closing strains of “Long Way To Go”, the quintet
\nproved themselves a master of varying styles.<\/p>\n
It wasn’t just music that makes _The Heat_ such a standout CD,
\nthough. The Network tackled tough subjects with energy and passion,
\nincluding abortion (“Blame It On The Moon”) and control by society,
\ngovernments, and institutions (“Thy Will Be Done”). There is also
\nan outstanding cover of Pink Floyd’s “Money” that has to be heard
\nto be believed. The politics has energy and passion to it: it’s
\nbelievable, it has life. These were subjects the band cared about,
\nyet they weren’t lugubrious and preachy like a Joan Baez LP on 16
\nand 2\/3. It’s a shame that Mercury Records didn’t know what to do
\nwith an integrated band who spanned genres as easy as some people
\nspan a G chord.<\/p>\n
The Network has gone its seperate ways, and this CD’s very hard
\nto find. However, make the effort;
\nThe Heat<\/i> will be worth your time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":25012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6108],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-36217","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-dan-reed-network","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36217"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36217"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}