Status Is Hood

Jonathan Richman "New Kind of Neighborhood"

Featuring the most lovable VU fan under the sun, and at full gallop. I like the urban cowboy flava the backup singers provide, and how it manages to redeem the goofiness of the Travolta version. This song's so Jonathan. It's all about finding another way of being different and yet being accepted: "And the neighbors said, but they didn't frown/'New kind of neighborhood'".

Express Rising "Neighborhood"

Sample spotting: That placid, stoned guitar line is the showcase of Moby Grape's "Sittin' By the Window," from the good Moby Grape album. I really appreciate the fact that the DJ starts in one mood and stays there throughout the LP's duration. However, this languorous approach also resulted in people literally sleeping on the album. It's called Express Rising, but No Dancing would've worked just as well, if not better; there's not much on the rise here -- a winter fog, maybe? It's just two turntables and a pine forest, cold rockin' it. Holla, evergreen!