Most musical acts release a b-sides and rarities sooner or later. Within that, there is a habit frequented by those special few artists on the fringes of turntablist electronica and hip-hop of following up well received releases with a linked throwaways and remixes album (People Under The Stars chased O.S.T. with Or Stay Tuned, Boom Bip's Seed To Sun with Corymb, and Prefuse 73's One Word Extinguisher with Extinguished). However, the Same Shit Different Day follow to 2003's Later That Day is one of those exceptionally rare cases where the tosser compilation is actually better than the album on which it's based. One new track, "I'm Just Raw" (a track based around the Al Franken SNL character Stuart Smalley's self-affirming motto-catchphrase), holds up as well as anything off Lyrics Born's debut album, care of multi-group kingpin Dan The Automator's consistently incredible production and his loving dose of Isaac Hayes strings here. Dan's track and Jumbo's "Pack Up Remix" are as menacing and abrasive as anything I've heard Lyrics Born perform on. The guest shots and producers collected here are pretty impressive too, including the likes of Morcheeba, DJ Shadow, Casual, DJ Spinna, Blackalicious' Chief Xcel, and the Stereo MCs who sample Steve Miller's "Jungle Love" moog intro for their remix of the prominent SPECTRUM sampler single "I Changed My Mind." As a primarily remix album, the styles and individuality of the guest performers and knob twiddlers breathe essential variance into songs that seemed relatively stale in Later That Day's consistent sticky-as-molasses funk matched with LB's aggressive lyrics and soulful growl. All the remixers, vocalists, and musicians who were allowed freedom with Later's arrangements show up and produce the album -— I'm assuming a lot now -- that Lyrics Born wanted to make in the first place, or at least in hindsight. I'd like to see him learn from this with his next release, thinking more in terms of something like Sage Francis and Gift Of Gab production as opposed to Buck 65. LB is at all times a great singer with an interesting flow and unique lyrics, but we can't all be Buck in the studio. Wait and see, I guess.
1. Intro
2. Hello Remix
3. Pack Up Remix feat. Evidence of Dilated Peoples and KRS-ONE
4. I'm Just Raw
5. So That There (The Young Einstien Hoo Hoo Mix)
6. I Changed My Mind (Stereo MCs Rattlesnake Mix)
7. Bad Dreams Interlude
8. Shake It Off
9. The Last Trumpet (Halou Remix) feat. Lateef The Truth Speaker and DJ Shadow
10. Over You feat. Joyo Velarde and DJ Shadow
11. I Cant Wait For Your Love (Limited Time Offer) feat. Joyo Velarde
12. The Bay feat. C Holiday and The Poets of Rhythm
13. Callin Out Remix feat. E-40 and Casual
14. Outro
15. Stop Complaining (Morcheeba/Capricorn II Remix)
16. I Changed My Mind (DJ Spinna Remix)
More about: Lyrics Born
