The Roots - How I Got Over

Sometimes there’s a certain kind of distraction that takes over. And sometimes a blend of restrictions and confinements makes it an arduous task to embrace the singular passions in life. It’s rare that it’s everything from the aforementioned combined – but rare is not never. While it sometimes feels like a sort of cloudy fog that has encapsulated everything in its path, the distraction is a definite kind of solace. An escape from the immediate temporary, a remarkable kind of love that has sustained throughout; the only thing I know for sure is what I wanna do, anytime, anywhere… 

Arguably the hardest working band in music has always been The Roots. I know I’m not going out on much of a limb by saying that but they were the hardest working band even before they became the best house band on TV. But before and during their mainstay as the best house band on TV, The Roots has been making album after album of tremendous music – twelve total studio albums if you count all of their collaborative albums – and How I Got Over is #9. Distinctly a lot brighter than their previous two albums, Rising Down and Game Theory, it’s also the first album after the Bush administration finally left office. So it immediately has a much clearer flow and the songs just sort of gel throughout The Roots’ positive, optimistic point of view. And since they became the best band on TV they’ve also met some amazing musicians who they collaborated with on this album to create some of the better songs.

I need to include “A Peace of Light” because it features the original females from Dirty Projectors. A band The Roots met through performing on the late show and whom they immediately fell in love with. It’s mostly an introduction that features the women harmonizing their vocals into one bubbly, smooth opening that allows ?uestlove’s timeless drums to appear in a light refrain.

Jim James is another hardworking musician who crafts music with his main band My Morning Jacket, as a solo artist and who also did a collaborative album with M. Ward and Conor Oberst as Monsters of Folk. The Roots borrow the melody from the opening song off their album, “Dear God,” and also use James to sing the chorus on “Dear God 2.0” (perhaps homage to “The Seed (2.0)” as well?) The Roots version is a straightforward letter about the pain in the world and how everything from broken homes, to drugs, to jobs, to love can fall apart and how there can be so much suffering in this world. “Why is the world ugly when you made it in your image?”

Joanna Newsom is another hardworking musician as she not only composes all of her music but practically writes poetry when she writes lyrics. Here The Roots borrow her “The Book of Right-On” on “Right On,” for what is probably the best song on all of How I Got Over. Her version features her trademark harp and her singular voice but The Roots version combines it all for a smashing hit that showcases just why they’re one of the best bands, period. – Bryan