Amen Brother

Amen Brother by the Winstons from 1969 is the most sampled 6 seconds in music history according to stuff that I found posted on the internets. A little trolling of the youtube came up with the stuff.



The breakbeat comes in at 1:27 on the file above. It should be familiar to anyone with ears even if you can't place where you last heard it.

A friend from the Bay Area (JZ-the rollercoaster was awesome on Saturday night!) shared this clip with me that tells the story behind Amen Brother.



The presentation above is delivered in a Speak and Spell type mode. So there is entertainment value in that alone.

First the break was used in a straight forward manner like in Straight Out of Compton. Then it was used in the Jungle and Rythm and Bass musical genres used as the complete basis of their sound. They even share a clip of Perry Farrell (yes, him) doing a cover of Whole Lotta Love in a Jungle mode using Amen as the basis of the song.

The example of commercials using the break are pretty funny, especially as they are potentially sourced via bootleg cds. Eventually the presentation makes the point that more stringent copyrights are a bad thing.

How were the Winstons compensated? It appears that they were never paid. Mainly because they never persued a legal battle.

Some digs this weekend

I had some extra time this long weekend, and I had the chance to hit one of my favorite record spots.

The digging was pretty uneventful, other than I had to keep a couple of bored 4 year olds away from my portable and I also had to keep a dog away from my keeper pile. I felt that I had a pretty good afternoon. I spent some time today cleaning these up, but I have not given all of the records a spin yet.

I spent roughly 2 hours and came up with the following:

45s
Hank Ballard "Finger Poppin' Time" King
Bobby Blue Bland "Blue Moon" Duke
James Brown "Stoned To The Bone" Polydor
James Brown "Make It funky" Polydor
Solomon Burke "I'm Leaving On The Late Late Train" Chess
Chairmen of The Board "Finders Keepers" Invictus
Chi-Lites "Troubles A Comin" Brunswick
Chi-Lites "Being In Love" Brunswick
George Clinton "Atomc Dog" Capitol
General Crook "Gimme Some" Down To Earth (this seems to be more common than I thought)
Crown Heights Affair "Foxy Lady" De-Lite
King Curtis "This is Soul" Atco
King Curtis "Soul Seranade" Capitol
Detroit Emeralds "You're Getting' A Little Too Smart" Westbound
Detroit Emeralds "I Bet You Get The One (Who Loves You) Westbound
Dramatics "Thankful For Your Love" Volt
Dramatics "(Gimme Some) Good Soul Music" Volt
Dynatones The Fife Piper HBR
Esquires "Listen To Me" Bunky
Five Flights Up "Black Cat" TA
Franklin, Aretha "Don't Play That Song" Atlantic

LP

King Tubby "Dub Mix Up" Jamaican Recordings

I came across another lead for digging in the area, so I hope to make it out over the next few weeks.

New Mix--Street Tax

Hey all you soul and funk fans. Sorry that I have been out of pocket so much lately, but working for the man, sure has a way of taking up your time.

I have been able to do some digging a couple of times a month and have been able to find loads of dirty, affordable 45s. These lost treasures form the basis for the latest mix, which I am calling Street Tax.

The lovely picture above was contributed by a longtime cohort, The Colonel. I believe that the picture was taken somewhere in Oregon. He has this to say, "(I) can't decide if he is a cowboy airforce vet or a civil war figurine?"

The selected tracks are a bit all over the place with some more common songs butting up against more deep tracks. Toots was very helpful in assistance with digging and found some of the discs that make up this mix.

Once again, the 1200s provided the means with which I recorded the discs to my macbook. All cuts were taken from original 45s, excepting the Ike & Tina cut which was pulled from the original Come Together LP.

I hope that you dig it.

Here is the tracklist:


street tax- a cratedigger compilation

01 The Impressions (Baby) Turn On To Me Curtom
02 Luther Ingram I Can’t Stop Koko
03 Isley Brothers Pop That Thang T Neck
04 Fantastic Johnny C Hitch It To The Horse Phil LA
05 Willie Henderson Funky Chicken Pt 1
06 Fabulous Counts Get Down People Moira
07 Lou Courtney What Do You Want Me To Do Epic
08 Lee Dorsey Workin’ In The Coal Mine Amy
09 Ike & Tina Turner I Want To Take You Higher Liberty (LP Cut)
10 Willie Hutch Brother’s Gonna Work It Out Motown
11 Ray Charles Booty Butt Tangerine
12 James Brown Soul Power Pt 1 King
13 Bobby Blue Bland Bobby’s Blues Duke
14 Dobie Gray The In Crowd Charger




Download link

Jimmy Smith Organ Grinder Swing

I am in Gotham for a few hours over the next day or so, and I finally made a point to go to Academy Records on 18th between 5th and 6th Ave.

While I was unhappy with their vinyl selection-- it was classical mainly, and I saw some of those boxes that you see in the midwest house sales with multiple LPs of Glen Miller or whatnot... I did find some stuff in their jazz CD section. I got out of there with only 2 CDs which seems sort of lame, in retrospect. I should try to sneak out tomorrow for "coffee" during work.

One of the gems that I picked up was Jimmy Smith Organ Grinder Swing on Verve. I have been digging on the Hammond b-3 stylings of Jimmy Smith for a while, and it is time to dig into his discog a bit more.

The title track leads it off, and it is a swinging number that runs a brief 2.12. The guitar follows the lead provided by the organ, in the left channel, a minute or so in the guitar takes a lead. During the lead Jimmy stabs the organ to punctuate the track. Some groaning moaning "vocals"can be heard in the background. I can't wait to listen to this track on the CD Reference System as opposed to a couple of wimpy laptop speaks...

According to Wikipedia, after record a stack of records for Blue Note, Jimmy Smith moved over to the Verve label in 63. This particular LP was tracked in June 1965 at Van Gelder Recording Studio in Englewood Cliffs New Jersey.

Listening to this record, you certainly get the feel that Smith could make enough noise and run enough leads and bass lines on his B-3 and Leslie speaker cabinet that the guitar by Kenny Burrell and drums (Grady Tate) are nice extras, in the left and right channels, respectively. You have to love that early stereo.

The fourth track is an unbelievable shredding of Greensleeves.

I would recommend that you go find a copy of this one immediately.

Some digging this past weekend

I have found a place that seems to have some pretty good booty when it comes to cratedigging here in the Chicago area.

I dont want to share my haunt, but I will share some of the many discs that I picked up over the weekend. The turntables were certainly happy with their new styli and plenty of old wax to dig through.

Yardbirds Shapes of Things Epic
JBs Same Beat People (2 copies)
Timmy Thomas Funky Me Glades
Bobby Rush Mary Jane Galaxy (2 copies)
Jimmy Ruffin Don't Let Him Take Your Love From Me Soul
The Who Pinball Wizard Decca
War Lowrider UA (promo)
Parliaments I Wanna Testify Revillot
Wilson Pickett Don't Knock My Love Atlantic
Wilson Pickett Don't Let the Green Grass Fool You Atlantic
Martha & The Vandellas My Baby Loves Me Gordy
Cliff Nobles The Horse (Instrumental) Gold Soul
ZZ Hill Hold Back Mankind
Santana Oye Como Va Columbia
Sam & Dave Hold On I'm A Comin Stax
Muddy Waters Tiger in Your Tank Chess
Mongo Santamaria Bossa Negra Columbia
Tommie Young Do You Still Feel The Same Way Soul Power
Wilson Pickett We've Got To Have Love Atlantic
Clarence Reed I'm Working While Its Day Jewel
Andre Williams Cadillac Jack Checker
Jimmy Witherspoon Love is A Four Letter Word Capitol
The Radiants Anything You Do Is Alright Chess
Charles Wright Express Yourself Warner Promo
Jr Walker Sweet Soul Soul
Bill Withers Ain't No Sunshine Sussex
Eddy Senay Ain't No Sunshine Sussex
Willie Hutch Party Down Motown
Herbie Mann Watermelon Man Atlantic

I don't have any interesting record people sightings, except for maybe the guy that was trying to sing garage tunes, while looking at Sundazed reissues, that was sort of surreal.

I need to get together another mix...

if the glove don't fit...

If the glove don’t fit- a cratedigger compilation

01 Intro
02 Soul Searchers Funk To The Folks Sussex 517
03 Isley Brothers Don’t Give it Away T Neck 901
04 Dialog
05 Bobby Blue Bland Turn On Your Lovelight Duke 344
06 Clarence Carter Funky Fever Atlantic 2508
07 Dialog
08 Ike & Tina Turner Funkier Thank A Mosquita’s Tweeter Liberty 56216
09 Curley Moore Funky Yeah House of The Fox 1934
10 Dialog
11 Rufus Thomas Do The Double Bump Stax 236
12 Dennis Coffey Scorpio (rb edit) Sussex 226
13 James & Bobby Purify I’m Your Puppet Bell 648
14 James Brown Brother Rapp (pts 1&2) King 6310
15 Dialog
16 Fantastic Johnny C Boogaloo Down Broadway Phil LA of Soul 305
17 Sons of Slum Right On Stax 120 (mono)
18 Dialog
19 Kool & The Gang Funky Stuff Dee-Lite 557(mono)
20 Jimmy Castor Bunch Bertha Butt Boogie (pt 1) Atlantic 3232
21 Outro
22 Funkadelic Loose Booty Westbound 205 (promo)


all of the above tracks were captured from original 45s, gathered in various dusty midwestern locales. no ebay track diggin' whatsoever...

dialog comes from the aip motion picture "abby" starring carol speed and william marshall, which comes from a very old vhs transfer.

Please download if the glove don't fit...



D/L Link

Thanks to Fufu Stew, Fleamarket Funk, Funky 16 Corners, this is tomorrow, and Soul Brotha's Put the Needle in The Groove for inspiration.

Happy 4th. Be safe.

N.B. It appears that the divshare link above is AOK, but the zshare version of the file is shortened. I tried to reupload, but it continues to chop my file in half. There is a save option within Divshare. Sorry about the technical difficulties.

I won't be able to attend...

Via The Stepfather of Soul blog, I saw this awesome poster for the Soul show this Saturday. $15?!? Get out there Chicago!

Sorry about the post avalanche, just a lot of stuff today.

Tinnitus Cratedigger Mix

Finger licken', Chubb Rock.

Here is my first attempt at a funk and soul mix, it is called Tinnitus.

Here is the playlist:

01 Jimmy Castor Bunch Troglodyte (Cave Man) RCA 48-1029
02 Archie Bell & The Drells Tighten Up Atlantic 45-2478
03 Bobby Blue Bland Gotta Get To Know You Duke 447
04 Bob Seger & Last Heard Heavy Music I Cameo Parkway C-494
05 Dyke & The Blazers Funky Broadway Parts I&II Original Sound 64
06 George Semper Rhythm Committee It’s Your Thing Rama Rama 7799
07 James & Bobby Purity You Can’t Keep A Good Man Down Bell 660
08 James Brown Lowdown Popcorn King 45-6250
09 Funkadelic Music For My Mother Westbound 148
10 Jean Knight Mr. Big Stuff Stax STA-0088
11 Lavell Hardy Don’t Lose Your Groove Rojac 117
12 Jbs Gimme Some More People 602
13 R. Dean Taylor There’s A Ghost In My House Tamla 896 (Import)
14 Cliff Nobles & Co. Love Is All Right Phil LA of Soul 313
15 Ramrods Soultrain Rampage 1000
16 Aretha Franklin See Saw Atlantic 2574
17 Edwin Starr Stop The War Now Gordy 7104

The mix was made via collecting the 45s, none of which set me back more than $8 each, then tracking them on my Rega 3, and getting them into my MacBook and into GarageBand and then iTunes to burn to CDR.

If you would like a CDR copy, shoot me an email and we can set up a trade. In the meantime, I will work on getting a link for some flacs.