My 2.72 TB external drive, the only one I have, just stopped working. It is saying I must reformat the disk to use it and the drive is making a noise it makes but it should not make it repetitiously. It stops and the following dialogue pops up:
Microsoft Windows
You need to format the disk in drive Z: before you can use it.
Do you want to format it?
Format disk Cancel
I can not do it any more, I can not continue with anything. I'm finished. This is something I wish I'd never have to do but now I don't have a choice. I'll back up the blog and template for whatever might happen in the future but I don't have the resources to purchase another one of these. Fuck Western Digital, the company can suck a big fat dick.
We Remember: Nathaniel Dwane Hale
Thursday 15 March 2012 at 1:52 pm
I remember it as if it was yesterday. Somebody told me the news I never expected. I could not believe it; in fact I was in denile for days afterwards. How could it be the soulful voice of G Funk died? I knew he had health complications years before but I never foresaw that. Just 10 days before the 16th anniversary of Eric's death it happened and now we must take the time today and every subsequent date to remember Nate Dogg. They say the good die young and they ain't lyin'. First it was Travis who never even lived to see what became Foesum; next it was Eazy and everybody who knew him personally and is still ridin' with him today feels either the same or similarly as myself; then it was Pac but we all know that's too deep to go in to on any day; now it's Nate. An interesting fact I learnt about him is he was in something called the Marines. I don't know what they do and I don't know when or for how long he was a member but many people may not know that about him. He also had a sister named Pamela; she sings on his song Where Are You Going?. For years I've wondered who she was till I found the answer late last year.
I keep playing G Funk Classics hoping I'll see One More Day and if you're lookin' down on a gee save me a spot between you and Eazy. For everybody who listens to G Funk to this day I know you gotta be bumpin' his shit and if you're not change the tape NOW. I can't say anything nobody else has probably said somewhere else but I thought even though this site isn't nearly as active as I wish I could make it I think it's only right I pay personal tribute to who I call ‘the voice of G Funk’. He put the Soul and vocal melody in G Funk like nobody ever could. His voice spanned several octives which still impresses me to this day – damn I wish I could sing half as good. Don't let his memory be put aside like so many others put Eric's. I dig Tupac but we all know Eazy and Nate deserve to be recognised just like the whole world does Tupac so let's change it up one time.
I keep playing G Funk Classics hoping I'll see One More Day and if you're lookin' down on a gee save me a spot between you and Eazy. For everybody who listens to G Funk to this day I know you gotta be bumpin' his shit and if you're not change the tape NOW. I can't say anything nobody else has probably said somewhere else but I thought even though this site isn't nearly as active as I wish I could make it I think it's only right I pay personal tribute to who I call ‘the voice of G Funk’. He put the Soul and vocal melody in G Funk like nobody ever could. His voice spanned several octives which still impresses me to this day – damn I wish I could sing half as good. Don't let his memory be put aside like so many others put Eric's. I dig Tupac but we all know Eazy and Nate deserve to be recognised just like the whole world does Tupac so let's change it up one time.
Anotha Update
Thursday 8 March 2012 at 7:00 pm
I know I haven't been too active up in the joint for a minute but I'm still alive for now. It seems HostingYou, the hosting service before the current one was just as fucked up as the others. Somebody had the nuts to write to Unlimited Space sayin' the activity of the #1 Eazy-E forum was shady or somethin' like that [MafiaStorage was also hosted on Unlimited Space's space]. It is now back up on another hosting provider and looks stable but I need to ask if a few backend tweaks can be made before I start to re-upload everything [everything I re-uploaded the first time has been lost].
Also, I deleted my Gmail address; I am now using another and much more trusted provider. When I learn how to upload images to Blogger I'll change the contact page. Last year I said somethin' about a surprise I had in store. Unfortunately it's not gonna happen with help from a person I hoped; I guess he's too busy but I ain't mad at him. More now than ever I want to get offa Google's servers and migrate to WordPress. I'm not makin' any promises but I hope the homie who runs MafiaStorage can help me with that 'cause he's my only hope. Since Google decided to let the lesser knowledgeable public know they don't give a fuck about peoples' privacy [they never did at all 'cause they've always kept their best interests as a corporation in mind] by consolidating all 60 something policies in a single one, I really have no desire to keep the content on their servers. I'd love to continue the blog but I just don't feel comfortable continuing on Blogger. If anybody [and you'd have to be experienced and trusted] has any server space, is well-versed in MySQL, PHP and Wordpress hit me up if you wanna see Back 2 Da OG survive and keep givin' up the real. It's hard to have one person on on whom to rely and that's why I'm calling on anybody who knows what time it is. Leave a comment and I'll sho' nuff read it 'cause for now I've still got to change the contact page. I don't wanna ever go anywhere but somethin' gotta get better. I don't have the resources to do that all by myself.
Also, I deleted my Gmail address; I am now using another and much more trusted provider. When I learn how to upload images to Blogger I'll change the contact page. Last year I said somethin' about a surprise I had in store. Unfortunately it's not gonna happen with help from a person I hoped; I guess he's too busy but I ain't mad at him. More now than ever I want to get offa Google's servers and migrate to WordPress. I'm not makin' any promises but I hope the homie who runs MafiaStorage can help me with that 'cause he's my only hope. Since Google decided to let the lesser knowledgeable public know they don't give a fuck about peoples' privacy [they never did at all 'cause they've always kept their best interests as a corporation in mind] by consolidating all 60 something policies in a single one, I really have no desire to keep the content on their servers. I'd love to continue the blog but I just don't feel comfortable continuing on Blogger. If anybody [and you'd have to be experienced and trusted] has any server space, is well-versed in MySQL, PHP and Wordpress hit me up if you wanna see Back 2 Da OG survive and keep givin' up the real. It's hard to have one person on on whom to rely and that's why I'm calling on anybody who knows what time it is. Leave a comment and I'll sho' nuff read it 'cause for now I've still got to change the contact page. I don't wanna ever go anywhere but somethin' gotta get better. I don't have the resources to do that all by myself.
Small But Technically Large Issues and Updates
Monday 20 February 2012 at 10:15 am
By now I'm sure everybody who has tried to download for about the last 7 days has been wondering what happened to the site – just know it's not going anywhere. Without gettin' too detailed there has been server issues then hosting company issues [when I find what hosting company was before this one I'll personally add a big ol' ‘FUCK YOU’ to this post]. The good thing about all these headaches is the service is now hosted by a company who cares less what goes on. There are several servers and the platform with which both uploaders and downloaders interact alike has more features [more to come] and bug fixes. I'm waiting on the database containing my uploaded files to be restored and after that I'll resume re-uploading from where I stopped. I read the comments so I know what people want. It's not MegaUpload but it's much better than nothing and I straight up refuse to upload anything on a site which I don't have a guaranteed long-lasting premium account. MegaUpload spoilt me with that even before I created the blog and I won't have it any other way. Just stay down tah ride and keep ya head up.
Wattstax (30th Anniversary Special Edition) (2004 DVD Reissue) (1973)
Wednesday 15 February 2012 at 8:02 pm
To celebrate the 39th anniversary of the Wattstax documentary's premier in New York's cinemas, I thought today be no better day to re-post the 30th anniversary special edition DVD. Coupled with the live performances this is an indespensible piece of history I think nobody should overlook.
Wattstax is a 1973 documentary film by Mel Stuart that focused on the 1972 Wattstax music festival and the African-american community of Watts in Los Angeles, California. The film was nominated for a Golden Globe award for Best Documentary Film in 1974.
The concert:
The concert was held at the Los Angeles Coliseum on 20 August 1972, and organised by Memphis's Stax Records to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the Watts riots. Wattstax was seen by some as ‘the Afro-american answer to Woodstock’. To enable as many members of the Black community in L.A. to attend as possible, tickets were sold for only $1 USD each. The Reverend Jesse Jackson gave the invocation, which included his ‘I Am Somebody’ poem, which was recited in a call and response with the assembled stadium crowd. In the film, interspersed between songs are interviews with Richard Pryor, Ted Lange and others who discuss the Black experience in America.
Plot:
The film begins with an introduction by Pryor, followed by shots of urban life on the streets of Watts, accompanied by the song Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get by The Dramatics. Mel Stuart was not entirely satisfied with the full concert footage and added the Pryor interludes between certain songs and live shots of urban life in the city. Stuart wanted someone to narrate between the scenes to create a transition in a comedic but meaningful way. Scenes of the concert venue being set up are accompanied by the song Oh La De Da by the Staple Singers, and another Staples tune, We The People, backs scenes of the crowds entering the stadium.
The first song played in concert is the Star-Spangled Banner performed by Kim Weston whilst the audience sits. Jesse Jackson then encourages the audience to raise their right fists in the air whilst he recites his poem ‘I Am Somebody’. Kim Weston follows this up with a performance of the ‘Black National Anthem’, Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing. Whilst she sings the audience becomes more invigorated, and people stand and continue to raise their fists in the air. The scene is inter-cut with images from African-American history. Following this scene is a performance of Somebody Bigger Than You and I by Jimmy Jones.
A brief discussion about religion is followed by a performance of Lying On The Truth by the Gospel band The Rance Allen Group. This is inter-cut with shots of various churches around Watts. The song Peace Be Still is heard, and eventually seen performed by The Emotions in a local church. Next, the film briefly discusses Gospel music, and there is a performance of Old-Time Religion by The Stax Golden 13, composed of William Bell, Louise McCord, Debra Manning, Eric Mercury, Freddy Robinson, Lee Sain, Ernie Hines, Little Sonny, Eddie Floyd, the Newcomers, the Temprees, and Frederick Knight. After a brief interlude with Richard Pryor, Melvin Van Peebles introduces the Staple Singers, who play Respect Yourself in concert.
The Bar-Kays follow another montage commentary on African-American identity. The Bar-Kays saxophonist, Harvey ‘Joe’ Henderson speaks saying, ‘Freedom is a road seldom travelled by the multitude’ [a phrase later made famous when it was sampled by Public Enemy in Show 'Em Whatcha Got]. The Bar-Kays then play Son Of Shaft. This is followed by a montage of conversations about unemployment and crime in Watts. Following this is a brief performance of Albert King playing I'll Play The Blues For You which is quickly cut to another conversation with the people of Watts about Blues music and depression. An unusual piece of footage is shown of performance of Walking the Backstreet and Crying by Little Milton, presented in the style of a music video, with Milton lip-synching the song near a train station with a burning trash can next to it.
That segment is followed by Rufus Thomas talking about a character named ‘Jody’ as being someone who ‘is that fella, when you leave home at six o'clock, he's in that house at six-one’. This is followed by shots of various rich African-Americans exiting their expensive cars and wearing flamboyant clothing, whilst the song Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone by Johnnie Taylor is being performed in a night club. This is followed by a sketch with Richard Pryor discussing gambling. A montage of couples in Watts is shown whilst a discussion about dating and romance is heard, with I May Not Be What You Want performed by Mel and Tim in the background. The scene then changes to a performance of Picking Up The Pieces by Carla Thomas. During this song, several red, black and white balloons are released in the stadium. More conversations about gender roles and romance in the African-American society follow.
In the next segment, Rufus Thomas performs The Breakdown and Do The Funky Chicken. This is followed by another interlude with Pryor, and then a cover of If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don't Want To Be Right by Soul singer Luther Ingram. After the final interlude, Isaac Hayes enters the stadium to a large audience reaction. In the original version, MGM, the studio which had the rights to the songs Theme From Shaft and Soulsville, didn't allow the film makers to use the songs in the film, so the song Rolling Down A Mountainside was performed on a sound stage made to look like Wattstax at a later date. These songs are restored on Region 1 DVD release of the film. The camera pans out at the end of the stadium showing several people during the interludes in the film whilst the speech ‘I Am Somebody’ is being shouted again followed by Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing as the credits roll.
The only complaint I have here is Pryor and the comedic interludes. I think they have a place but this documentary is definitely not it. I love the brotha, don’t get me wrong. I just think there’s a time and place for everything, and that was out of place.
All content restrictions have been removed for your freedom to do whatever you wish.
Part 01: Click Here To Download (2560 MB)
Part 02: Click Here To Download (2560 MB)
Part 03: Click Here To Download (668.90 MB)
Wattstax is a 1973 documentary film by Mel Stuart that focused on the 1972 Wattstax music festival and the African-american community of Watts in Los Angeles, California. The film was nominated for a Golden Globe award for Best Documentary Film in 1974.
The concert:
The concert was held at the Los Angeles Coliseum on 20 August 1972, and organised by Memphis's Stax Records to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the Watts riots. Wattstax was seen by some as ‘the Afro-american answer to Woodstock’. To enable as many members of the Black community in L.A. to attend as possible, tickets were sold for only $1 USD each. The Reverend Jesse Jackson gave the invocation, which included his ‘I Am Somebody’ poem, which was recited in a call and response with the assembled stadium crowd. In the film, interspersed between songs are interviews with Richard Pryor, Ted Lange and others who discuss the Black experience in America.
Plot:
The film begins with an introduction by Pryor, followed by shots of urban life on the streets of Watts, accompanied by the song Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get by The Dramatics. Mel Stuart was not entirely satisfied with the full concert footage and added the Pryor interludes between certain songs and live shots of urban life in the city. Stuart wanted someone to narrate between the scenes to create a transition in a comedic but meaningful way. Scenes of the concert venue being set up are accompanied by the song Oh La De Da by the Staple Singers, and another Staples tune, We The People, backs scenes of the crowds entering the stadium.
The first song played in concert is the Star-Spangled Banner performed by Kim Weston whilst the audience sits. Jesse Jackson then encourages the audience to raise their right fists in the air whilst he recites his poem ‘I Am Somebody’. Kim Weston follows this up with a performance of the ‘Black National Anthem’, Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing. Whilst she sings the audience becomes more invigorated, and people stand and continue to raise their fists in the air. The scene is inter-cut with images from African-American history. Following this scene is a performance of Somebody Bigger Than You and I by Jimmy Jones.
A brief discussion about religion is followed by a performance of Lying On The Truth by the Gospel band The Rance Allen Group. This is inter-cut with shots of various churches around Watts. The song Peace Be Still is heard, and eventually seen performed by The Emotions in a local church. Next, the film briefly discusses Gospel music, and there is a performance of Old-Time Religion by The Stax Golden 13, composed of William Bell, Louise McCord, Debra Manning, Eric Mercury, Freddy Robinson, Lee Sain, Ernie Hines, Little Sonny, Eddie Floyd, the Newcomers, the Temprees, and Frederick Knight. After a brief interlude with Richard Pryor, Melvin Van Peebles introduces the Staple Singers, who play Respect Yourself in concert.
The Bar-Kays follow another montage commentary on African-American identity. The Bar-Kays saxophonist, Harvey ‘Joe’ Henderson speaks saying, ‘Freedom is a road seldom travelled by the multitude’ [a phrase later made famous when it was sampled by Public Enemy in Show 'Em Whatcha Got]. The Bar-Kays then play Son Of Shaft. This is followed by a montage of conversations about unemployment and crime in Watts. Following this is a brief performance of Albert King playing I'll Play The Blues For You which is quickly cut to another conversation with the people of Watts about Blues music and depression. An unusual piece of footage is shown of performance of Walking the Backstreet and Crying by Little Milton, presented in the style of a music video, with Milton lip-synching the song near a train station with a burning trash can next to it.
That segment is followed by Rufus Thomas talking about a character named ‘Jody’ as being someone who ‘is that fella, when you leave home at six o'clock, he's in that house at six-one’. This is followed by shots of various rich African-Americans exiting their expensive cars and wearing flamboyant clothing, whilst the song Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone by Johnnie Taylor is being performed in a night club. This is followed by a sketch with Richard Pryor discussing gambling. A montage of couples in Watts is shown whilst a discussion about dating and romance is heard, with I May Not Be What You Want performed by Mel and Tim in the background. The scene then changes to a performance of Picking Up The Pieces by Carla Thomas. During this song, several red, black and white balloons are released in the stadium. More conversations about gender roles and romance in the African-American society follow.
In the next segment, Rufus Thomas performs The Breakdown and Do The Funky Chicken. This is followed by another interlude with Pryor, and then a cover of If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don't Want To Be Right by Soul singer Luther Ingram. After the final interlude, Isaac Hayes enters the stadium to a large audience reaction. In the original version, MGM, the studio which had the rights to the songs Theme From Shaft and Soulsville, didn't allow the film makers to use the songs in the film, so the song Rolling Down A Mountainside was performed on a sound stage made to look like Wattstax at a later date. These songs are restored on Region 1 DVD release of the film. The camera pans out at the end of the stadium showing several people during the interludes in the film whilst the speech ‘I Am Somebody’ is being shouted again followed by Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing as the credits roll.
The only complaint I have here is Pryor and the comedic interludes. I think they have a place but this documentary is definitely not it. I love the brotha, don’t get me wrong. I just think there’s a time and place for everything, and that was out of place.
All content restrictions have been removed for your freedom to do whatever you wish.
Info for drive [F:\] (DVDFab Passkey 8.0.5.0)In an effort to make it more easy on everybody who downloads my images, I've decided to split archives which exceed the size of 5.00 GB in parts of 2.50 GB. This is one of those as the size is 5.65 GB in total. ALL parts must be successfully download to extract the ISO file. I hope you all appreciate this. It was a long time coming and those who followed my plans already know this. This is a classic, so if for whatever reason you are not familiar with one if not the greatest history of African music in the United States, please by all means download and watch this. Get a REAL education for once because they will not teach this in USA schools.
Vendor: DVDFab
Product: Virtual Drive
Revision: 1.1
Vendor specific:
Drive region control: RPC II
Drive region: 1
User changes left: 4
Vendor resets left: 4
Disc media: DVD
Disc type: DVD-Video
Disc region: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Volume name: WATTSTAX
Video standard: PAL
CSS (Content Scramble System) protection is not found.
RC (Region Code) protection is not found.
RCE (Region Code Enhancement) protection is not found.
APS (Analog Protection System) protection is not found.
UOPs (User Operation Prohibitions) protection is removed!
Invalid PTTs protection is not found.
Invalid PGCIs protection is not found.
Invalid PGCs protection is not found.
Invalid TMAPs protection is not found.
Invalid CELLs protection is removed!
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Fake vts protection is not found!
Bad sector protection is not found!
Structure protection (ARccOS, RipGuard, etc.) is not found.
PathPlayer is enabled!
Unplayable cell (vts:3 title pgc:2 cell:1) is removed!
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6 unplayable cells are removed!
Part 01: Click Here To Download (2560 MB)
Part 02: Click Here To Download (2560 MB)
Part 03: Click Here To Download (668.90 MB)
3 Deep: Sucka Free (EP) (CD) (1994)
Sunday 5 February 2012 at 1:31 pm
This EP differs in several ways from the ‘debut release’. Firstly, their voices don’t sound too similar. These females come off hella smooth whereas on the other CD their style was quicker and at times hard for me to understand. The singing continues and that’s what makes me think it’s the same group. I know lots of fools got their own style of production but whomever produced this really knew how to get down. The 1st thing you hear is a live wah-wah-like guitar and when the beat kicks in you hear guitar on the left channel and of course the bass on both. One thing I've never noticed befo' is the background vocal track if that is a voice at all. The raps on this cut aren't too R&B but this is the only exception. One of the sistas [the one who kicks her verse after the bridge] sounds comparable to Da Brat. Sucka Free isn’t quite R&B but if it had more singing it wouldn’t be too far from it. The one who jumps it off with verse 1 is the one who sounds like Da Brat. I really like that wah-wah guitar that is on the left channel and goes to the right. Each member has her own verse and you can hear the differences in their deliveries. For Da ‘94 is a fat dose of Bay Area G Funk which samples Atomic Dog. The bass line is simple with only 4 changes in notation. It shows they can come off fonky but also smooth on other tracks. Besides Sucka Free and Funk From The O this is my other recommendation. Slippin’ is nuthin’ special to me; it lacks somethin’ that’d make it stand on its own. If you want some real live instrumentation listen to Funk From The O. Stan ‘The Guitar Man’ is on that fly fly fonky guitar [there’re several guitar tracks if you notice]. The hook was sung and you can't have a good instrumentation without a voice to match. This definitely stands on its own lyrically and instrumentally.
The more I listen to this the more I question if it's the same group I posted earlier. The sound is much different and only a year has passed since the other one was released but of course it could still be the same group. I like this CD more than the other one 'cause it has better production in my opinion. If you like Bay Area rarities you'll definitely want this. Luckily, it contains both the vocal and instrumental of Sucka Free that just so happens to contain some type of sine wave synthesiser. That song was released as its own single.but I don't think it garnered much attention. By re-posting this I hope somebody has more information about this trio or has a better quality copy of this they can somehow send to me.
Track Listing:
01 3 Deep Got The Bomb (Feat. Philly Mo)
02 Sucka Free (Feat. Peebah)
03 For Da '94
04 Slippin'
05 Funk From The O (Feat. Clee Dogg)
06 Sucka Free (Instrumental)
Click Here To Download (26.48 MB)
The more I listen to this the more I question if it's the same group I posted earlier. The sound is much different and only a year has passed since the other one was released but of course it could still be the same group. I like this CD more than the other one 'cause it has better production in my opinion. If you like Bay Area rarities you'll definitely want this. Luckily, it contains both the vocal and instrumental of Sucka Free that just so happens to contain some type of sine wave synthesiser. That song was released as its own single.but I don't think it garnered much attention. By re-posting this I hope somebody has more information about this trio or has a better quality copy of this they can somehow send to me.
Track Listing:
01 3 Deep Got The Bomb (Feat. Philly Mo)
02 Sucka Free (Feat. Peebah)
03 For Da '94
04 Slippin'
05 Funk From The O (Feat. Clee Dogg)
06 Sucka Free (Instrumental)
Click Here To Download (26.48 MB)
3 Deep: 3 Deep Debut Release (CD) (1993)
at 12:52 pm
Besides not knowing from where this came this is sure to please just about everybody who likes smooth west coast R&B. It's a small but delectable slice of 1990s west coast R&B with sophisticated production. The instrumentation sounds hella live and for all I know it could be. Their delivery is somewhat foreshadowing of the female group II Tru that would come outta Cleveland in 1996. A key and very much likeable element of this group is the singing of hooks. I don't know if that person is a part of the group but if they are that's a versatile clique. I wish those vocals were in stereo. The 2 of the 4 cuts that make this R&B according to me are tracks 2 and 4. Gave You Everything has even mo' sophisticated production than Haters and Bustas. The sung ad-libs are perfect too. The lyrical content tells a story so listen to that. Everywhere we go has an OK beat but it sounds like hardly any instrumentation was played in contrast to Gave You Everything. When You Come Over is unquestionably the most R&B jawn. That bass line and piano coincide well with each other. I like the chord changes through the entire song. The singing is so reminiscent of 1990s R&B when a lot of R&B at that time had substance [of course you'd have to like some of that to agree]. The lyrical content got ‘get it on’ written all over it but the beat dictates that so it should be no surprise. This is my favourite song 'cause it sounds so dated. I put it on repeat if I just wanna kick it on tha laid back tip
I hope somebody can provide me some info on these three females from Oakland who call themselves 3 Deep. To tell you the truth they don't sound too much like the females on Sucka Free released the following year. One day I spent hours researching this group and came up with nuthin'. I know not a thang about these three Oakland, California homegirls but I do know this CD is certainly not circulating around the Internet. I don't even know if this is the actual title of this release or if it was released at all. That's why I'm askin' somebody out there – any of my visitors who happen to know somethin' about these homegirls, get at a brotha fo' real. I urge everybody to peep this Oakland dopeness. Their '94 release [assuming it's the same group] sounds a lot different and a bit more G Funk oriented even though it's still not true G Funk [as S.N.O.P. is]. If you plan to do any research regarding this release better you than me. Finally, I did include a high resolution cover so maybe that will give you a clue. If it does, say somethin' 'cause I don't know what tha hell it looks like or if it's even a legitimate one. By re-posting this I hope somebody has either more information or a better quality copy of this which they can send me somehow.
Track Listing:
01 Haters and Bustas
02 Gave You Everything
03 Everywhere We Go
04 When You Come Over
Click Here To Download (18.56 MB)
I hope somebody can provide me some info on these three females from Oakland who call themselves 3 Deep. To tell you the truth they don't sound too much like the females on Sucka Free released the following year. One day I spent hours researching this group and came up with nuthin'. I know not a thang about these three Oakland, California homegirls but I do know this CD is certainly not circulating around the Internet. I don't even know if this is the actual title of this release or if it was released at all. That's why I'm askin' somebody out there – any of my visitors who happen to know somethin' about these homegirls, get at a brotha fo' real. I urge everybody to peep this Oakland dopeness. Their '94 release [assuming it's the same group] sounds a lot different and a bit more G Funk oriented even though it's still not true G Funk [as S.N.O.P. is]. If you plan to do any research regarding this release better you than me. Finally, I did include a high resolution cover so maybe that will give you a clue. If it does, say somethin' 'cause I don't know what tha hell it looks like or if it's even a legitimate one. By re-posting this I hope somebody has either more information or a better quality copy of this which they can send me somehow.
Track Listing:
01 Haters and Bustas
02 Gave You Everything
03 Everywhere We Go
04 When You Come Over
Click Here To Download (18.56 MB)
Isaac Hayes: Live At Wattstax '72 (CD) (2003)
Saturday 4 February 2012 at 11:01 pm
To commemorate the 39th anniversary on which the documentary was released to Los Angeles cinemas, I am re-posting what I have of the live concert. The documentary will follow on 15 February which is the 39th anniversary on which it was released to cinemas in New York.
If you've read the review for the box set I've posted and read the track listing you'd notice whomever put that compilation together obviously doesn't appreciate the concert in its entirety. If they did, this entire CD amongst other acts would've been included. This is where the that 3 disc box set left off. We both know there was plenty more room for this and whatever else they precluded. I followed the same procedure as with the last set: auto-trimming the first and last tracks and improving continuity amongst the album as a whole. Before I go any further you should know all selections are previously unreleased [except #6 released on Wattstax: The Living Word].
Fortunately, I do have the high quality digital images which come out decent when scanned with my OCR software. Here is what the papers say that were packaged with the disc. Afterwards, I will give the track listing then the single download link.
Track Listing:
01 Theme From 'Shaft’ (Feat. Rev. Jesse Jackson)
02 Soulsville
03 Never Can Say Goodbye
04 Part-Time Love (Feat. Hot, Buttered and Soul)
05 Your Love Is So Doggone Good (Feat. Hot, Buttered and Soul)
06 Ain't No Sunshine/Lonely Avenue
07 I Stand Accused
08 If I Had A Hammer (Feat. Jimmy Jones and Rev. Jesse Jackson)
Click Here To Download (473.58 MB)
If you've read the review for the box set I've posted and read the track listing you'd notice whomever put that compilation together obviously doesn't appreciate the concert in its entirety. If they did, this entire CD amongst other acts would've been included. This is where the that 3 disc box set left off. We both know there was plenty more room for this and whatever else they precluded. I followed the same procedure as with the last set: auto-trimming the first and last tracks and improving continuity amongst the album as a whole. Before I go any further you should know all selections are previously unreleased [except #6 released on Wattstax: The Living Word].
Fortunately, I do have the high quality digital images which come out decent when scanned with my OCR software. Here is what the papers say that were packaged with the disc. Afterwards, I will give the track listing then the single download link.
On 20 August 1972, 112,000 African-Americans gathered at the Los Angeles Coliseum for an all-day concert featuring virtually every artist then signed to Stax. The event was billed as Wattstax. Seven years earlier, to the chant of ‘burn, baby, burn’, a sizable section of the Watts community had been destroyed by flames during the first of the 1960s' so-called ‘race riots’. To commemorate the Watts rebellion and to raise money for a variety of community needs, the Watts Summer Festival had been established. In early 1972 Stax had opened a West Coast office headed by 26-year-old Forest Hamilton. Recalling a comment made by Stax artist John KaSandra that it would be a good idea to mount a Black Woodstock, Hamilton suggested that perhaps Stax should stage a concert as part of the 1972 Watts Summer Festival. From Al Bell's perspective, Hamilton's idea could potentially serve a number of the company's agendas: [1] the event would be a perfect showcase for much of the Stax roster and, therefore, would hopefully stimulate greater sales for the company's artists on the West Coast; [2] the event could be filmed, thereby facilitating Stax's entry into the world of motion pictures [the film, of course, would eventually further promote the Stax artists featured in it]; and [3] Wattstax would be yet one more vehicle whereby Stax Records could be a responsible corporate citizen, making a contribution to the Black community at large on both a cultural and monetary level. With tickets set at $1 so that virtually anyone in the community could afford to attend and Schlitz Beer and Stax underwriting all production costs, Wattstax raised tens of thousands of dollars for the Watts Summer Festival, Martin Luther King Hospital, the Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation, and the Watts Labour Community Action Committee.
Held on a beautiful summer's day in August 1972, the Wattstax festival represented the pinnacle moment in the history of Memphis-based Stax Records. The concert itself consisted of the largest nonreligious or Civil Rights-orientated gathering of African-American people up to that point in history. The capacity audience spent seven hours peacefully celebrating all that was embodied in the music of Stax in an environment where the security was conspicuously all-Black and equally conspicuously unarmed. With Jesse Jackson leading the audience through his ‘I Am Somebody’ litany, Kim Weston singing both the Star-Spangled Banner and the Black National Anthem, ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’, Stax artists such as Carla Thomas and the Soul Children singing both gospel and secular material, and Rufus Thomas and Isaac Hayes performing at the height of their powers, Wattstax summed up the mood and tenor of Black america, clearly making manifest just how closely the music produced by Stax Records was in sync with the African-American community.
According to everyone who was a part of it, Wattstax was, indeed, a glorious event. The Los Angeles Rams had played an [American] football game the night before, forcing the construction of the stage into the wee hours of the morning. Nonetheless by mid-day Sunday all was ready. That morning Isaac Hayes, celebrating his 30th birthday, was the Grand Marshal in the Watts Festival Parade in which several other Stax artists also participated. By the 2:30 showtime, every one of the Coliseum's seats [the grass was off-limits to protect the football field] was filled.
Isaac Hayes did not take the stage until about 08:30. Over the course of the day those lucky enough to be inside the stadium had been entertained by mini-performances from the likes of Eddie Floyd, William Bell, Rufus Thomas, Albert King, the Soul Children, Jimmy Jones, Carla Thomas, the Staple Singers, and others. As soulful and nourishing as the afternoon's entertainment had been, for most of the audience the climactic point of the concert was a full hour-length performance by a man many simply referred to as Black Moses – Isaac Hayes.
If Wattstax represented the pinnacle of the Stax Records story, it was also arguably the peak point of Isaac Hayes's career. Nine years earlier he had found his way into Stax as the keyboard player in baritone sax player Floyd Newman's band. The session that produced Newman's solitary solo single also led to Hayes securing a regular session musician gig replacing Booker T. Jones, who was spending a large part of every year majoring in music at Indiana University. In 1965 Hayes started writing songs with lyricist David Porter. Over the next five years the dynamic duo of Hayes and Porter wrote and produced innumerable classic slabs of southern Soul including B-A-B-Y for Carla Thomas, I Had A Dream for Johnnie Taylor, The Sweeter He Is for the Soul Children, and Soul Man, Hold On! I'm Comin', When Something Is Wrong With My Baby, I Thank You, and Wrap It Up for Sam and Dave.
When Stax vice president and co-owner Al Bell decided in late 1968 that the company needed to develop an instant back catalogue, he asked for albums from every major Stax artist then signed to the label. He also provided the green light for a number of special album-length projects which included solo albums by Mavis Staples, Booker T. and The MGs guitarist Steve Cropper, and Isaac Hayes. Hayes recorded an album consisting of only four extended songs that was eventually entitled Hot Buttered Soul. A radical album by any definition, Hot Buttered Soul found Hayes ingeniously fusing Pop songs and a Soul-based rhythm section with classically-inspired orchestral accompaniments and Jazz-infused extended improvisations. To everyone's surprise, it became the biggest selling album up to that point in Stax's history, charting at or near the top of the R&B, Pop, Jazz, and Easy Listening charts. In the late 1960s, the seven-inch 45-RPM single was still the dominant medium for Black music, industry wisdom maintaining that Black consumers had neither the money nor the inclination to support the higher-priced album. The success of Hot Buttered Soul demonstrated unequivocally that, if presented with the right product, Black audiences would buy the more expensive album format by the truckload.
Within a year Hayes had commercially and aesthetically replicated the success of Hot Buttered Soul with The Isaac Hayes Movement and ...To Be Continued. In 1971, the seemingly irrepressible Hayes entered the stratosphere, writing and recording the soundtrack to Shaft, winning himself both Grammy and Academy Awards in the process. By year's end he had issued another stunning double album, this one entitled Black Moses.
At the time of Wattstax, Hayes was, alongside James Brown, the hottest artist in all of Black america.
As was his wont at this point in his career, Hayes's group, called the Movement, was a large ensemble consisting of three trumpets, five saxophones, two guitarists, two pianists, bass, percussion, and drums. The core group was accompanied by a small string orchestra hired in whatever city the band was gigging in and directed by Onzie Home, as well as dancers and the trio of female backing vocalists who had come to be known as Hot Buttered and Soul. In addition to singing lead, Hayes played keyboards and saxophone. At Wattstax, the Movement was joined for the first time by second guitarist Al McKay. A longtime friend of Forest Hamilton, McKay had just left Sammy Davis Jr. To try and help him get on his feet, Hamilton had asked Isaac to let the young musician sit in. McKay did well enough to hold down the gig for five or six months before he left to join an early version of Earth, Wind and Fire.
Whilst the Isaac Hayes Movement had played a handful of stadium shows up to this point in addition to their regular regimen of hockey and basketball arenas, the crowd at Wattstax had taken them aback. Trumpeter Nokie Taylor remembers being in absolute awe of the situation. ‘I walked out the entrance way on the track’, recalls Taylor, ‘and there were over 100,000 people there. That was scary. I got further out and I saw people to my left, people to my right, and people all behind me. It was dramatic. It was just breathtaking.’
‘It was extra, extra special’, agrees guitarist Skip Pitts. ‘We knew we were doing something to help build Watts back. At that time it was about the biggest thing I had ever done in my life. [There was a] giving and sharing there that I had never experienced before.’
By early evening, the audience was primed for Black Moses. As the sun set in the West and the various members of the Movement took their places, the crowd caught sight of Hayes being chauffeured to the rear of the stage. As Hayes disembarked from the station wagon, the excitement was more than palpable and the crowd just about lost it.
‘The response was heavy everywhere we played’, smiles Pitts. ‘Isaac was the shit and that's the truth. [But, at Wattstax] he killed it, man. The response was hell. They were off their feet! It was something, man. It was chaos, it really was. The way Jesse Jackson built it, it was just perfect!’
Jackson's buildup opens this CD in electrifying fashion. Standing at the centre of the stage he loudly intones, inflecting his speech with the imperative command of the best Black preachers, ‘The brother that all of us have been waiting for. . . a bad, bad brother, Isaac Hayes’.
Hayes opened up most of his shows in 1972 with an extended cover version of the Doors' Light My Fire whilst Theme From Shaft was generally held back until the end of the show. At Wattstax he decided to put his signature tune front and centre, opening with a super-charged version of Shaft that Skip Pitts describes as simply being on fire.
Oddly enough, the charts for Shaft and a number of other songs the band was scheduled to play had disappeared at some point before the show began. Fortunately, the members of the Movement had for some time served as guides or tutors for the orchestral players who were hired locally for each show. ‘I could play the strings parts, the second cello, whatever it was’, laughs Nokie Taylor. ‘I ate and slept that music. We rehearsed it all the time. Everywhere we go, before the show we had a rehearsal [with the orchestra]. So, we knew all the parts. That made it easier. The only thing that had to be done was transposing parts.’
Shaft was followed with another song from the movie entitled Soulsville. Sporting the most arresting melody in the whole score, this version of Soulsville is marked by an extended solo on alto sax played by Isaac himself. Isaac also takes an extended sax solo on the nearly 20-minute version of Bill Withers's Ain't No Sunshine. ‘That's the only reason we did it’, laughs Skip. ‘We did it to feature him on the horn.’ In both cases Hayes displays a harder edge to his tone that is not evident in the work of any of the other horn players.
Soulsville was followed by three songs from Black Moses, Never Can Say Goodbye, Part-Time Love, and Your Love Is So Doggone Good, Isaac closing his set with the aforementioned Ain't No Sunshine and his incendiary take on I Stand Accused from the Movement album. Unfortunately, the master tapes of the show, which have lingered untouched in the Stax vaults all these years, were missing Hayes's vocal on Part-Time Love. Consequently, it is heard here as a primarily instrumental track, featuring the background vocalists at every point that the chorus would normally return.
Highlights abound over the course of Hayes's nearly 60-minute set. Perhaps most notable is the 17-minute version of Ain't No Sunshine. Bill Withers had taken the song into the Top Ten of the R&B and Pop charts the previous summer. At the time of Wattstax, Hayes had yet to record it, so for the audience that day at the Los Angeles Coliseum, it was something of a surprise.
Fueled by pianist Sidney Kirk's Funk-infused piano, Hayes's otherworldly falsetto, and his extended alto sax solo [beginning around five-and-a-half minutes into the performance], Ain't No Sunshine becomes this gig's tour de force. Mid-way through his sax solo Hayes and the band briefly go into Ray Charles's Lonely Avenue. ‘We would change up different grooves in a song’, offers Pitts. ‘We might have come back and done something else at another time. We followed Isaac, wherever [he went]. That's how we got right into it. We just followed in. … Spontaneous shit!’
In 1973, Hayes included an 11 -minute version of Ain't No Sunshine on his Live At The Sahara Tahoe double-live album. Whilst very good, that version doesn't hold a candle to the elongated gem that Hayes and the Movement concocted at Wattstax.
Hayes's final number, I Stand Accused, is still the highlight of his shows, over 30 years later. Written and originally recorded by Jerry Butler in 1964, the song's cyclical, Gospel chord structure provides a framework that Hayes routinely turns into an emotion-laden high point of his sets. This version is somewhat undercut at the 06:20 mark as Hayes quiets down the band and introduces Reverend Jackson; as Jackson led 112,000 Black Angelenos in prayer, Hayes departed the stage. The Movement, though, remained to play behind Gospel singer Jimmy Jones, who brought Wattstax to a close with Pete Seeger's If I Had A Hammer.
Thirty years after the fact, the release on compact disc of Isaac Hayes's complete performance at Wattstax affords an opportunity to hear and re-hear one of the seminal moments in the history of Soul music.
Track Listing:
01 Theme From 'Shaft’ (Feat. Rev. Jesse Jackson)
02 Soulsville
03 Never Can Say Goodbye
04 Part-Time Love (Feat. Hot, Buttered and Soul)
05 Your Love Is So Doggone Good (Feat. Hot, Buttered and Soul)
06 Ain't No Sunshine/Lonely Avenue
07 I Stand Accused
08 If I Had A Hammer (Feat. Jimmy Jones and Rev. Jesse Jackson)
Click Here To Download (473.58 MB)
Various Artists: Music From The Wattstax Festival and Film (3x CD Box Set) (Compilation) (2003)
at 10:37 pm
To commemorate the 39th anniversary on which the documentary was released to Los Angeles cinemas, I am re-posting what I have of the live concert. The documentary will follow on 15 February which is the 39th anniversary on which it was released to cinemas in New York.
As I was thinking of what to write up for this first of three extra special posts I came across this rather informative customer review on Amazon. I have changed it slightly taking out all the first-person wording that does not apply to me. This review was for the 2007 USA pressing which has the same exact track listing, so the wording was also changed to reflect that this is not that particular 2007 USA pressing. This is a WAV multi-disc set. The only things I did were [1] auto-trim the first and last tracks on each disc and [2] maintained continuity by making sure the tracks start and end when they should. Here is the review, then following that is the link.
There is so much to love about Wattstax, from the music, the reasons surrounding the event itself, and most of all the Stax sound – pure Soul, pure R&B, pure Memphis. Soul and R&B music from the 1970s was never been fully recognised for what it was – as just as important as Jazz, Blues, or even Classical. This concert, put together as a form of not only musical protest of sorts remembering the Watts riots a few years earlier, but to showcase the sound that was pulsing through the streets of the inner cities nationwide at the time and show Black unity.
When it was released as a film almost a year later, the concert was chopped and edited down from the incredible almost 10-hour affair to an hour and a half for the screen, which is understandable as it not only got the message out further but still showed the power of Soul music. At the same time of the film's release, two two-record sets entitled Wattstax: The Living Word Parts 1 and 2 were released, giving the public almost 4 hours of the concert. A single album of the film was also put out entitled Wattstax: Highlights From The Soundtrack, further boiling it down to 2 sides reaching just under an hour, and it probably sold well too.
As time passed, the music was occasionally re-released in subsequent forms; it got more confusing to understand why. No fewer than 10 different releases of the Wattstax concert have been produced, with most of them ‘made in America’ with horribly abbreviated versions of the original songs themselves and a couple of non-USA CD pressings containing more music than all of the other USA pressings combined [although not in sequential order], but is still a find and highly prized amongst collectors.
Now here it is: 2003, approximately 30 years have gone by and the UK-based branch of the Stax label have re-released Music From The Wattstax Festival and Film, containing extra tracks never before heard, all remastered, and the sound is so crisp and the music so rich… However, Wattstax was a legendary all-day concert containing some of the best live Soul music ever recorded. It was almost 10 hours long [and you must keep in mind that almost every album included Richard Pryor joking and speaking from the heart, that in my opinion, horribly dates the time and distracts from the essence of the event].
Concord Records, who acquired the rights for the entire Stax masters after purchasing Fantasy Records are trying to do some good by re-releasing this in 2007. I understand that to release the ENTIRE CONCERT would be an expensive package for some, but for those same fans, we have wondered for many decades what it would sound like. If you look at the below track listing, it is repetitive, as it has been released on other smaller editions. Isaac Hayes' hour-long closing set has actually been released separately on CD [which will follow shortly], but I'm assuming the producers of this decided only one song was good enough to satisfy anyone who didn't know that not only did he close out the concert with a 5-minute entrance even BEFORE he began singing, but sang more songs than anyone there, and all we get is a highly edited 4-minute snippet of his live version of The Theme from Shaft? Shame on them.
As for the music, if anything, Concord Records did put together an impressive package of sound: the first disc includes many of the lesser known stars of Stax and that wonderful southern Soul sound, from the gospel of Deborah Manning and Little Sonny to the amazing voices of Lee Sain, Louise McCord & Lee Bell. The second disc includes many of the songs you probably have heard, such as The Bar-Kays and The Emotions, but now with the inclusion of David Porter's set, including the blistering Introduction, this will blow your speakers and stand your hair on end! The third disc is where the meat of the disc really lies, though, from the opening track of Little Milton's Open The Door To Your Heart, Mel and Tim's Motown tribute of sorts Backfield In Motion, a double-shot of two of the greatest Bluesmen who ever played it, Johnnie Taylor and Albert King, to the double-shotgun blast of both daughter Carla and father Rufus Thomas, and as you may have seen from the film, when Rufus proudly struts onto the stage in his hot pink shorts/vest/jacket/cape ensemble with white go-go boots, announces ‘Ain't am clean?’ and shouts to the band if they're ready, worthy of James Brown, you know The Breakdown Part 1 and Do The Funky Chicken is coming! The Soul Children give us their best Sam and Dave and then Isaac Hayes comes on very quickly, sings for three minutes… and that's it?
Remember, if you were to piece together the previous 4 or 5 CD releases [the non-USA pressings, USA pressings AND the Isaac Hayes live CD], you could probably form together at least almost 5 to 6 solid hours of music without this alone. However, the quality of sound presented here is top notch. It's too bad the set-up is awful. Why give us Isaac Hayes songs previously, and then take it away? Why give out more Albert King previously, and then omit them? If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don't Want To Be Right, by Luther Ingram – gone! why?
In conclusion: as for THE MUSIC, there's no fighting the clean sheer sound of the power behind Stax presented here [some for the first time], and you can feel it down to the soul! As for the packaging, sadly, this tripple-disc edition is still incomplete, and lacks ALL of the artists at the concert. These record companies better step it up a notch and put together a multi-disc version that includes EVERY SINGLE PERFORMANCE, from start to finish.
Woodstock has bootleg CDs with expanded versions of songs not heard on many of their official CDs, but there are no bootlegs of Wattstax. Concord Records is playing this one VERY close to the vest by ‘allowing’ us to spend a lot of money on some music some of us already have, and leaving out some music some of us already have as well. Maybe more will come out, who knows.
Wattstax to me is more important than Woodstock from a personal and cultural point of view, and even though many of the Stax stars presented here never reached the commercial heights benefiting from the exposure of Woodstock to the mainstream public such as Jimi Hendrix, Sly and The Family Stone or Santana, people need to know that this concert existed [in a more totally complete form] so it can also be appreciated for future generations, not just in pieces.
Track Listing:
1-01 Dale Warren and The Wattstax '72 Orchestra -- Salvation Symphony (Previously Unreleased)
1-02 Rev. Jesse Jackson -- Introduction
1-03 Kim Weston -- Lift Every Voice and Sing
1-04 The Staple Singers -- Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom-Boom) (Previously Unreleased)
1-05 The Staple Singers -- Are You Sure (Previously Unreleased)
1-06 The Staple Singers -- I Like The Things About Me
1-07 The Staple Singers -- Respect Yourself
1-08 The Staple Singers -- I'll Take You There
1-09 Deborah Manning -- Precious Lord, Take My Hand (Previously Unreleased)
1-10 Louise Mccord -- Better Get A Move On (Previously Unreleased)
1-11 Lee Sain -- Them Hot Pants (Previously Unreleased)
1-12 Little Sonny -- Wade In The Water (Previously Unreleased)
1-13 William Bell -- I Forgot To Be Your Lover (Previously Unreleased)
1-14 The Temprees -- Explain It To Her Mama (Previously Unreleased)
1-15 Frederick Knight -- I've Been Lonely (For So Long) (Previously Unreleased)
1-16 The Newcomers -- Pin The Tail On The Donkey (Previously Unreleased)
1-17 Eddie Floyd -- Knock On Wood
2-01 The Emotions -- Peace Be Still
2-02 The Golden -- Old Time Religion
2-03 The Rance Allen Group -- Lying On The Truth
2-04 The Rance Allen Group -- Up Above My Head (Previously Unreleased)
2-05 The Bar-Kays -- Son Of Shaft+Feel It
2-06 The Bar-Kays -- In The Hole (Previously Unreleased)
2-07 The Bar-Kays -- I Can't Turn You Loose
2-08 The David Porter Show -- Introduction
2-09 David Porter -- Ain't That Loving You (For More Reasons Than One)
2-10 David Porter -- Can't See You When I Want To
2-11 David Porter -- Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)
2-12 Richard Pryor -- Niggas
2-13 Richard Pryor -- Arrest/Lineup
2-14 The Emotions -- So I Can Love You
2-15 The Emotions -- Group Introduction/Show Me How
3-01 Little Milton -- Open The Door To Your Heart (Previously Unreleased)
3-02 Mel and Tim -- Backfield In Motion (Previously Unreleased)
3-03 Johnnie Taylor -- Steal Away
3-04 Albert King -- Killing Floor
3-05 Carla Thomas -- Pick Up The Pieces (Previously Unreleased)
3-06 Carla Thomas -- I Like What You're Doing (To Me)
3-07 Carla Thomas -- B-A-B-Y (Previously Unreleased)
3-08 Carla Thomas -- Gee Whiz (Look At His Eyes)
3-09 Carla Thomas -- I Have A God Who Loves
3-10 Rufus Thomas -- The Breakdown
3-11 Rufus Thomas -- Do The Funky Chicken
3-12 Rufus Thomas -- Do The Funky Penguin
3-13 The Soul Children Feat. Rev. Jesse Jackson -- I Don't Know What This World Is Coming To
3-14 The Soul Children -- Hearsay
3-15 Isaac Hayes Feat. Rev. Jesse Jackson -- Theme From Shaft
Click Here To Download (1735.20 MB)
As I was thinking of what to write up for this first of three extra special posts I came across this rather informative customer review on Amazon. I have changed it slightly taking out all the first-person wording that does not apply to me. This review was for the 2007 USA pressing which has the same exact track listing, so the wording was also changed to reflect that this is not that particular 2007 USA pressing. This is a WAV multi-disc set. The only things I did were [1] auto-trim the first and last tracks on each disc and [2] maintained continuity by making sure the tracks start and end when they should. Here is the review, then following that is the link.
There is so much to love about Wattstax, from the music, the reasons surrounding the event itself, and most of all the Stax sound – pure Soul, pure R&B, pure Memphis. Soul and R&B music from the 1970s was never been fully recognised for what it was – as just as important as Jazz, Blues, or even Classical. This concert, put together as a form of not only musical protest of sorts remembering the Watts riots a few years earlier, but to showcase the sound that was pulsing through the streets of the inner cities nationwide at the time and show Black unity.
When it was released as a film almost a year later, the concert was chopped and edited down from the incredible almost 10-hour affair to an hour and a half for the screen, which is understandable as it not only got the message out further but still showed the power of Soul music. At the same time of the film's release, two two-record sets entitled Wattstax: The Living Word Parts 1 and 2 were released, giving the public almost 4 hours of the concert. A single album of the film was also put out entitled Wattstax: Highlights From The Soundtrack, further boiling it down to 2 sides reaching just under an hour, and it probably sold well too.
As time passed, the music was occasionally re-released in subsequent forms; it got more confusing to understand why. No fewer than 10 different releases of the Wattstax concert have been produced, with most of them ‘made in America’ with horribly abbreviated versions of the original songs themselves and a couple of non-USA CD pressings containing more music than all of the other USA pressings combined [although not in sequential order], but is still a find and highly prized amongst collectors.
Now here it is: 2003, approximately 30 years have gone by and the UK-based branch of the Stax label have re-released Music From The Wattstax Festival and Film, containing extra tracks never before heard, all remastered, and the sound is so crisp and the music so rich… However, Wattstax was a legendary all-day concert containing some of the best live Soul music ever recorded. It was almost 10 hours long [and you must keep in mind that almost every album included Richard Pryor joking and speaking from the heart, that in my opinion, horribly dates the time and distracts from the essence of the event].
Concord Records, who acquired the rights for the entire Stax masters after purchasing Fantasy Records are trying to do some good by re-releasing this in 2007. I understand that to release the ENTIRE CONCERT would be an expensive package for some, but for those same fans, we have wondered for many decades what it would sound like. If you look at the below track listing, it is repetitive, as it has been released on other smaller editions. Isaac Hayes' hour-long closing set has actually been released separately on CD [which will follow shortly], but I'm assuming the producers of this decided only one song was good enough to satisfy anyone who didn't know that not only did he close out the concert with a 5-minute entrance even BEFORE he began singing, but sang more songs than anyone there, and all we get is a highly edited 4-minute snippet of his live version of The Theme from Shaft? Shame on them.
As for the music, if anything, Concord Records did put together an impressive package of sound: the first disc includes many of the lesser known stars of Stax and that wonderful southern Soul sound, from the gospel of Deborah Manning and Little Sonny to the amazing voices of Lee Sain, Louise McCord & Lee Bell. The second disc includes many of the songs you probably have heard, such as The Bar-Kays and The Emotions, but now with the inclusion of David Porter's set, including the blistering Introduction, this will blow your speakers and stand your hair on end! The third disc is where the meat of the disc really lies, though, from the opening track of Little Milton's Open The Door To Your Heart, Mel and Tim's Motown tribute of sorts Backfield In Motion, a double-shot of two of the greatest Bluesmen who ever played it, Johnnie Taylor and Albert King, to the double-shotgun blast of both daughter Carla and father Rufus Thomas, and as you may have seen from the film, when Rufus proudly struts onto the stage in his hot pink shorts/vest/jacket/cape ensemble with white go-go boots, announces ‘Ain't am clean?’ and shouts to the band if they're ready, worthy of James Brown, you know The Breakdown Part 1 and Do The Funky Chicken is coming! The Soul Children give us their best Sam and Dave and then Isaac Hayes comes on very quickly, sings for three minutes… and that's it?
Remember, if you were to piece together the previous 4 or 5 CD releases [the non-USA pressings, USA pressings AND the Isaac Hayes live CD], you could probably form together at least almost 5 to 6 solid hours of music without this alone. However, the quality of sound presented here is top notch. It's too bad the set-up is awful. Why give us Isaac Hayes songs previously, and then take it away? Why give out more Albert King previously, and then omit them? If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don't Want To Be Right, by Luther Ingram – gone! why?
In conclusion: as for THE MUSIC, there's no fighting the clean sheer sound of the power behind Stax presented here [some for the first time], and you can feel it down to the soul! As for the packaging, sadly, this tripple-disc edition is still incomplete, and lacks ALL of the artists at the concert. These record companies better step it up a notch and put together a multi-disc version that includes EVERY SINGLE PERFORMANCE, from start to finish.
Woodstock has bootleg CDs with expanded versions of songs not heard on many of their official CDs, but there are no bootlegs of Wattstax. Concord Records is playing this one VERY close to the vest by ‘allowing’ us to spend a lot of money on some music some of us already have, and leaving out some music some of us already have as well. Maybe more will come out, who knows.
Wattstax to me is more important than Woodstock from a personal and cultural point of view, and even though many of the Stax stars presented here never reached the commercial heights benefiting from the exposure of Woodstock to the mainstream public such as Jimi Hendrix, Sly and The Family Stone or Santana, people need to know that this concert existed [in a more totally complete form] so it can also be appreciated for future generations, not just in pieces.
Track Listing:
1-01 Dale Warren and The Wattstax '72 Orchestra -- Salvation Symphony (Previously Unreleased)
1-02 Rev. Jesse Jackson -- Introduction
1-03 Kim Weston -- Lift Every Voice and Sing
1-04 The Staple Singers -- Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom-Boom) (Previously Unreleased)
1-05 The Staple Singers -- Are You Sure (Previously Unreleased)
1-06 The Staple Singers -- I Like The Things About Me
1-07 The Staple Singers -- Respect Yourself
1-08 The Staple Singers -- I'll Take You There
1-09 Deborah Manning -- Precious Lord, Take My Hand (Previously Unreleased)
1-10 Louise Mccord -- Better Get A Move On (Previously Unreleased)
1-11 Lee Sain -- Them Hot Pants (Previously Unreleased)
1-12 Little Sonny -- Wade In The Water (Previously Unreleased)
1-13 William Bell -- I Forgot To Be Your Lover (Previously Unreleased)
1-14 The Temprees -- Explain It To Her Mama (Previously Unreleased)
1-15 Frederick Knight -- I've Been Lonely (For So Long) (Previously Unreleased)
1-16 The Newcomers -- Pin The Tail On The Donkey (Previously Unreleased)
1-17 Eddie Floyd -- Knock On Wood
2-01 The Emotions -- Peace Be Still
2-02 The Golden -- Old Time Religion
2-03 The Rance Allen Group -- Lying On The Truth
2-04 The Rance Allen Group -- Up Above My Head (Previously Unreleased)
2-05 The Bar-Kays -- Son Of Shaft+Feel It
2-06 The Bar-Kays -- In The Hole (Previously Unreleased)
2-07 The Bar-Kays -- I Can't Turn You Loose
2-08 The David Porter Show -- Introduction
2-09 David Porter -- Ain't That Loving You (For More Reasons Than One)
2-10 David Porter -- Can't See You When I Want To
2-11 David Porter -- Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)
2-12 Richard Pryor -- Niggas
2-13 Richard Pryor -- Arrest/Lineup
2-14 The Emotions -- So I Can Love You
2-15 The Emotions -- Group Introduction/Show Me How
3-01 Little Milton -- Open The Door To Your Heart (Previously Unreleased)
3-02 Mel and Tim -- Backfield In Motion (Previously Unreleased)
3-03 Johnnie Taylor -- Steal Away
3-04 Albert King -- Killing Floor
3-05 Carla Thomas -- Pick Up The Pieces (Previously Unreleased)
3-06 Carla Thomas -- I Like What You're Doing (To Me)
3-07 Carla Thomas -- B-A-B-Y (Previously Unreleased)
3-08 Carla Thomas -- Gee Whiz (Look At His Eyes)
3-09 Carla Thomas -- I Have A God Who Loves
3-10 Rufus Thomas -- The Breakdown
3-11 Rufus Thomas -- Do The Funky Chicken
3-12 Rufus Thomas -- Do The Funky Penguin
3-13 The Soul Children Feat. Rev. Jesse Jackson -- I Don't Know What This World Is Coming To
3-14 The Soul Children -- Hearsay
3-15 Isaac Hayes Feat. Rev. Jesse Jackson -- Theme From Shaft
Click Here To Download (1735.20 MB)
Snoop Doggy Dogg: Murder Was The Case: The Movie (2001 DVD Reissue) (1995)
Monday 30 January 2012 at 11:06 am
This is the DVD disc that was issued 6 years after the original issue of the VHS. A VHS was also reissued the same year. I'm naturally inexperienced in regards to navigating DVD and questioned if there was somethin' technically wrong with this. The DVD has 1 title and 22 chapters [think of a chapter as a section of a title; in this case the title is divided in 22 sections]. I learnt the 00:56:46 documentary begins on chapter 4 but hopefully you can figure out it mo' easily than I did.
The most obvious difference between the uploaded VHS is this is in stereo. It should've been LPCM but of course it's not gonna be lossless so we'll all have to settle for AC3. The unknown beat I mentioned hours ago begins on chapter 4. The music videos of Who Am I? (What's My Name?) opens chapter 5, Gin and Juice opens chapter 6, Doggy Dogg World opens chapter 8 and Natural Born Killaz opens chapter 13. It's really nice for me to hear those skits and added sound effects in stereo. Don't you dig Dre's additional synthesiser on Gin and Juice before Snoop kicks verse 1? The rare footage featuring Tha Dogg Pound begins not too far in chapter 7. When the Gin and Juice instrumental comes on after that simple drum beat [they rap G'z and Hustlas] is when he kicks that short freestyle I think I remember hearing on The Lost Sessions. Later in the same chapter is an excerpt of him performing Lodi Dodi backed with what sounds like a live band. It fades out much too soon. At the time frame of 00:28:30 is when an interviewer asks Snoop about what he dreams and that marks the 1st mention of Murder Was The Case. Chapter 9 opens with the actual movie but it's so short it closes out chapter 11. If you don't wanna see the interviews or music videos just skip to chapter 9. I love how that girl fades him in front of his homies! Sam Sneed makes a cameo appearance but don't blink 'cause it's that small. The 1st mysterious beat starts at 05:10 and the 2nd starts about 60 seconds later. I can't see a thang but it doesn't take a sighted gee to know these muthafuckas come with some HEAVY artillery. Put this up in ya theatre system and let that virtual surround sound put you in the middle of the rat-tat-tat-tat. That part jumps off chapter 10. That's one clear advantage of downloading this DVD: sound in more than one channel.
Chapter 16 contains the music video of Natural Born Killaz. I don't know what the purpose is. It's already been included in the feature presentation. You know it's a reissue when you get to chapter 17. That version of the song didn't exist till the year 2000; it was released on Dead Man Walkin' but it's not the original version. Chapter 18 contains the music video of Midnight Love which wasn't thought of at the time of February 1995. Chapter 19 contains yet another copy of the Murder Was The Case movie. To be exact it is 00:15:57 in duration. I can't discern this extra and original but it's nice to be able to access it without goin' through the VHS content.
This can't be found anywhere online unless you purchase it. Upon examination of the one I had there was no content restrictions to remove. This is the entire DVD image; it has not been split. Gettin' a premium account to download all these disc will sho' nuff make it complete faster but you'll still be able to download it. Get the VHS for nostalgia and get this for the multi-dimentional sound.
Click Here To Download (3605.70 MB)
The most obvious difference between the uploaded VHS is this is in stereo. It should've been LPCM but of course it's not gonna be lossless so we'll all have to settle for AC3. The unknown beat I mentioned hours ago begins on chapter 4. The music videos of Who Am I? (What's My Name?) opens chapter 5, Gin and Juice opens chapter 6, Doggy Dogg World opens chapter 8 and Natural Born Killaz opens chapter 13. It's really nice for me to hear those skits and added sound effects in stereo. Don't you dig Dre's additional synthesiser on Gin and Juice before Snoop kicks verse 1? The rare footage featuring Tha Dogg Pound begins not too far in chapter 7. When the Gin and Juice instrumental comes on after that simple drum beat [they rap G'z and Hustlas] is when he kicks that short freestyle I think I remember hearing on The Lost Sessions. Later in the same chapter is an excerpt of him performing Lodi Dodi backed with what sounds like a live band. It fades out much too soon. At the time frame of 00:28:30 is when an interviewer asks Snoop about what he dreams and that marks the 1st mention of Murder Was The Case. Chapter 9 opens with the actual movie but it's so short it closes out chapter 11. If you don't wanna see the interviews or music videos just skip to chapter 9. I love how that girl fades him in front of his homies! Sam Sneed makes a cameo appearance but don't blink 'cause it's that small. The 1st mysterious beat starts at 05:10 and the 2nd starts about 60 seconds later. I can't see a thang but it doesn't take a sighted gee to know these muthafuckas come with some HEAVY artillery. Put this up in ya theatre system and let that virtual surround sound put you in the middle of the rat-tat-tat-tat. That part jumps off chapter 10. That's one clear advantage of downloading this DVD: sound in more than one channel.
Chapter 16 contains the music video of Natural Born Killaz. I don't know what the purpose is. It's already been included in the feature presentation. You know it's a reissue when you get to chapter 17. That version of the song didn't exist till the year 2000; it was released on Dead Man Walkin' but it's not the original version. Chapter 18 contains the music video of Midnight Love which wasn't thought of at the time of February 1995. Chapter 19 contains yet another copy of the Murder Was The Case movie. To be exact it is 00:15:57 in duration. I can't discern this extra and original but it's nice to be able to access it without goin' through the VHS content.
This can't be found anywhere online unless you purchase it. Upon examination of the one I had there was no content restrictions to remove. This is the entire DVD image; it has not been split. Gettin' a premium account to download all these disc will sho' nuff make it complete faster but you'll still be able to download it. Get the VHS for nostalgia and get this for the multi-dimentional sound.
Click Here To Download (3605.70 MB)
Snoop Doggy Dogg: Murder Was The Case: The Movie (3rd Generation VHS Transfer) (1995)
at 7:43 am
Everybody talks about this and that in interviews but nobody talks about a short film made in late 1994 to be released in early February of 1995. They talk about the soundtrack but what about the movie? This is that movie: Murder Was The Case. Surrounded by interview clips and 4 full-length music videos this 16-minute movie is based offa dream Snoop had. The very basic synopsis is after a gang of fools killed him he tries to bargain with the devil to live. Unfortunately there's not much that leads up to it 'cause he dies within the 1st 10 minutes. They could've made it at least 5 minutes longer but it's all good. I don't know who any of these actors are but for a project like this I don't think trained professionals are necessary.
The movie itself starts around 00:29:45 and ends around 00:45:45. Not long after is the music video of Natural Born Killaz. The whole thing begins with some interview and live performance clips with music videos throughout in the exact order of [1] Who Am I? (What's My Name?), [2] Gin and Juice, [3] Doggy Dogg World. To those not up on the Funk pay attention to the beginning of Doggy Dogg World and learn a lil' somethin'. There is a live concert clip in particular that people need to listen to 'cause Snoop says a rhyme that never officially got released till the Lost Sessions compilation of 2009. It may or may not be the same excerpt but I thought I heard Daz somewhere close to that. Any footage with Tha Dogg Pound before 1995 is worth watchin'. The 1st show you'll see is with Dre when they do Nuthin' But A ‘G’ Thang. Before that though is some unknown beat. Does anybody know if it was ever used possibly for somethin' still unreleased? Precluding Murder Was The Case, Indo Smoke and all the background songs in the movie itself I think 2 other beats were used. One is fast and one is slow; I like the slowwer of them. I don't know a thang about these either.
This is a 3rd generation VHS rip I received in 2009. The DVD reissue 6 years later doesn't have too much more but the sound is a little more clear. The file is a .VOB [video object] and can be played in any media player. I have the DVD comin' soon but peep game if you haven't already. If anybody has the original 1995 issue in like new condition who has the ability to digitise this in the highest audio and video quality possible I'll replace this if you think yours looks and sounds better.
Click Here To Download (1048.80 MB)
The movie itself starts around 00:29:45 and ends around 00:45:45. Not long after is the music video of Natural Born Killaz. The whole thing begins with some interview and live performance clips with music videos throughout in the exact order of [1] Who Am I? (What's My Name?), [2] Gin and Juice, [3] Doggy Dogg World. To those not up on the Funk pay attention to the beginning of Doggy Dogg World and learn a lil' somethin'. There is a live concert clip in particular that people need to listen to 'cause Snoop says a rhyme that never officially got released till the Lost Sessions compilation of 2009. It may or may not be the same excerpt but I thought I heard Daz somewhere close to that. Any footage with Tha Dogg Pound before 1995 is worth watchin'. The 1st show you'll see is with Dre when they do Nuthin' But A ‘G’ Thang. Before that though is some unknown beat. Does anybody know if it was ever used possibly for somethin' still unreleased? Precluding Murder Was The Case, Indo Smoke and all the background songs in the movie itself I think 2 other beats were used. One is fast and one is slow; I like the slowwer of them. I don't know a thang about these either.
This is a 3rd generation VHS rip I received in 2009. The DVD reissue 6 years later doesn't have too much more but the sound is a little more clear. The file is a .VOB [video object] and can be played in any media player. I have the DVD comin' soon but peep game if you haven't already. If anybody has the original 1995 issue in like new condition who has the ability to digitise this in the highest audio and video quality possible I'll replace this if you think yours looks and sounds better.
Click Here To Download (1048.80 MB)
N.W.A.: Niggaz4Life: The Only Home Video (2002 DVD Reissue) (1992)
Sunday 29 January 2012 at 3:53 pm
Way back when, I brought to you all a low quality VHS rip of N.W.A.'s only home video which I no longer have [if anybody gotta .vob VHS transfer holla if ya hear me]. This particular copy is disc 02 of the Niggaz4Life reissue. There were 2 rereleases: one with the DVD and one without. To increase sales the DVD was reissued on 18 February 2003, Dr. Dre's 38th birthday. This DVD contains the approximate 60-minute documentary which is one of the last times the group is seen together before they split. The sound of this is noticeably better than the VHS issue from 10 years prior and something tells me the picture may be as well. This is a very rare find online. You will not find the full 3.75 GB DVD anywhere unless you purchase it.
There are no content restrictions on this DVD whatsoever; I removed them before I created the image using a very trusted program. Read on if you think I'm fakin' the funk.
Click Here To Download (4042.10 MB)
There are no content restrictions on this DVD whatsoever; I removed them before I created the image using a very trusted program. Read on if you think I'm fakin' the funk.
Info for drive [F:\] (DVDFab Passkey 8.0.4.9)This is the full DVD image; it has not been split. You should be able to download it regardless if you registered an account or not but doing so and upgrading to premium will sho' nuff make it finish faster. I hope you all enjoy this as much as I do. I have future plans to upload the extremely informative Death Row documentary entitled ‘Welcome To Death Row - It Started In Compton. It Ended In Infamy.’. However, this is in the future so don't expect that full DVD any time soon.
Vendor: DVDFab
Product: Virtual Drive
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Disc media: DVD
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Volume name: DVD_VIDEO
Video standard: NTSC
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Click Here To Download (4042.10 MB)
Mista Grimm: Steady Dippen (Promo 12") (1995)
at 10:49 am
His real name is Henrik Milling and he's originally from ‘tha land of tha deathly freezin'’, or more correctly Denmark. He and Madness 4 Real along with M4R's take-over-L.A. fucked-up-in-the-head, jackin'-fools'-ends manager went to the USA in 1992 and made their everlasting mark on the G Funk sound. I love Doctor Jam's production. It's so unique and so original. To this day you can't fade anything he produced for anybody in Cali. Mista Grimm I think was one of his final projects before he left and returned to his homeland. Mista Grimm recorded an entire LP as I'm sure you know with this being one of the tracks. It remains shelved today and is one of those albums that so desperately needs to be released – more so than the LBC jawn the corrupted WIDEawake released last year. The first thing I gotta mention is the uncredited vocals. They're not present on anything besides this song and that's a shame 'cause they sound real good. They sound like an west coast R&B group. Mista Grimm continues with is well-crafted word play but because this is much more laid back I like it much more. He laid down his vocals 2 times as you can clearly hear. The best part about the lyrics are all instances of the hook. I don't know if any instruments were played but it sho' sounds like the bass and other guitar was. Listen to that guitar and how it pops then changes in frequency. It almost doesn't sound like a guitar. Whatever effect they put on that is damn fonky! At the moment I can't think of any G Funk record besides this with guitar that sounds just like that. The synthesiser you hear on the right channel isn't your typical sine wave synth; it has somewhat a lower tone. All this plus everything I didn't talk about is all thanks to Doctor Jam's production.
The only place you'll find B2 and B3 legitimately is on this single. This was also included on Things Are Looking Grimm and is one of Bobcat's best works to date. The beat is on point and I like how all things were mixed. The radio version is even more scarce considering it wasn't included on his full-length LP. To make it better Grimm's verses and hook was re-recorded as not to ruin the track with silences. Bobcat was lazy, however, so don't expect total perfection. This was edited from a wax-to-WAV transfer.
Track Listing:
A1 Steady Dippen (Album Version)
A2 Steady Dippen (Clean Radio Edit)
A3 Steady Dippen (A cappella)
B1 Steady Dippen (Instrumental)
B2 Da Whole 9 (Album Version) (Feat. Bobby ‘Bobcat’ Ervin)
B3 Da Whole 9 (Radio Version) (Feat. Bobby ‘Bobcat’ Ervin)
Click Here To Download (26.60 MB)
The only place you'll find B2 and B3 legitimately is on this single. This was also included on Things Are Looking Grimm and is one of Bobcat's best works to date. The beat is on point and I like how all things were mixed. The radio version is even more scarce considering it wasn't included on his full-length LP. To make it better Grimm's verses and hook was re-recorded as not to ruin the track with silences. Bobcat was lazy, however, so don't expect total perfection. This was edited from a wax-to-WAV transfer.
Track Listing:
A1 Steady Dippen (Album Version)
A2 Steady Dippen (Clean Radio Edit)
A3 Steady Dippen (A cappella)
B1 Steady Dippen (Instrumental)
B2 Da Whole 9 (Album Version) (Feat. Bobby ‘Bobcat’ Ervin)
B3 Da Whole 9 (Radio Version) (Feat. Bobby ‘Bobcat’ Ervin)
Click Here To Download (26.60 MB)
Mista Grimm: Situation Grimm (Promo 12") (1994)
at 9:28 am
I forgot I had this and the following single uploaded to MegaUpload before everything was wrongfully seized. I know others like this song more than I do 'cause I really don't like it too much at all. To me it's well-crafted word play with a soulful hook. Indo Smoke had some type of subject matter but he's all over the English language map with this. I also don't like how Val Young's vocals echo to the right. The guitar does all through and that's enough for me. There's just too much goin' on at once. The only good thing about everything is the live bass guitar. B2 has a completely different beat that's a little more simple. This version too features unknown vocals [whose are they?]. I'd like it more if he recorded entirely different verses for it but I still have the bass guitar although not as potent. The next single I have is mo' better than this I think. This was edited from a wax-to-WAV transfer.
Track Listing:
A1 Situation Grimm (Album Version) (Feat. Val Young)
A2 Situation Grimm (Clean Version) (Feat. Val Young)
B1 Situation Grimm (Instrumental)
B2 Situation Grimm (Street Mix) (Feat. Val Young)
Click Here To Download (16.00 MB)
Track Listing:
A1 Situation Grimm (Album Version) (Feat. Val Young)
A2 Situation Grimm (Clean Version) (Feat. Val Young)
B1 Situation Grimm (Instrumental)
B2 Situation Grimm (Street Mix) (Feat. Val Young)
Click Here To Download (16.00 MB)
Twinz: Eastside LB (Cardboard Sleeve CD Single) (1995)
Saturday 28 January 2012 at 5:08 pm
As I was recently listening to Conversation on factory-pressed CD in my portable CD player I realised just how ingenius it really is. Put aside the vibe and the vocals and focus on the instrumentals, more specifically the live instruments on select few songs. Not all them are based on Warren's choice of keyboard-constructed bass; at least 4 have live bass guitar including this one. I've already explained Jump Ta This. Listen to the instrumental of Eastside LB and see if you can break it down. There are at least 2 guitar tracks, one being bass. There's obviously drum programming and finger-snapping with a bit of added reverb plus a synthesiser. Keep listening and you'll notice something that makes you almost wanna call it laid back Funk. I almost never hear horns on a G Funk track and regardless if they were in fact recorded live they sound damn good on this instrumental. I'm confident there were 2 horn tracks as well. If you wonder why you haven't heard the horns before it's cause they fucked up by not including those on the LP version. The special inclusion of horns should make any true-to-life G Funk fan wanna download this with no second thoughts. This was edited from losslessly compressed files.
Track Listing:
01 Eastside LB (LP Version) (Feat. Tracey Nelson and Warren G)
02 Eastside LB (Instrumental)
03 Jump Ta This (LP Version)
Click Here To Download (10.20 MB)
Track Listing:
01 Eastside LB (LP Version) (Feat. Tracey Nelson and Warren G)
02 Eastside LB (Instrumental)
03 Jump Ta This (LP Version)
Click Here To Download (10.20 MB)
Twinz: Jump Ta This (Promo 12") (1995)
at 4:43 pm
You can't not know when Warren G produced something. This is him at his best. Nobody can fuck with keyboards like he can and mix like he can. That wah-wah pedal gets me right every time I hear it on that guitar and it wasn't till I heard this particular vinyl copy I noticed a few piano notes. The synths, drum programming and claps are OK but that guitar [though not played by Warren G] makes the instrumental what it is to me. The drawback of this is the radio edit simply has muted vocals instead of alternatives like Warren G did for his album. I'd hate to hear the censored version of Conversation. This was edited from a wax-to-WAV transfer. If there was more to this I'd have more to say.
Track Listing:
A Jump Ta This (Radio Edit)
B1 Jump Ta This (Instrumental)
B2 Jump Ta This (A cappella)
Click Here To Download (9.20 MB)
Track Listing:
A Jump Ta This (Radio Edit)
B1 Jump Ta This (Instrumental)
B2 Jump Ta This (A cappella)
Click Here To Download (9.20 MB)
MC Ren: Shock Of The Hour (LP) (1993)
at 10:51 am
This has to be one of the most meaningful and substance-filled albums ever released on Ruthless Records. As much as I'd love to hear all the Life Sentence material I love this album for its content. MC Ren wasn't fuckin' around after N.W.A. split and went their separate ways. The production doesn't coincide with what was the norm for Ruthless either. That's probably because there were a few people who if you look at the credits don't appear on anything other than this album, Doctor Jam and Madness 4 Real being the exceptions. I've always had much love for all those Danes' production during their tenure in the USA. It remains unsurpassed in uniqueness to this day. The A-Side is just as dope as the B-Side; you can't fade Same Old Shit, Fuck What Ya Heard or You Wanna Fuck Her. Different people play different instruments and if anybody knows who these people are it'd be useful to know. I already know who Mike ‘Crazy Neck’ Sims is – we all do. You Wanna Fuck Her showcases his talent on the guitar [there had to be 2 separate guitar tracks] plus whomever's on the piano.
The B-Side takes on an entirely different tone and is the one I like best for its meaning. The reason Ren scrapped Life Sentence [the A-Side was originally recorded for it] was 'cause he converted to The Nation Of Islam. This side is coded with his newly-founded ideologies and perspectives of the USA and its European settlers. I'm not gonna say if I agree, disagree or if he's either right or wrong; I'll leave that for you to think about. If you've downloaded the Forget What Ya Heard 12" Mayday On The Frontline won't be anything surprising and if you didn't make a request and I'll re-upload it for you if you want it. Rhythm D's production is almost instantly recognisable from Paperboy to Steffon to his collaborations with Eazy. Attack On Babylon is probably the most unrecognisable track he's ever produced. If he didn't do the hook I would've never known. This is 1 of the 3 cuts for which was recorded 2 vocal tracks with different tones. The background track is less audible but that's why it might sound like there's another person layin' in the cut. It's undoubtedly my favourite on this side alongside Do You Believe? and Shock Of The Hour. These have potent messages that deserve to be heard and are the 3 reasons to download this. The bass played on Shock Of The Hour just calls for change. Play this today and people might say it's a foreshadowing of what's to come. Ruthless Records as a whole never had another LP quite like this. It's one thing listenin' to the CD but listen to this and the wax fiends won't go back. It was edited from a wax-to-WAV transfer and isn't available anywhere else online.
Track Listing:
A1 11:55 (Feat. Laywiy)
A2 Same Old Shit (Feat. Badd Newz)
A3 Fuck What Ya Heard
A4 All Bullshit Aside
A5 One False Move (Feat. Da Konvicted Felon; Dollar Bill; Don Jaguar)
A6 You Wanna Fuck Her
B1 Mayday On The Frontline
B2 Attack On Babylon (Feat. Rhythm D)
B3 Do You Believe?
B4 Mr Fuck Up (Feat. Jermaine ‘Juvenile’ Patterson; J-Rocc; The Whole Click)
B5 Shock Of The Hour (Feat. Kam and Laywiy)
Click Here To Download (43.00 MB)
The B-Side takes on an entirely different tone and is the one I like best for its meaning. The reason Ren scrapped Life Sentence [the A-Side was originally recorded for it] was 'cause he converted to The Nation Of Islam. This side is coded with his newly-founded ideologies and perspectives of the USA and its European settlers. I'm not gonna say if I agree, disagree or if he's either right or wrong; I'll leave that for you to think about. If you've downloaded the Forget What Ya Heard 12" Mayday On The Frontline won't be anything surprising and if you didn't make a request and I'll re-upload it for you if you want it. Rhythm D's production is almost instantly recognisable from Paperboy to Steffon to his collaborations with Eazy. Attack On Babylon is probably the most unrecognisable track he's ever produced. If he didn't do the hook I would've never known. This is 1 of the 3 cuts for which was recorded 2 vocal tracks with different tones. The background track is less audible but that's why it might sound like there's another person layin' in the cut. It's undoubtedly my favourite on this side alongside Do You Believe? and Shock Of The Hour. These have potent messages that deserve to be heard and are the 3 reasons to download this. The bass played on Shock Of The Hour just calls for change. Play this today and people might say it's a foreshadowing of what's to come. Ruthless Records as a whole never had another LP quite like this. It's one thing listenin' to the CD but listen to this and the wax fiends won't go back. It was edited from a wax-to-WAV transfer and isn't available anywhere else online.
Track Listing:
A1 11:55 (Feat. Laywiy)
A2 Same Old Shit (Feat. Badd Newz)
A3 Fuck What Ya Heard
A4 All Bullshit Aside
A5 One False Move (Feat. Da Konvicted Felon; Dollar Bill; Don Jaguar)
A6 You Wanna Fuck Her
B1 Mayday On The Frontline
B2 Attack On Babylon (Feat. Rhythm D)
B3 Do You Believe?
B4 Mr Fuck Up (Feat. Jermaine ‘Juvenile’ Patterson; J-Rocc; The Whole Click)
B5 Shock Of The Hour (Feat. Kam and Laywiy)
Click Here To Download (43.00 MB)
Above The Law: Call It What U Want (Test Pressing White Label 12") (1992)
at 10:10 am
This is an extremely rare Above The Law vinyl. Not only is it not on any label it is a test pressing 12". Back in the day Specialty Records Corporation used to be one of the largest manufacturers/pressing plants in the world and that's who was responsible for this. Specialty Records Corporation is NOT a record label; don't get it twisted with the label Specialty Records. It was released on 23 April 1992 which was probably the date before the actual 12" went out. That would make sense considering this is a Test Pressing instead of the commercial release. That was just a few months short of 1 year before Black Mafia Life was released on compact disc and not even a year after Vocally Pimpin'.
The selections are the same as the actual 12" I posted a while back but of course the analogue sound varies from vinyl to vinyl. Considering this came from my homeboy's system you should know you'll hear things you've never heard befo'. As much as I dig the album version I dislike it a lot more than I ever have. Listen to the radio edit then listen to the album version on this particular copy. Besides the difference in equalisation [did the mastering engineers boost the top end of the radio edit befo' it was pressed?], the album version has somewhat a claustrophobic feel to it when compared to the radio version. Conversely, the radio version was mixed and mastered beautifully. The guitar, tambourine and the samples used to provide the rest of the beat are all nicely distributed across the channels not to mention everybody's vocals. I don't know what that weird noise is on the right channel but it's more noticeable than ever. As a testament to how good the radio version was mastered there's just enough reverb to the right. It's not easily heard on the album version 'cause it was mixed differently; they really fucked up on that. Both instrumentals sound the same and have even more channel separation. There's somethin' on the left channel I didn't notice on the radio edit possibly 'cause of the vocals.
This is the best-sounding copy you'll ever find of this, probably mo' better than the Ruthless/Giant 12" and promo 12". Get it and claim to have something most people do not. It was edited from a wax-to-WAV transfer.
Track Listing:
A1 Call It What U Want (Radio Edit) (Feat. Tupac and Money B)
A2 Call It What U Want (Instrumental)
B1 Call It What U Want (Album Version) (Feat. Tupac and Money B)
B2 Call It What U Want (Instrumental)
Click Here To Download (17.40 MB)
The selections are the same as the actual 12" I posted a while back but of course the analogue sound varies from vinyl to vinyl. Considering this came from my homeboy's system you should know you'll hear things you've never heard befo'. As much as I dig the album version I dislike it a lot more than I ever have. Listen to the radio edit then listen to the album version on this particular copy. Besides the difference in equalisation [did the mastering engineers boost the top end of the radio edit befo' it was pressed?], the album version has somewhat a claustrophobic feel to it when compared to the radio version. Conversely, the radio version was mixed and mastered beautifully. The guitar, tambourine and the samples used to provide the rest of the beat are all nicely distributed across the channels not to mention everybody's vocals. I don't know what that weird noise is on the right channel but it's more noticeable than ever. As a testament to how good the radio version was mastered there's just enough reverb to the right. It's not easily heard on the album version 'cause it was mixed differently; they really fucked up on that. Both instrumentals sound the same and have even more channel separation. There's somethin' on the left channel I didn't notice on the radio edit possibly 'cause of the vocals.
This is the best-sounding copy you'll ever find of this, probably mo' better than the Ruthless/Giant 12" and promo 12". Get it and claim to have something most people do not. It was edited from a wax-to-WAV transfer.
Track Listing:
A1 Call It What U Want (Radio Edit) (Feat. Tupac and Money B)
A2 Call It What U Want (Instrumental)
B1 Call It What U Want (Album Version) (Feat. Tupac and Money B)
B2 Call It What U Want (Instrumental)
Click Here To Download (17.40 MB)
Lighter Shade Of Brown: Spill The Rhyme (12") (1992)
Friday 27 January 2012 at 6:36 pm
Last year Latin Alliance covered War's Low Rider [Why Can't We Be Friends?, 1975] and this year Lighter Shade Of Brown covered Spill The Wine [Eric Burdon Declares ‘War’, 1970]. Though I dig the reincarnation of Low Rider a lot more that's not to say this is not worth the time of anybody's day. It starts just like the original does and when the beat kicks in you'll hear a very audible organ. That's one of the key components of the mix; that, the piano and what sounds like live drums. The organ only appears when the hook does so if you happen to be an organ fiend it's a good tease. However, the final verse of the radio version has a little injected. Listen carefully to the end and you'll hear more piano. This is one of the recommended cuts offa Hip Hop Locos and 'cause of that I'm glad they made an extended version. One obvious difference is the inclusion of tambourine. The hook is also different too; it doesn't include the Spill The Wine chorus with respect to the 1st instance. That organ is most potent right before the 2nd instance and during that extended bridge. The end has more of the Spill The Wine chorus and piano. Needless to say this is the mo' better version if you like the song at all.
If that's not enough they have an instrumental which is essentially the same as the extended version with no vocal tracks with exceptions for the hook [it's not a true instrumental unfortunately]. It should be entitled ‘Extended Instrumental Version’ but you know the time when you see the durations. I've never liked DJ Muggs's production. It has always sounded too gritty for my liking but this is tolerable. I like how he incorporated the sample in his beat and the thing that makes this worth listenin' to is the completely different verses by ODM and DTTX. This was edited from a wax-to-WAV transfer. I still prefer Spill The Wine from Brown and Proud.
Track Listing:
A1 Spill The Rhyme (Radio Version)
A2 Spill The Rhyme (Extended Version)
A3 Spill The Rhyme (Instrumental Version)
B1 Spill The Wine (Muggs Wine Mix)
B2 Spill The Wine (Muggsamental Version)
Click Here To Download (22.60 MB)
If that's not enough they have an instrumental which is essentially the same as the extended version with no vocal tracks with exceptions for the hook [it's not a true instrumental unfortunately]. It should be entitled ‘Extended Instrumental Version’ but you know the time when you see the durations. I've never liked DJ Muggs's production. It has always sounded too gritty for my liking but this is tolerable. I like how he incorporated the sample in his beat and the thing that makes this worth listenin' to is the completely different verses by ODM and DTTX. This was edited from a wax-to-WAV transfer. I still prefer Spill The Wine from Brown and Proud.
Track Listing:
A1 Spill The Rhyme (Radio Version)
A2 Spill The Rhyme (Extended Version)
A3 Spill The Rhyme (Instrumental Version)
B1 Spill The Wine (Muggs Wine Mix)
B2 Spill The Wine (Muggsamental Version)
Click Here To Download (22.60 MB)
C.P.O.: This Beat Is Funky (Promo CD Single) (1990)
at 4:53 pm
This is unquestionably the ‘mo' better’ single of the group. I usually say the 12" pressing is preferred but the Mo' Better Funky Remix sounds just as funky on compact disc as it does on vinyl. This is one you wanna hear a little mo' bass 'cause you've got the horns, organ, guitar and all that instrumentation so the bass helps. Put aside the samples and just dig Ren's production. The Video Mix through a little examination I found has 2 beats. The one is on both channels and the other echos from left to right. I hardly do this but without saving anything I removed the centre channel and focused on soeley the left and right channels. Sho' nuff it was another beat. The centre channel provided more of a kick drum track which I'm sure was done by keyboard. Again put aside the samples and peep what I'm sayin'. The Movement is cool but I'd personally pick a different cut to put on the CD pressing or add more non-LP mixes of somethin' different. Regardless, you now have the option to download both 12" [if anybody requests a re-upload], this or both. It was edited from losslessly compressed files.
Track Listing:
01 This Beat Is Funky (Mo' Better Funky Remix) (Feat. MC Ren)
02 This Beat Is Funky (Video Mix)
03 The Movement (Remix)
04 The Movement (LP Version)
Click Here To Download (16.10 MB)
Track Listing:
01 This Beat Is Funky (Mo' Better Funky Remix) (Feat. MC Ren)
02 This Beat Is Funky (Video Mix)
03 The Movement (Remix)
04 The Movement (LP Version)
Click Here To Download (16.10 MB)