Classic Tune: The Winstons – Amen Brother. The most sampled tune in history!
It's been a long time since i posted a classic tune, partly because it seems like nobody cares about these posts 
But I'll resist the indifference and today I'm gonna post a very special song, which you might know (at least I'm sure you've heard 6 seconds of it time and time again!).
The tune is called Amen Brother by a 60s funk band called The Winstons and it's the source for the ubiquitous Amen Break which has been used for over 20 years spanning across genres from early Hip-Hop, through Jungle, Drum'n'Bass, Breakcore, IDM to Dubstep. Who hasn't used this sample at some point in their productions?
Here is the original tune:
And here is a 20 minute documentary about the history of the Amen Break:
Classic tune of the week // Jingo – Fever
Okay, I've been a bit negligent lately with the blog.... But this week's tune is absolutely sick! I first heard it on the Last King of Scotland and had to look it up. It's a seriously funky afrobeat tune from a band called Jingo. I have no more info about them since they are completely invisible on the Internet. No wikipedia article and a very minimal discogs page which basically just lists a couple of featured tunes in a bunch of compilations. I really love the syncopated beats, simple bassline and the american style funk lyrics. So... have a listen!
Classic tune of the week // The Undisputed Truth – Smilling Faces
This week some serious soul business again. The Undisputed Truth was a 1970s Motown recording act, assembled by genius record producer Norman Whitfield (Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Gladys Night and the Pips, etc..) as a means for being able to experiment with his psychedelic soul production techniques. I just love the arangement and lyrics on it... It's a true soul classic!
Be sure to check out this epic (12:00+) cover of the same song done by The Tempations, also out on Motown. Honestly I don't know which one I prefer!
Classic tune of the week // Baby Huey – Hard Times
This psychadelic soul masterpiece was penned by Curtis Mayfield himself, and made famous by a very interesting character called Baby Huey. Baby Huey, who's real name is James Ramey, was a very talented singer that due to a glandular problem weighed more than 170 kg, therefore the name Baby Huey, after the cartoon. He had quite a short and troubled life and his serious heroin addiction ended up killing him when he was only 26. Unfortunately The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend is his only available release. Have a Listen!
Classic tune of the week // African Brothers – Sakatumbe
It's time for another classic tune! This time courtesy of The African Brothers, a quite obscure funk/afrobeat band which I found through an afrobeat compilation called Africa 100 - 7 CDs worth of funk influenced African Music, mostly afrobeat, from the 70s. This compilation follows a feature that Pitchfork ran on Afrobeat called The Indestructible Beat, by Joe Tangari. It had an overview of the style and a track-by-track annotation of 100 best afrobeat songs as picked by the author. Even after an intensive search on the internet I wasn't able to find anything about them, other than that they are from Ghana.... But this song is absolutely amazing!
Classic tune of the week // Bob James – Nautilus
It's Friday and the start of a new tradition!! Each Friday I'll be posting a classic tune which is a massive influence to me. This weeks' tune is Nautilus, by Bob James, which is probably one of the most sampled tunes ever - it has been used in Eric B. & Rakim's "Follow the Leader", Run-D.M.C.'s "Beats to the Rhyme", Ghostface Killah's "Daytona 500" and Jeru the Damaja's "My Mind Spray", amongst many others. But for me, there's nothing like the original tune...
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