'Voodoo Ray'...these two words make househeads all over the world go: 'Hell yeah!'. A true dance music anthem, a song that summed up an era, defined the movement and inspired generations of artists. It's like the year zero in the evolution of electronic music. A tune that forged the sound of the 90s and heralded a beginning of a new phenomenon that was to transform British society - one word, four letters: rave!...But hold your horses, let's start from the beginning...
...In the 1980s, the only place in the UK where you could hear this weird, imported, American music called 'house' was Manchester's now legendary club, called the Haçienda. Opened in 1982 by Tony Wilson of Factory Records (the label that brought us Joy Division, Happy Mondays and New Order, among others), the club enjoyed its best years in the late 80s, when DJs Mike Pickering and Jon Da Silva opened up their ibiza-inspired night called 'Hots'.
It was on one of these nights when Gerald Simpson, a 20 year-old club regular from Moss Side, walked up to the DJ booth and handed Pickering a demo of a tune he'd been working on. Not even 10 minutes later Simpson, while dancing on the floor, thinks he might have heard the intro to his song. He thinks to himself: 'Nah, it couldn't be!'. Strangely enough, it turns out it was his song and it also turns out that everybody in the club is loving his tune. The DJs played the song two more times throughout the night, and with every single play, the crowd went even more mental about it. The ecstatic Simpson runs up to the DJ booth thanking the DJ for playing it.
Bam! The song gets released and Gerald Simpson becomes A Guy Called Gerald! History was made!
So...what's so special about this song then? Well...it was pioneering in the sense that it introduced a new aesthetic to the sound and paved the way for stuff like jungle, drum and bass and hardcore. Sure, the acid house sound with the iconic Roland TB-303 (a bass synthesiser for guitarists which got abused by acid house producers to make that famous, distinctive sound) was already out there, sure it was still 'four-to-the-floor', sure it had a beat made with a simple sequencer, sure it was just a couple of samples....but still, it somehow managed to spark a new movement that changed Britains racial, social and even legal context!
How come, you ask? Well....just check it out and maybe you'll find out for yourself if there's anything more to this tune than just a catchy story!
Todays musical journey will lead us to the realm of broken beats. Our guide for the trip will be the Belfast-based drum and bass producer who goes by the name of Calibre.
Dominick Martin, as this is his real name, got into the production scene quite late - his first release came out in 1998 on Quadrophonic, a short-lived Irish label (operated only for 2 years and had only 5 releases). He then later grabbed the attention of the legendary DJ Fabio, who signed him to his Creative Source label and helped him release, among other, fine EPs, his first album - the critically-acclaimed 'Musique Concrete' (2001). Two years later, Calibre starts his own label - Signature Records - which operates as an outlet primarily for his own productions and collaborations. Apart from that, he also runs Soul:r together with the Mancunian Marcus Intalex and ST Files.
Calibre is a very prolific producer, with a vast number of tunes signed under his moniker. He has worked with the likes of: Zero Tolerance, A-Sides, High Contrast, Klute, Bailey etc. etc...trust me, the list goes on and on....His records have been released on such influential labels as: Defunked, Samurai Red Seal and LTJ Bukem's Good Looking Records, among others.
The tune I've selected for you today is a remix of a 2002 "r'n'b" (*ekhm*) song, by Jaheim, called: 'Put That Woman First', which comes off his platinum album: 'Still Ghetto' (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). I haven't heard the original until today and, to be honest, it's nothing special, really, but not bad either. Just a lil' love song with a not-that-bad-at-all beat, a chilled-out guitar and some background keys and strings. Jaheim's baritone voice, I believe, is the strongest part of the tune...and that's precisely what Calibre must've thought, cause his remix seems to only have the vocal part in common with the original.
I think Calibre did a great job by turning this 'comme ci comme ça' song into a great, great drum and bass tune. It's really simple when you think of it.
He took the vocal from the original, picked the nicest bits and sliced them up to his liking.
He added a fantastic beat - really soft and pleasant and not-so-in-your-face, like it usually is in drum and bass. It has a very delicate kick drum with a slight roll on the 1st and 3rd beat, a flat and bright snare and a rather pleasant, soothing hi-hat on the semi-quavers. Well, the beat just rolls and rolls throughout the tune giving it a really nice, 'liquid drum and bass' vibe.
Having done that, Calibre came up with an, again very simple, melody line. It consists of 3 major seventh chords (Emaj7, F♯maj7 and G♯maj7, if I'm not mistaken) played out on the piano (with an oscillating filter) and a bassline (which constantly plays the same motif, but its pitch alternates by a major second after every bar). Both the piano and bass complement each other very neatly, creating an awesome, groovy melody.
As y'all can see - simple, yet bloody powerful and just plain g-o-o-d!
Part of the success of the tune should, however, be attributed to the person responsible for the mastering - i.e. Beau Thomas of Masterpiece Media, London. He's a much sought for engineer, having mastered releases of such artists as: Above & Beyond, Total Science, Commix, Logistics, Ed Rush & Optical, Alix Perez, Rusko, Pendulum, Booka Shade etc. etc.
This guy is the reason why this tune just sounds so freakin' good!
Well, here it is - Calibre's fantastic remix of Jaheim's 'Put That Woman First'. It was released on a White Label, however it does have a sticker on it which says: 'Warner Music UK Ltd.'. Anybody wanna solve this mystery?
I don't really feel comfortable around the reggae area because I ain't no specialist in the field. But I do know a couple of people who are, and they consider this album to be one of the best in the genre. Well, truth be told, you don't have to be a reggae-freak...hell, you don't even have to like reggae, to appreciate this great album. Lemme show you why...
Well, personally, what I think really makes it a great release is it's production quality, the sheer warmth of the sound of the record (which probably sounds even better on an oldschool valve amplifier, the type used by reggae bands back in the day, where the bass got thicker and heavier as the amp heated up). Winston Rodney, alias Burning Spear, got himself a pretty neat backing band - the Black Disciples, as they were called, had in their ranks:
Bobby Ellis on trumpet
Vincent "Trommie" Gordon on trombone and clavinet
Carlton "Sam" Samuels on flute
Herman Marquis on alto saxophone
Richard "Dirty Harry" Hall on tenor saxophone
Tyrone "Organ D" Downie on piano and organ
Bernard "Touter" Harvey on piano, organ and clavinet
Earl "Chinna" Smith on lead guitar
Valentine "Tony" Chin on rhythm guitar
Robbie "Rabbi" Shakespeare on bass
Aston "Family Man" Barrett on bass
Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace on drums
No shit that's a pretty big band. Now you get it where that rich and moist sound comes from.
Still, another thing is to put all the pieces together. This was done at Island Records (the label that helped Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff make it big) and the guy responsible for making it all work is Lawrence Lindo (aka Jack Ruby). Credit is also due to Errol Thompson, the sound engineer (who also worked on albums of Marley and Barrington Levy) for getting that sweet, sweet sound.
That magical quality, with the fat bass, the guitar twanging on the off-beat (the so-called 'skank'), the subtle piano and the soft, soothing horns, is perfectly complemented by the hypnotic force of Rodney's chants.
That's about it when it comes to the music....howbout the lyrics?
Well, let's start with explaining the awkward name of the band (which is also Rodney's "nom de guerre", so to speak). Burning Spear actually came from the first name of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenyas first prime minister and founding father of the nation. 'Jomo' is roughly translated in English to 'burning spear'.
Marcus Garvey, on the other hand, is a Jamaican national hero, a prophet, according to the Rastafari movement. He was a black nationalist, strong supporter of the pan-African movement (philosophy/ideology that aims to unite all Africans and people of African descent into a global African community by mass movement and economic empowerment) and the founder of the organisation called: Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL for short ;) ).
Then it's no wonder that Rodney's lyrics oscillate around topics like slavery, anti-materialism, anti-colonialism, black nationalism and poverty - in fact, most of his songs seem to be very politically engaged and promote the teachings of Marcus Garvey as well as the whole Rastafari movement. Burning Spear, then, tries not only to entertain us but also portrays a very engaged approach in that it aims to raise the social and political consciousness of the listener. Rodney very often criticizes the shape of society in his songs, like in 'Resting Place':
Where must I find my resting place?
Over the hills, across the valley
I'm sure I can see, I'm sure I can see
Too much pollution, too much pollution
I would like to see
A broad-shaded tree
Just I can rest my head, my head underneath
Cause the sun is so hot
What says the father
Oh gosh! Oh gosh! Oh gosh!
Well, what else can I say? It's a really fantastic album, an important part of music history. And even if reggae is not necessarily your cup of tea, you should definitely check it out. And, if, like me, you're a sucker for Jamaican accents then I'm sure you'll enjoy the album even more!
To say that the Paul Butterfield Blues Band was a great band would be an understatement. They were groundbreaking – not only because they took the blues to new, experimental levels, but also because they caused a deep societal change – they opened up the blues scene to every single white kid in the States.
But first things first….
…Paul Butterfield was born and raised in Chicago in a white, cultured family – his dad was an attorney and his mum was a painter. Encouraged by his parents, he took flute lessons from a very early age and, by the time he got to high school, he studied with the first-chair flautist of the Chicago Symphony.
Around the time he got to university, however, he started hanging around Chicago blues clubs, where he got the opportunity to listen to such great blues musicians as: Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Otis Rush and Little Walter. Soon enough, he finds himself spending six/seven days a week in the clubs and none at uni, so he decides to quit and devote himself to music – his new weapon of choice being the diatonic ten-hole Hohner 'Marine band' harp .
As legend has it, one day while he was sitting on a porch in his hood, sipping on a quart of beer and practicing his harmonica, a little white boy student from Oklahoma, by the name of Elvin Bishop, bumped into him. The two immediately connected and began playing parties in the neighbourhood, with Bishop on acoustic guitar, and hitting downtown clubs together. Not only did they listen to these great black musicians, they also started playing with them on stage.
Now, you gotta understand one thing…at that time in Chicago (circa 1960), or anywhere in the states for that matter, they were probably one of the only white guys in the clubs (nevermind on stage!). So u get these two ‘honkies’ from the University of Illinois, of middle-class roots and upbringing playing this essentially black music that came from the slaves in the Mississippi delta. How is that possible, you ask? Well...they were just goddamn good at it!
Actually, they got so good that they were offered to gig regularly at Big John's, a club in the white North Side of Chicago. So, Butterfield and Bishop set out to put a band together. They pulled Jerome Arnold (bass) and Sam Lay (drums) of Howlin' Wolf's touring band (a pretty ballsy move, if you ask me, given the fact that Wolf was a pretty big and scary mutherfucker!) and formed the Paul Butterfield Blues Band - then a quartet.
Legend has it that it was Paul Rothchild of Elektra Records, the bands future producer, who invited Michael Bloomfield (a son of a wealthy jewish entrepreneur, a soon-to-become-legendary blues guitarist) to join the band and also offered them to record their first album. Bloomfield, even though he himself was a great musician, was very respectful of Butterfield's abilities, famously saying about the leader of the newly-formed band that:
He was bad, man. That cat was bad. It took all the persuading to get me to join.
The first recordings of the group were scrapped, and only recently released, in 1995, as 'The Original Lost Elektra Sessions'. However, in September 1965, the group was joined by a young music student - Mark Naftalin - who played the keys, and the final version of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, now a sextet, was formed and the band was ready to hit the studio for a second time and record their first album!
...and it was a hell of an album! The self-titled release consisted of 11 tracks, the majority of which were old standards recorded in a lively, electric, Chicago blues style; but there were also some band songs as well.
The album kicks off to a great start with an energetic recording of Nick Gravenites' 'Born in Chicago' (some of you might remember it from the early scenes of the 'Blues Brothers 2000' film) with the killer opening lines:
'I was born in Chicago
In 19 and 41
Well, my father told me
Son, you had better get a gun'
...and already very early in the album we're exposed to Butterfield's unique, heavily amplified harp sound and Bloomfield's eclectic style.
The next tune is a sort of an uptempo, 'rock'n'roll-ish' rendition of Elmore James' 'Shake Your Moneymaker' which is in turn followed by a great version of 'Blues With A Feeling', where Butterfield showcases his great vocal skills and Bloomfield has a mutherfucker of a solo.
This is followed by the bands own instrumental song: 'Thank You Mr. Poobah' (credited to Butterfield, Bloomfield and Naftalin) which was actually recorded by accident - Bishop was late for the recording session and so, with the tape rolling, they began an instrumental warm up, jamming this jazzy groove; exchanging solos and two-measure licks.
The next song is an upbeat recording of the classic 'Got My Mojo Working' by Muddy Waters. This time, however, Sam Lay, the drummer, is a leading force when he takes control of the mic and sings (shouts?) out the legendary lyrics in a very energetic way, which is only reinforced by the driving beat he produces with his kit.
When it comes to Willie Dixon's 'Mellow Down Easy', the band delivers a very lively performance with a 'rocky' touch highlighted by Bishop's guitar constantly playing out the same 2-bar riff throughout the whole tune giving it a solid rock'n'roll rhythm.
After that comes 'Screamin' - an instrumental song written by Bloomfield. The song really showcases Butterfield's unique and innovative style - the harp, cupped in his hands with a microphone between the palms, ceases to be only a backing instrument and becomes a main force driving the songs, with Butterfield approaching it with the sophistication of jazz saxophone players.
Next up is 'Our Love is Driftin', written by the both guitarists of the band. It is, in my opinion, one of the best songs of the album. Not only you get to hear Butterfield's amazing vocal skills with his chesty tone and delivery full of authority (which, to be fair, for a white guy sound really authentic) but you can also witness Bloomfield's amazing sound - his guitar sustaining a note so sweetly and then jumping into these brilliant cascading figures so effortlessly and precisely. Jacobs' 'Last night' is another great banger! The rhythm section does a tremendous job (you can hear that PBBB really benefited from adding Mark Naftalin and his Rhodes to the squad) and Paul's voice, so full of sorrow and emotion, coupled with these great lyrics really do the trick:
Last night
I lost the best friend I ever had
You know she gone, gone and left me
That made me feel, feel so bad
Well it's early in the morning, Baby
And my love come fallin' down with you
I want you to tell me baby
Honey what are we gonna do
Will I wait till tomorrow?
They tell me everyday brings about a change
Well I love you, love you baby
Honey ain't it a cryin' shame?
The album finishes with a truly rock'n'roll infused track. 'Look Over Yonders Wall' has Bloomfield's aggressive riffs, Bishop's driving guitar in the background and Paul's growling voice singing about a guy who manages to avoid the army draft and goes on entertaining lonely married women.
At this point it is also much called for to give credit to the producer of the album - Paul A. Rothchild, who did a great job putting the band together, envisioning their sound and actually making it all work. Rothchild ain't no rookie - he produced the first 5 albums by The Doors and also worked with the likes of: Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Janis Joplin. High five Mr.Rothchild!
Anyways, this was a story of how can two white kids from middle-class families make it big in a environment that would make anybody else feel like a nun in a strip club - out of place to say the very least. However, thanks to their amazing skills, devotion and, racial issues aside, authentic feeling, they won over massive audiences in the states. There would not be a single university dorm in the US in the 60s where you wouldn't stumble upon Butterfield's tunes blaring out of a PA. That was one of their huge achievements - they opened up the blues to white kids across the states by singing not about the Mississippi delta, failed crops or doing time in the Parchman Farm Penitentiary but about life in the urban jungle. It was blues with balls, not blues as destitution and oppression.
And last but not least, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band was the first racially-mixed blues band that really showed white artists that you didn't have to imitate the blues sound, but you could just play the blues.
Here's a little sample from their live performance in the Monterey International Pop Music Festival in 1967:
And here's a selection of some of the tunes from the album:
Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Born in Chicago
Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Our Love is Driftin'
Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Last night
All the other songs from the album seem to be on youtube so have a butchers'!
Do you ever get that weird feeling when suddenly, out of the blue, some random long forgotten tune just pops in to your head starting an avalanche of memories? Well, the exact same thing happened to me a couple of days ago. I was doing some irrelevant, mundane household chores when this great, great house classic invaded my head spawning a massive grin of joy on my face.
I know most of you probably heard this song (though not necessarily in this fantastic remix), and the aim of this blog is to showcase rather non-mainstream stuff, but nevertheless - it's definitely worth to check this tune out one more time and take that trip down the memory lane.
The original (made by the Swiss duo: Shakedown, comprising of two brothers: Stéphane & Sébastien Kohler) first appeared in 2001 on Naïve, an independent French label and already a year later was re-released on Defected - an iconic british label started by Simon Dunmore in 1999, which has now become the epitome of quality, mainstream house music. (BTW, one of Dunmores' first releases on Defected was Bob Sinclars 'I feel for you' - an amazing track which captures that fantastic 'french touch' house sound of the 90s, when bob used to make good music).
Anyways, 'At night', in its 2002 Defected release, got two remixes - one by Mousse T and and one by the belgian Kid Crème. The former ('Feel much better mix') is a bit deeper, electroey with a wobbly, heavily synthesised string running the melody. Cremes 'Funksta remix', however, really hits the spot. It has everything you need from a house banger: a great, driving beat with a heavy, thumping bass kick, a 4-bar funky guitar loop, which, together with a rather simple, yet thick, bassline (both guitar and bass credited to Daniel Romeo), gives the track a fantastic groove - exactly what you need in good house music! Add to that a little bit of spoken word by MC Shurakano and a beautiful vocal from Terra Deva and you got yourself a smasher!
Don't believe me? Well then, just see for yourself:
