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Home  Buzz Bin Betty Davis - Two Remastered Reissues
Brainwashed | Saturday, 21 November 2009 |
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Betty Davis - Two Remastered Reissues |
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Written by Light In the Attic
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Friday, 23 February 2007 |
 | photo courtesy of Baron Wolman |
 | | Betty Davis
LITA 026 CD
UPC: 826853002622
Originally released 1973 | |  | | They Say I'm Different
LITA 027 CD
UPC: 826853002721
Originally released 1974 | 1. If I’m In Luck I Might Get Picked Up
2. Walkin Up The Road
3. Anti Love Song
4. Your Man My Man
5. Ooh Yeah
6. Steppin In Her I. Miller Shoes
7. Game Is My Middle Name
8. In The Meantime
PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED BONUS TRACKS (1974)
9. Come Take Me
10. You Won’t See Me In The Morning
11. I Will Take That Ride | | 1. Shoo-B-Doop and Cop Him
2. He Was A Big Freak
3 Your Mama Wants Ya Back
4. Don’t Call Her No Tramp
5. Git In There
6. They Say I’m Different
7. 70’s Blues
8. Special People
PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED BONUS TRACKS (1973)
Record Plant Rough Mixes
9. He Was A Big Freak
10. Don’t Call Her No Tramp
11. Git In There
12. 70’s Blues |
| If Betty were singing today she would be something like Madonna, something like Prince only as a woman.
--MILES DAVIS | | She introduced Miles to Hendrix's music and got him interested in the hardcore rock stuff.
--HERBIE HANCOCK | | | | | | Betty was a G for real.
--ICE CUBE | | When I first saw her album cover, I fell in love.
--RICK JAMES | | | | | | Warning: She is pure uncut funk way
ahead of her time.
--PRINCE PAUL
(De La Soul, Handsome Boy Modeling School) | | She was the first Madonna, but Madonna is more like Marie Osmond compared to Betty Davis. Betty Davis was a real ferocious Black Panther woman. You couldn't tame Betty Davis.
--SANTANA |
- First official Betty Davis reissues
- Mastered from the original tapes (first time since the ‘70s!)
- Previously unreleased bonus tracks
- Ice Cube, Talib Kweli, and Ludacris have rhymed over these tracks
- Betty recorded some of the finest punk-funk of all time, introduced Miles to Hendrix, and inspired generations
- Each CD release includes an elaborate digipak and deluxe 32-page booklet
- New notes from Oliver Wang (O-Dub/Soul Sides), including Betty’s second interview in over 25 years!
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HER STORY:
One can hardly imagine the genre-busting, culture-crossing musical magic of Outkast, Prince, Erykah Badu, Rick James, The Roots, or even the early Red Hot Chili Peppers without the influence of R&B pioneer Betty Davis. Her style of raw and revelatory punk-funk defies any notions that women can't be visionaries in the worlds of rock and pop. In recent years, rappers from Ice Cube to Talib Kweli to Ludacris have rhymed over her intensely strong but sensual music.
There is one testimonial about Betty Davis that is universal: she was a woman ahead of her time. In our contemporary moment, this may not be as self-evident as it was thirty years ago - we live in an age that's been profoundly changed by flamboyant flaunting of female sexuality: from Parlet to Madonna, Lil Kim to Kelis. Yet, back in 1973 when Betty Davis first showed up in her silver go-go boots, dazzling smile and towering Afro, who could you possibly have compared her to? Marva Whitney had the voice but not the independence. Labelle wouldn't get sexy with their "Lady Marmalade" for another year while Millie Jackson wasn't Feelin' Bitchy until 1977. Even Tina Turner, the most obvious predecessor to Betty's fierce style wasn't completely out of Ike's shadow until later in the decade.
Ms. Davis's unique story, still sadly mostly unknown, is unlike any other in popular music. Betty wrote the song "Uptown" for the Chambers Brothers before marrying Miles Davis in the late '60s, influencing him with psychedelic rock, and introducing him to Jimi Hendrix -- personally inspiring the classic album 'Bitches Brew.'
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photo courtesy of Baron Wolman | But her songwriting ability was way ahead of its time as well. Betty not only wrote every song she ever recorded and produced every album after her first, but the young woman penned the tunes that got The Commodores signed to Motown. The Detroit label soon came calling, pitching a Motown songwriting deal, which Betty turned down. Motown wanted to own everything. Heading to the UK, Marc Bolan of T. Rex urged the creative dynamo to start writing for herself. A common thread throughout Betty's career would be her unbending Do-It-Yourself ethic, which made her quickly turn down anyone who didn't fit with the vision. She would eventually say no to Eric Clapton as her album producer, seeing him as too banal.
In 1973, Davis would finally kick off her cosmic career with an amazingly progressive hard funk and sweet soul self-titled debut. Davis showcased her fiercely unique talent and features such gems as "If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up" and "Game Is My Middle Name." The album Betty Davis was recorded with Sly & The Family Stone's rhythm section, sharply produced by Sly Stone drummer Greg Errico, and featured backing vocals from Sylvester and the Pointer Sisters.
Her 1974 sophomore album They Say I'm Different features a worthy-of-framing futuristic cover challenging David Bowie's science fiction funk with real rocking soul-fire, kicked off with the savagely sexual "Shoo-B-Doop and Cop Him" (later sampled by Ice Cube). Her follow up is full of classic cuts like "Don't Call Her No Tramp" and the hilarious, hard, deep funk of "He Was A Big Freak."
Tragically, these days Betty Davis is dead broke, living in the Pittsburgh ghetto. For the first time, her critically adored first two albums are being lovingly re-mastered from the original master tapes by Light In The Attic Records to sound as ferocious and revolutionary as they did when they first sprung on an unsuspecting world in the early '70s. These reissues mark the first time that Betty will receive proper royalties for her music on CD.
In addition to the restoration of the incredible original cover art, the compelling and heartbreaking liner notes written by author and respected soul music scholar Oliver Wang (O-Dub/Soul Sides) include her second interview in many decades, making these essential reissues for any soul, progressive punk, or funk-rock collection. |
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