VARIOUS – This Is The Breaks 1966-1975 – LP – Vinyl

LP – Black Vinyl.

This Is The Breaks is a 12-track look at the history of the break and theyre all great jazz, funk and soul records. We have not only included tracks that were sampled back in the first golden age of sampling, but also tracks that have been utilised by some of todays biggest names.

The curtains open with Millie Jacksons version of If Loving You Is Wrong I Dont Want To Be Right originally a hit for Luther Ingram in 1972. This version recorded in Muscle Shoals and produced by Brad Shapiro was the opening track of Jacksons Caught Up LP released in 1974. The use of a beat with sweeping strings as a sample, usually at a slow to medium tempo, as pioneered by the Wu-Tang Clan, seems to be especially in vogue at the moment. If Loving You Is Wrong I Dont Want To Be Right has been used over 50 times over the last few decades and was sampled in 2023 by NLE Choppa on Pistol Paccin. A similar sound is culled from Debbie Taylors 1969 track Lets Prove Them Wrong which was sampled in 2021 by JID on his cut 2007. It was also used in 2023 on Release Me by Nasty C.

If this suggests that sampling can be fashion-led, another example is Little Anns Deep Shadows. Ann was a Detroit singer who released only one single 1968s Going Down A One-Way Street (The Wrong Way) produced by Dave Hamilton for Ric-Tic Records but left a handful of soul masterpieces in the vault. While two of those What Should I Do? and Who You Trying To Fool? are up-tempo northern soul dancers, the downtempo Deep Shadows is atmospheric, with a plodding beat, memorable vibes and piano parts. Finally released in 1998, it has since been sampled dozens of times by artists like Grand Puba on Think Of U (2016), Loyle Carner on You Dont Know (2019), and more recently in 2024 by Your Old Droogs on DBZ, featuring Madlib, Denzel Curry and Wu-Tang Clans Method Man.

One of hip-hops greatest producers is DJ Premier of Gang Starr, whose beat picking is exemplary and the way he uses those beats raises him above almost all his peers. Take his deployment of Joe Simons Drowning In The Sea Of Love, which he edited and manipulated to form the hook of Gang Starrs 1997 single You Know My Steez. He was also the first producer to sample Billy Garners Detroit street funk cut I Got Some which went on to be sampled time and time again. From the same Motor City studio Dave Hamiltons came Chico & Buddys Can You Dig It? which was one of several samples on House of Pains 1992 hit Jump Around.

Classic golden age samples are present in Lowell Fulsoms Tramp, which has been sampled over 50 times including by the Wu-Tang Clan and EPMD, and the Fatback Bands Gotta Learn How To Dance which was used by Kool G Rap and DJ Polo on the tough rap of Streets Of New York in 1990. For dance music fans it was also the sound of Groove Armadas My Friend in 2001. Another UK dance hit sample is Bernard Pretty Purdies Heavy Soul Slinger which was used by the Prodigy on their 1995 hit Poison and by Massive Attack on their 1998 track Mezzanine. Lonnie Liston Smiths beautiful Summer Nights has been sampled mainly in dance music by artists such as Moody Man and the Swedish House Mafia. New Orleans singer Tami Lynns version of the Doors Light My Fire was sampled by musician, producer and DJ Howie B on Sore Brown Eyes (1997) and also by the Dilated Peoples on Triple Optics (1998). Gil Scott-Herons harrowing tale of drug addiction, Home Is Where The Hatred Is, from his 1971 LP Pieces Of A Man was sampled on the Kanye West and Common collaboration My Way Home from Wests Late Registration album released in 2005.

Whilst the music on This Is The Breaks has been sampled to construct brilliant new songs the originals have stood the test of time. In fact, someone, somewhere in the world is probably slipping some of this music into a new song right now.

So, drop the needle and challenge your friends to play a guessing game of who used what sample and when.

Tracklist:

Side One
1. If Loving You Is Wrong I Don’t Want To Be Right – Millie Jackson
2. Light My Fire – Tammi Lynn
3. Gotta Learn How To Dance – The Fatback Band
4. I Got Some (Pt 1) – Billy (Sugar Billy) Garner
5. Tramp – Lowell Fulsom
6. Heavy Soul Slinger – Pretty Purdie

Side Two
1. Let’s Prove Them Wrong – Debbie Taylor
2. Deep Shadows – Little Ann
3. Drowning In The Sea Of Love – Joe Simon
4. Can You Dig It – Chico & Buddy
5. Home Is Where The Hatred Is – Gil Scott-heron
6. Summer Nights Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes