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- Date Released: May 15, 2007
- Genre: Hip-Hop/R&B
- Style: Funk
- Label: Light In The Attic / IODA
The world wasn’t ready for a one-woman Funkadelic in the ‘70s. Are you?
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We Say...
By 1969 Betty Davis’ marriage to Miles was in shambles. There were rumors of an affair with Hendrix; there remains chatter about jealousy and abuse. Perhaps this is what necessarily happens when two effervescent souls meet, and neither relents. She returned to making music, penning songs for the Chambers Brothers and the Commodores. Briefly decamping to England, Davis befriended Marc Bolan, who encouraged her to record her own songs. She returned to the Bay Area and assembled a band consisting of past and future members of Sly and the Family Stone, Graham Central Station, Journey, Tower of Power and the Pointer Sisters.
The result was Betty Davis, released in 1973 on the modest Just Sunshine label. A trio of Bettys strapped in silver, thigh-high moon boots adorns the cover. A savage riff powered “If I’m in Luck I Might Get Picked Up,” a raspy, raunchy mission statement of sorts. Slinking along with Larry Graham’s bass-line, Davis sounded like nothing else around — it was erotic without seeming trashy, skillfully executed but flippant toward the proper life.
She moved further to the left the following year, with the aptly titled They Say I’m Different. Davis was already courting controversy — a Detroit radio station had faced an NAACP boycott upon adding “If I’m in Luck…” to its playlist, and religious groups protested her concerts. The cover of They Say didn’t do much to stem this, as Betty adopted a Ziggy Stardust-like cosmic gladiator pose. One only wonders what sort of prey she bagged, given songs like “He Was a Big Freak” — sexually suggestive in an off-kilter, Velvet Underground-ish way — and the swaggering “Shoo-B-Doop and Cop Him” (later sampled by Ice Cube). The gurgling funk-rock workout of “Don’t Call Her No Tramp” was pretty self-explanatory. The next year she released the risqué Nasty Gal. None of the albums sold very well and over the decades she sank into obscurity, rescued occasionally by Miles fanatics or funk historians. After all, nobody was ready for a black rock star or a one-woman Funkadelic. Are you? -
They Say...
Betty Davis' second full-length featured a similar set of songs as her debut, though with Davis herself in the production chair and a radically different lineup. The openers, "Shoo-B-Doop and Cop Him" and "He Was a Big Freak," are big, blowsy tunes with stop-start funk rhythms and Davis in her usual persona as the aggressive sexual predator. On the title track, she reminisces about her childhood and compares herself to kindred spirits of the past, a succession of blues legends she holds fond -- including special time for Bessie Smith, Chuck Berry, and Robert Johnson. A pair of unknowns, guitarist Cordell Dudley and bassist Larry Johnson, do a fair job of replacing the stars from her first record. As a result, They Say I'm Different is more keyboard-dominated than her debut, with prominent electric piano, clavinet, and organ from Merl Saunders, Hershall Kennedy, and Tony Vaughn. The material was even more extreme than on her debut; "He Was a Big Freak" featured a prominent bondage theme, while "Your Mama Wants Ya Back" and "Don't Call Her No Tramp" dealt with prostitution, or at least inferred it. With the exception of the two openers, though, They Say I'm Different lacked the excellent songs and strong playing of her debut; an explosive and outré record, but more a variation on the same theme she'd explored before. [The 2007 Light in the Attic edition includes bonus tracks.]
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| 01. |  |
Shoo-B-Doop and Cop Him |
3:56 |
|
| 02. | |
He Was a Big Freak |
4:07 |
|
| 03. | |
Your Mama Wants Ya Back |
3:27 |
|
| 04. | |
Don't Call Her No Tramp |
4:05 |
|
| 05. | |
Git In There |
4:45 |
|
| 06. | |
They Say I'm Different |
4:15 |
|
| 07. | |
70's Blues |
4:59 |
|
| 08. | |
Special People |
3:26 |
|
| 09. | |
He Was a Big Freak (Record Plant Rough Mixes - Bonus Track) |
4:42 |
|
| 10. | |
Don't Call Her No Tramp (Record Plant Rough Mixes - Bonus Track) |
4:36 |
|
| 11. | |
Git In There (Record Plant Rough Mixes - Bonus Track) |
4:37 |
|
| 12. | |
70's Blues (Record Plant Rough Mixes - Bonus Track) |
5:01 |
|
12 Total Tracks, 51:56 Total Length
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Credits
- Rick James - Author // Buddy Miles - Guitar // Miles Davis - Author // Miles Davis - Author // Miles Davis - Author // Miles Davis - Author // Miles Davis - Author // Miles Davis - Author // Miles Davis - Author // Miles Davis - Author // Pete Escovedo - Timbales // Pete Escovedo - Timbales // Mike Clark - Drums // Mike Clark - Drums // Merl Saunders - Organ // Merl Saunders - Organ // Merl Saunders - Organ // Merl Saunders - Piano // Merl Saunders - Piano // Merl Saunders - Piano // Merl Saunders - Piano (Electric) // Merl Saunders - Piano (Electric) // Merl Saunders - Piano (Electric) // Betty Davis - Arranger // Betty Davis - Producer // Larry Johnson - Guitar (Bass) // Jack Adams - Engineer // Jack Adams - Mixing // John Bigham - Author // Debbie Burrell - Singer // Elaine Clark - Singer // Elaine Clark - Soloist // Cordell Dudley - Guitar // Cordell Dudley - Tenor (Vocal) // Bob Edwards - Assistant Engineer // Tom Flye - Mixing // Jimmy Godwin - Guitar // Jimmy Godwin - Guitar (Rhythm) // Mary Jones - Singer // Mary Jones - Soloist // Hershall Kennedy - Organ // Hershall Kennedy - Trumpet // Hershall Kennedy - Piano (Electric) // Hershall Kennedy - Clavinet // Ron Levine - Design // Victor Pantoja - Conga // Trudy Perkins - Singer // Ted Sparks - Drums // Ted Sparks - Vocals // Ted Sparks - Singer // Tony Vaughn - Piano // Tony Vaughn - Bass (Vocal) // Tony Vaughn - Piano (Electric) // Tony Vaughn - Clavinet // Tony Vaughn - Singer // Dave Cooley - Remastering // Bill Levy - Art Direction // Baron Wolman - Photo Courtesy // Baron Wolman - Archival Materials // Talib Kweli - Author // Four Tet - Author // Saul Williams - Author // Mel Dixon - Original Photography // Kieran Hebden - Author // Kieran Hebden - Author // Geoffrey Weiss - Photo Courtesy // Geoffrey Weiss - Archival Materials // Matt Sullivan - Executive Producer // Matt Sullivan - Reissue Producer // Josh Wright - Executive Producer // Kiki Ajidarma - Design // Chris Ferraro - Executive Producer // Oliver Wang - Liner Notes // Oliver Wang - Essay // John Ballon - Reissue Assistant // John Ballon - Photo Courtesy // John Ballon - Archival Materials // Michael Lang - Photo Courtesy // Michael Lang - Archival Materials // Mike Samples - Photo Courtesy // Mike Samples - Archival Materials // Lawrence Wise - Photo Courtesy // Lawrence Wise - Archival Materials
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