NATALIE COLE, PATRICE RUSHEN, BUCKWILD/O.C.: BURN THESE SLOW posted by O.W.

Natalie Cole: Just Can't Stay Away
From Thankful (Capitol, 1977)

Patrice Rushen:This Is All I Really Know
From Posh (Elektra, 1980)

Buckwild feat. O.C.:Burn Me Slow
From Still Diggin' EP (Fat Beats, 1999)

I'm definitely no modern soul expert but I've been turning up more songs of late (cleaning out my record stacks helps) that are part of that late '70s, early '80s vibe and I've been loving some of the tunes in that vein.

I never even knew Natalie Cole had a soul career - I grew up thinking she was that jazz-singer-who-dueted-with-her-dead-father but damn, she sounds incredible on "Just Can't Stay Away," a song written for her by Chuck Johnson and Marvin Yancy. En Vogue covered this song too and frankly - their version blows in comparison. Ain't nothing like the real thing, baby.

Likewise, when I was combing through my jazz stacks, looking for LPs to cut, I gave my Patrice Rushen section a quick review and rediscovered her 1980 album Posh which features this great ballad, "This Is All I Really Know" but it was driving me crazy why the melody seemed so familiar. Then I realized: O.C. and Buckwild used it on the latter's 1999 EP for a dope song called "Burn Me Slow." I decided to include both (just because I can).

This has got me in the mood for summer songs so I think our next post will look a few tunes that might fit well with the summertime vibe.

RAY BRYANT AND THE OVERTON BERRY TRIO: FUNKY PIANO posted by O.W.

Ray Bryant: Up Above the Rock
From Up Above the Rock (Cadet, 1969)

The Overton Berry Trio: Superstar
From T.O.B.E. (C.E. 196?)

Now this is what I'm talking about when I say hammer drops - fonky fonky fonky piano tunes. Ray Bryant's "Up Above the Rock" is pretty unf---wittable: hard drums, jabbering piano, and an arrangement that just seems born to make you move. Honestly, I don't know I've heard anything as good as this done on acoustic piano (but if you know of one, please do share).

As for the Overton Berry Trio, this is off of one of two LPs by the Seattle jazz group and "Superstar" is the last song in a suite based on "Jesus Christ Superstar." I know Berry (who's a pianist) is the trio leader but you gotta give it up to the bassist (Chuck Metcalf) and drummer (Bill Kotick) for kicking this song off lovely before Berry jumps into the mix.

Ok, we're off for the weekend.

NEW AUDIOBLOG ALERT: BREATH OF LIFE posted by O.W.

Every week, I get announcements about new audioblogs and don't get me wrong - I'm really happy to see all these new voices popping up. But inevitably, most of them don't take one of my core suggestions to heart - design your site better so it doesn't look like every other damn site out there. Frankly, it kind of kills me that so many awesome sites (musically speaking) are almost unbearable to look at either because they're generic and dull or else choose these color schemes that might give little kids epileptic seizures. It's like reading a magazine which has great content but no art direction whatsoever.

So...you can appreciate how pleasantly surprised blown away I was when I took a look at Breath of Life, the new audioblog by the father/son team of Kalamu ya Salaam and Mtume ya Salaam. Mtume wrote me, months ago, to say that this site was in the works but they didn't want to rush anything so they could get everything right and so far: it's a damn impressive site that does so much more than your typical picture-song-description format. For one thing, the content is mega-deep - we're talking complete essays, with links to outside interviews, the whole nine.

It's also just organized well in terms of breaking down posts into specific categories which then can be re-orged however you want (that's a pretty good idea - I should boost it). I just wish more new audioblogs took the time like this to get it right.

THE UMCS: BEFORE STATEN WAS SHAOLIN posted by O.W.

The UMCs: Anyway the Wind Blows (Bassinterface Mix)
From "Blue Cheese" 12" (Wild Pitch, 1991)

The UMCs: Swing It To the Area (O-Dub's All Areas Edit)
From "One to Grow On" 12" (Wild Pitch, 1991)

One favorite conversation I have with my friend Hua is over what rap acts were doomed never to last past 1994. After all, what Nas, Biggie and the Wu collectively did was make it impossible for an entire era of happy-go-lucky rappers to sustain a career in a time when the dominant hip-hop motif switched from polka dots and high top fades to laser scopes and fish scales.

High on that list of rappers fated to irrelevance was the Staten Island duo of Kool Kim and Haas Gee, aka the UMCs, who had the bad luck to be the biggest rappers out of Staten before this little crew called the Wu-Tang Clan remade the Island into Shaolin. Still, for 1991 and 1992, while the Genius was talking about passing the bone and Rza was making sappy love anthems, the UMCs and their producer RNS were one the only crews pumping up Staten, flaunting a cheery sound and image that was obviously Native Tongues influenced but they didn't seem purely deriviative.

That said, let's just honest: in this day and age of hyper black masculinity, what rap artist would name their album Fruits of Nature, yaoming? A different era, I'm telling you.

"Anyway the Wind Blows" comes off the B-side to their first, breakout single, "Blue Cheese" and the Bassinterface Mix stripped down the song to just a breakbeat and bouncy bassline. Much as I liked the original version with the Al Green sample, the song sounds a bit cleaner with this sparse approach.

"Swing It to the Area" is another B-side cut (both songs appeared on the Fruits of Nature album but not in remix form), this time from their excellent "One to Grow On" single. What happens in the original song is that midway through, it switches up tracks and slides into more of a freestyle flow. On the 12", they have a new lyrical remix that's just the freestyle version and what I did was edit both the O.G. and remix to run back-to-back. Personally, I really dig "Swing It To the Area" with its funky guitar loop ("Cleo's Back") and some slick freestyle-ish verses from Haas and Kim. The remix is especially cool since it switches up tracks again halfway through to some vamped up organ hypeness.

O-DUB MIXTAPE LIQUIDATION posted by O.W.

DJ O-Dub: Angry Black White Boy Mix-CD Snippet
From Angry Black White Boy Mix-CD (2005)

DJ O-Dub: Adventures in Rhythm Mix-CD Snippet
From Adventures in Rhythm Mix-CD (F.O.S.S.I.L., 2003)

Both snippets were encoded at a lower compression rate so sound quality is NOT refletive of actual CDs. Don't get it twisted!

For those of you who don't know, I've been making mixtapes (and now, mix-CDs) since 1995. In that time, I've put out around a dozen hip-hop tapes and in the last few years have also been moving into funk and multi-genre mixes too. (Yeah dudes, I got DJ skills. Act like you f---ing knew).

I haven't said too much about this on the site because I rarely get my s--- together to actually organize my mixes, have copies made, create some web pages to market them, etc. etc. There's a reason I didn't go into retail, you know?

I also realize that selling music is a tricky affair when you run a site that basically gives it away for free. Our good friends at Music For Robots have been learning this since they recently pressed up their own CD.

That said, I also have several dozen CDs sitting around my house that I'd like to liquidate them so I can get better organized. This might also be a healthy way to gauge what future interest might be in a Soul Sides-themed CD. So here's what we have available:

Adventures in Rhythm, a multi-genre hip-hop/funk/jazz/soul/Latin mix I put together back in 2003. Let me be real about: I personally really love this mix. It was my second attempt at doing a multi-genre mix, my third attempt at doing a non-hip-hop mix and I felt like it came together beautifully (if I do say so myself). I've sold a good number of these mixes already and I still have about a dozen left over. If you follow that link, you can see the full playlist and if you already own a copy, my friend Eugene Kuo at 226 Design made a snazzy CD booklet for it that you can print out.

The Angry Black White Boy Mix-CD which I made for my friend Adam Mansbach and his new novel by the same name. The book is a favorite of hip-hoppers like Jean Grae and Jin and Adam commissioned me to whip together a Black Power-inspired hip-hop mix-CD to go with the novel. The tracklisting is here. This was another fun mix to put together since it had a guiding theme and more to the point, includes some of the best hip-hop ever recorded in the last 20 years (yeah, conscious rap is protected by the red, black and green, with a key, SISSY!).

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Since I'm trying to dump stock, I'm letting these go at a discount. If you're interested in ordering one or both, email me and please include "mixtapes" in the subject line. Keep in mind - I only have a limited batch of each of these so if demand is high, I won't be able to accomodate everyone. On the flipside, if demand is high, that's a good sign that I should keep more CDs in stock.

And if other folks don't mind, if you would be interested in a Soul Sides CD (with would include some of the "best of" songs posted up here plus at least half new songs I have never offered, then drop a comment below. Thanks.

CAESAR FRAZIER: PRODUCER'S CHOICE posted by O.W.

Caesar Frazier: Funk It Down & Sweet Children
From 75 (Westbound, 1975)

As is general policy around here at S.S., I try to avoid doing posts that are purely based on samples but I admit the genesis for today's songs is directly inspired by sampling. I had been meaning to post up songs off this LP at some point but it was resting on the back burner until I was listening to Common's new Be and the song, "Real People." I knew I had heard the music on there somewhere and it was tickling me until I finally figured it out: it was Frazier's "Sweet Children."

Frazier was a studio organist back in the '70s who did work with Prestige, Atlantic, Westbound and Eastbound. His LP on Eastbound is more rare than this one but it's also, in my opinion, inferior besides an "ok" cover of "Hikky Burr." 75 on the other hand just has better songs, including "Funk It Down" which has clearly been a favorite of DJ Premier since he's used two different samples off the same song (and in fact, he also used another song off this LP for an Arrested Development remix he did a while back). It is, of course, all about the bridge on "Funk It Down" though it opens nicely too but you can't f--- with the chorus. Gorgeous.

"Sweet Children" also opens beautifully, especially the first minute or so with that soaring saxophone and the funky horn section plus all those soft keyboard tones melding in. I initially thought Frazier was rocking a Rhodes here but I'm not positive it's not an organ or synth. The song, to me, gets just a tad noodly a few minutes in but believe me, I'm not mad at it. For some reason, the sound of this song really gives me flashbacks to my childhood in the '70s - shag carpeting, full mirror bars, the Hustle, you name it.

KOOL AND THE GANG: BACK AGAIN posted by O.W.

Kool and the Gang: Give It Up & The Gang's Back Again
From Kool and the Gang (Delite, 1969)

Like many in my generation, my introduction to Kool and the Gang came through their big hits like "Celebration" and...um..."Celebration." Therefore, when I started discovering their back catalog, I admit, I was rather surprised to hear that the same band that put out one of the most schlocky wedding songs of all time built their career on some of the funkiest tunes this side of New Orleans.

Their first LP on Delite brought together a series of their hit 7" singles and at least half this disc is straight smokin' with the other half filled with more mellow (but no less enjoyable) fare. "The Gang's Back Again," should sound familiar to those who've heard Funk Inc.'s version of "Kool and the Gang." To be honest, I think Funk Inc. does it even better but K&G's original is nothing to sneeze at either.

However, "Give It Up," (which may or may not be a cover of James Brown's "Give It Up Or Turn Me Loose," I'm too lazy to really sit down and compare the two) is an unqualified winner: love the way it opens with the horns and then launches into that stripped down rhythm section. Can't get enough of that funky stuff, for real.

ED O.G.: $280 HIP-HOP? posted by O.W.

Ed O.G.:Love Comes and Goes & Go Up and Up
From Roxbury 02119 (Polygram, 1994)

Look - we all know that eBay is outta control, ESPECIALLY with hip-hop records these days. The whole random rap craze is inflating prices to insane level, not to mention indie label gangsta rap and other such goodies. But jeeeeesus - I saw that Ed O.G.'s second album on promo-only vinyl just sold for $280 and I had to scrape my jaw off the pavement.

Provided, this was a rare album on vinyl but it's not like we're talking about, say, De La Soul Is Dead on promo-only double-vinyl or Diamond's Stunts, Blunts and Hip-Hop, which I've seen break $200 in the past. This is Ed O.G.'s second album. I mean, what's going on here? Provided, this does have a handful of Diamond D productions but I needed to know what the big deal was.

So, I went over to the shelves and pulled the LP off, slapped it down and started listening to it. And...

It has its moments but it's not that great of an LP. Even Diamond says so himself: My least favorite is ‘Roxbury 02119’. I had some dope stuff on there but I had some ‘whatever’ sh*t on there too. The production was good but Joe Mansfield came up with just as many good tracks as Diamond (if not more).

I pulled off two songs from the album - one which I was familiar with, one which I had long forgotten. "Loves Comes and Goes" was one of two singles released for the album - I think Diamond did this track and it's...nice. Soulful, melancholy, catchy. It's sort of in the vein of "Be a Father" - consciously driven, with a touch of "T.R.O.Y." if you ask me.

I don't remember listening to "Go Up and Up" but damn, this beat (by Mansfield) is the bump: take the bassline from Gene Russell's "Get Down," then filter out the breakbeat from "Blind Alley" and there you go. Hot stuff (even though it does sound a lot like the beat for Gang Starr's "Comin For Datazz").

Is this worth $280 though? I've found myself staring at my copy of the record thinking, "well, I could use the cash..." but I'm such a pack rat that I just shelved it back in the "E" section and pay it no mind.

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Speaking of eBay...

My man Hua over at Sticker Shock and I have both been cleaning out our record collections after years of pack-ratting it. I'll be honest - it's been a humbling experience for me since I've realized how many records I own that, honestly, I really don't need. It's going to take me another few weeks to get everything together but Hua's already ahead of the curve and is selling off a nice batch of records on eBay already, including a few titles that the Soul Sides audience would probably be into, including the infamous Port Authority LP, Steve Davis' Music (which I mentioned the other day), Johnny Jenkins' Ton Ton Macoute and a sprinkling of random rap singles (hopefully, less than $280 but you never know).

When my recs are ready for the sales block, best be sure I'll let ya'll know.

SONGS OF OBSESSION: BILL WITHERS' "CAN WE PRETEND" posted by O.W.

Bill Withers: Can We Pretend & Stories
From +'Justments (Sussex, 1974)

For some reason, Bill Withers has the reputation as someone whose songwriting was better than his singing. I always found this a strange accusation - Withers was certainly a genius writer ("Ain't No Sunshine" anyone?) but it's hardly as if he had a terrible voice. It's true - he didn't have the range or purity of tone like Marvin Gaye or Sam Cooke but Withers was comforting and familiar - like a good friend to share an afternoon with. For some reason, he reminds me of what a happier Chet Baker might have sounded like singing soul.

Anyways, most soul/funk heads I know own two Withers' albums - maybe three, but that's about it: Still Bill, Just As I Am and Menagerie (for "Lovely Day"). But I admit, I've always passed by +'Justments and never thought twice about it. Until I listened to it.

The more uptempo, funkier stuff is ok - definitely not as good as what's on Still Bill but it's ok. However, two of the ballads really shine. "Stories" reminds me of a Donny Hathaway song - simple and elegant with just a piano in the background. Even better is "Can We Pretend" - simply sublime, especially Withers' vocal arrangement. Damn, how did I sleep on this for so long?

SHOWBIZ & AG + GANG STARR: COMING OF AGE posted by O.W.

Showbiz and AG: More Than One Way Out the Ghetto
From Runaway Slave (Payday, 1992)

Gang Starr:The Planet
From Hard to Earn (Chrysalis, 1994)

Building off of Mal Ward's posts from the other day, I've always enjoyed memoir-esque hip-hop songs as well. Call 'em hip-hop bildungsromans for all you lit majors out there.

Showbiz and AG's "More Than One Way Out the Ghetto" has always been one of my favorite songs off their first album. I like hearing about AG's rise and fall as a drug pusher and then turning to hip-hop as salvation. Sure, that story is old hat...now, post-Biggie, post-Jay-Z, post-[fill in your favorite rapper], but in 1991, it wasn't as commonplace or cliche as it might seem now.

As for "The Planet," the song is awesome in how it narrates Guru's growth from a Boston transplant to Brooklyn with barely anything, fantasizing about his rap career while listening to Red Alert and Marley Marl, and dealing with the craziness that is east New York. Guru may not be Rakim/Nas-eque in his imagery but he paints a vivid, realistic picture of trying to come up the hard way and you feel it. It helps that Premier's beat is bonkers, with those bluesy guitar riffs ripping throughout (Steve Davis, holla).

BDP, 3RD BASS AND EDAN: CLASS IS IN SESSION posted by O.W.

Boogie Down Productions:South Bronx
From Criminal Minded (B-Boy, 1987)

3rd Bass: Portrait of The Artist As a Hood
From Derelicts of Dialect (Def Jam 1991)

Edan: Fumbling Over the Words That Rhyme
From Beauty and the Beat (Lewis 2005)

[Editor's Note: This post comes to Soul Sides from Mal Ward, one of our readers, who approached me with an idea to write on songs that tell biographies and autobiographies. I'll have a follow-up in a day or two with a pair of my own personal favorites within this theme.]

WRITTEN BY MAL WARD

I'm in the middle of Jeff Chang's remarkable Can't Stop, Won't Stop, a tome of hip hop culture and history. It got me thinking about the collective history of this music, and how everyone has a template of "what happened when" and "how we got here". While that is undoubtedly important in establishing a shared experience and point of reference, there is also the first-person history. For me it was being a kid in Long Island in the 1980's and hearing those radio broadcasts on KISS FM of Chuck Chillout on Friday night. and Red Alert on Saturdays. I use to put my tapes in to record those shows like everyone else. At the time rap was still this foreign voice in the suburbs, so if you were a kid who wasn't from the boroughs you didn't know shit about what had come before and why. You relied on the music to tell you what was what; verbal transmissions breaking it down for you to decipher and yet make your own in some way. The choice of these 3 tracks were driven by the fact that they span almost 3 decades, each providing an original voice at very different times in the evolution of hip hop.

"South Bronx": F---, the track is just ridiculous in its rawness and importance. It's a history lesson, a call to arms, a neighborhood anthem for a place everyone was scared of. And of course, while not as direct as "The Bridge is Over," it's a reply to MC Shan and Queensbridge about which neighborhood really could lay claim as the birthplace of rap. The 2nd verse is a borough-crossing history lesson telling you how it is and why, delivered in a fresh-from-the-men's shelter voice of KRS that you wouldn't even question the knowledge or authenticity. He lived it, and was living it at that very moment.

I chose "Portrait of the Artist As a Hood" primarly for Serch's verse. On first listen it's just a night out but you soon realize it's so much more then that: it's an homage to the legendary New York spots where the hip hop renaissance was occurring on a nightly basis. In the early 1990's, hip hop has its momentum. Serch is scared of going commercial, where as the decade before, that wasn't even a reality. There's this ambiguity going on: there's fear about the death of real hip-hop "a parking lot where the Latin Quarter stood", yet at the same time he can boast about performing in front of packed stadiums. The shout outs at the end show you how far the music has gone regionally. Outposts of a New York movement that is already being transformed and molded to regional flavors.

"Fumbling Over the Words That Rhyme" is a post 2000 track that just hits you over the head with a lyrical firestorm of whose who back in the day. A 3 minute timeline coming from, of all places, Boston. Edan has such respect for all that has come before him. The track is crafted with a psychedelic sound and sample that gives it this lost in time quality while still managing to be thoroughly modern.

LOOKING FOR AN AUDIOBLOG TO FIT YOUR TASTES? posted by O.W.

Tofuhut went through the trouble of making it easy for you.

(John, you scary. In a good way I mean).

FEELIN' GOOD WITH THE QUANTIC SOUL ORCHESTRA posted by O.W.

Quantic Soul Orchestra: Introducing...The Quantic Soul Orchestra & Feeling Good (edit)
From Pushin' On (Ubiquity, 2005)

I was first turned onto the Quantic Soul Orchestra (QSO) through their siiiiick remixes on the Rebtuz series. Imagine a top-notch funk band that can flex their chops within electronic music and hip-hop aesthetics and you kind of get the idea. It's easier heard than explained though. The funk side comes straight at you via their "Introducing..." theme - super-slick and wicked - obviously James Brown influenced but also soaking in some jazz flavor with their use of organ and guitar.

As for "Feeling Good," well, you know I had to roll with that, especially after posting up what I think is the best version of the song last year. QSO's take on the song, feat. Alice Russell, is superb. It has far more production than the Frank Cunimondo/Lynn Marino version but I thought all the strings actually worked well with the song's swells and peaks.

Speaking of which, I just noticed that Lynn Marino herself posted a comment to Soul Sides based on the post of her songs. Like whoa.

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BONUS: THE VANGUARD BRING THE RUCKUS

Bambouche of the Vanguard Squad: Vanguard Squad Main Title Theme
From Revolution In Our Lifetime 7" (Vanguard Squad, 2005)

I met Bambouche through the Soulstrut.com forums and he and his man Aspirin have both dropped a cool, DIY 7" inspired by the call to armed resistance. B's track is based around a 1968 speech by Eldridge Cleaver (former Black Panther founder, later avowed anti-Communist) and rather than being on some bumrush-the-streets-with-guns-blazing energy, it's more like bad-boys-move-in-silence with its slinky grooves and laid back tempo.

By the way, I don't often say this but the packaging on this 7" is really great, especially the liner notes booklet that comes with it that breaks down each artist's pathway into social consciousness and the various inspirations behind both songs.

NEXT POST: What do BDP, Edan and 3rd Bass have in common? Guest poster Mal Ward has the lesson plan.

BETTY DAVIS: THEY SAY SHE'S DIFFERENT posted by O.W.

Betty Davis: Anti-Love Song
From Betty Davis (Just Sunshine, 1973)

Betty Davis: Shoo-B-Doop and Cop Him and They Say I'm Different
From They Say I'm Different (Just Sunshine, 1974)

Betty Davis: Nasty Gal
From Nasty Gal (Island, 1975)

All songs above also available on This Is It!.


I've been meaning to write something on Betty Davis for Soul Sides for a long time but what finally gave me an incentive was the release of Vampi Soul's compilation, This Is It!, which, as far as I know, is the first anthology to highlight Davis' musical career. I always thought it was strange that no one had done it sooner - though this may have had something to do with how Davis (now back to her maiden name of Mabry) is legendary for how difficult she is to reach.

All three of her albums are worth checking out, especially her first two on Just Sunshine but if you need a primer, this anthology is as good as any.

CONTINUE READING "THEY SAY SHE'S DIFFERENT"
(the following essay is adapted from a brief Critical Karaoke paper I gave at the 2004 EMP conference. I've added additional details at the end).

I first heard Betty Davis when I found her album Nasty Gal. On it, she’s decked out in black fishnet stockings, her legs kicked out in an aggressive dare and within moments of listening to her, she owned me. Partly, it was her voice, swinging from a seductive lilt to a jagged dagger in the blink of a bar. It was also her music, this tidal force of funk, rock and blues that could spin you dizzy or drag you in deep. Mostly though, it was her attitude – as brash and proud as her Afro, lit by the spark of youth but powered by the proverbial fury of a woman scorned.

Betty Davis didn’t sing love songs, she sung anti-love songs, but even her whispered warnings about her cruelty and cattiness couldn’t stop you from falling for her. In the space of a song, Betty could make you crawl, make you sweat and before you knew it, she held the deed to your soul.

Most of what I initially found about Betty was just mere footnote – she was known more by her married surname than as an artist in her own right. Born Betty Mabry, she’s the Mademoiselle Mabry that Miles Davis composed about and her face adorns Miles’ Filles De Kiliminjaro album. The two, separated in age by 25 years, were only married for a year but in that time, she’s credited with introducing Miles to Jimi Hendrix, who was Betty’s friend and rumored lover.

Considering Miles’ famed fusions between rock and jazz, one has to think of Betty as the bewitching inspiration behind his Bitches Brew but more than just a former First Lady of Jazz, she was also a Queen Mother of funk. Betty Davis was the missing link between Marva Whitney and Parlet, Nina Simone and the Brides of Funkenstein, not to mention the inspiration behind more recent funk fatales like Macy Gray and Kelis. However, unlike female mouthpieces for male producers and songwriters like James Brown and George Clinton, Betty wrote and arranged every song on all three of her albums and produced two herself. As she says on the title of her second album, They Say I’m Different.

Miles once said of his ex-wife that with more support and better luck, she could have been as big as Madonna and in retrospect, she had all the markings to be a huge star. Her photogenic image and flamboyant personality preceded Diana Ross’ disco diva conversion while predicting Tina Turner’s 1980s comeback. But far more than a pretty face and big hair, I was drawn to Betty for her striking songwriting, musical breadth and most of all, her blend of sass and seduction. I long adored the sentimental soul stylings of Aretha Franklin and Etta James but where they emoted, Betty inflicted. In her, I hear the wrenching misery of the gut bucket blues but Betty pours it out through funk’s cathartic energy. She tackles love and lust by shaking out frustrations and fantasies in a tremble of slapping bass lines, serrated guitar riffs, jabbing drum breaks and her own scratchy voice.

Her song titles alone - “If I’m In Luck I Might Get Picked Up”, “Nasty Gal”, and “Game Is My Middle Name” made it clear that she wasn’t penning Burt Bacharach tunes. Unlike ‘60s soul’s preoccupations with romance and heartbreak, Davis trumpeted funk’s indulgence with raw sexuality. She sang – singed really – about obsession and rapture, bragging about roughing you up, dragging you down and leaving you begging for more.

Yet, Davis was no raunchy tease – she understood that love and sex formed a blurred line that anyone was in danger of slipping into – including herself. On “Anti-Love Song,” she’s irresistibly seductive when she purrs, “No, I don’t want to love you/’cause I know how you are…/I know you could posses my body/I know you could make me crawl.” But with a wink of an eye, she turns the tables and you realize, who’s really in control: “Cause you know I could possess your body too/(don’t cha)/you know I could make you crawl/and just as hard as I’d fall for you/(boy)/well, you’d know you’d fall for me harder.” Truer words were never spoken.

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The four songs I pulled are my favorite by Davis. "Anti-Love Song" is a no-brainer - it's an incredible piece of songwriting and attitude, not to mention funky as hell. That said, I like "Shoo-B-Doop and Cop Him" even better - that bassline cannot be f---ed with and it's such a goddamn sexy song.

"They Say I'm Different" isn't simply a title track, it also encapsulates Betty Davis' whole attitude and outlook. Just listen to it and you'll see what I mean. Last but not least, "Nasty Gal" is just, well, nasty, especially the breakbeat on the chorus.