Thursday, August 20, 2009

History of the Amen Break - Six-Second Drum Sample

This clip is chock full of info on sampling in general and the use of the heavily sampled drum break from The Winstons song "Amen Brother" (the b-side of the "Color Him Father" single and title track on their 1969 record of the same name) in specifics. The b-side wins again!

In the info section of mobius32's YouTube posting for this clip, they state "Nate Harrison's 2004 video is a meditation on the ownership of culture, the nature of art and creativity, and the history of a remarkable music clip."


Here's some info on The Winstons, taken from sylvette323's YouTube post of the clip below for "Color Him Father" -- "A Washington, D.C.-based soul act led by Richard Spencer, the Winstons signed to Curtom in early 1968 and lasted there for one single, the rousing "Need a Replacement." They had a sound that was somewhat similar to the Impressions, but were unfortunate enough to have signed with Curtom before the label had national distribution, and the single never got the play it should have. A year after leaving Curtom, they hit for the Metromedia label with a huge single called "Color Him Father," which became a Top Ten R&B and pop hit, just missing number one on the R&B list, and also earned a Grammy for Best R&B Song."




The Winstons - Amen Brother


1 comment:

  1. To quote The Frogs from their classic It's Only Right and Natural record - "that was a good drum break"

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