As a TRUE HIPHOP DJ, you needed this in your collection to be credible AT ALL, back in the day. I remember when I 1st found out what a 'Break' was, made a trip to NY to The Music Factory (RIP), where they were releasing them 1 VOLUME AT A TIME, then one day I went there and they had the ENTIRE SERIES on the wall. I just said, I'll take that 'ENTIRE ROW' right there, and would keep coming back until I was broke, and eventually bought them all. It didn't matter if you 'KNEW' all the breaks on there or not, it was an ARSENAL that made you worthy of being a HIPHOP DJ, and over time, you'd eventually see where they were USING these breaks, even snippets, in HipHop music. So, fast forward to today, like I said, 3/4ths of the population here wouldn't know what to do with these jawns.and I'm talking 3/4ths of the HIPHOP DJ's. Quote: I just said, I'll take that 'ENTIRE ROW' right there, and would keep coming back until I was broke, and eventually bought them all. Two copies of each for sure.
Mad dudes would frown at these back then because it wasn't truly 'digging'. But mixed on a tape with the MC of the day on it, WHO CARES! The other cool thing about these is a lot of the 'breaks' are looped andextended and/or brought to the beginning of the track( see: Banbarra - Shack Up, James Brown - Funky Drummer, Brothers Johnson - Aint We Funkin Now, etc) OH and IBTL. Quote: two copies of each for sure. Man, that wasn't even a QUESTION! I went BROKE AS HELL, getting those, but was WORTH every penny.
The digging WAS initially legit, as they used to release a Volume and NOT repress it. So if you missed it, you were ass out. Then one day, they just all showed up on the wall.
Find a Various - Ultimate Breaks & Beats The Complete Collection first pressing or reissue. Complete your Various collection. Free Your Mind. Most of you will be aware of the Ultimate Breaks & Beats vinyl collection I'm sure. I've had the collection sitting on my hard drive.
+10 on recognizing the edited loops. Most don't know that the version of 'Impeach The President', that's on there is DJ 'friendly', vs. The original break that FORCED the DJ to be quick with his hands. Quote: go find the originals! I have a stack of those on 45, they're out there!
45s are usually shortened versions and don't have the breaks in them OR they are broken up in 2 parts. Plus they aren't really practical for scratching.
45s are short versions only if the song is hella long, but they have the breaks, or at least they do for most of the classics like 'champ,' 'tramp,' 'dance to the drummer's beat,' 'amen brother,' etc. Much of the vocal soul of the time, esp James Brown, has lots of part 2, part 3 on the back, but that doesn't really interfere with what most of us do with the records. As far as scratching, as the name implies I cut my teeth on reggae & mostly learned to scratch with 45s. It's not too bad, you just have to have a light touch.
Sound quality, on the other hand, can be an issue with records that are 30 years old. In terms of what you can still do with them, there are some great 45s only parties here in the Bay & if you're at SXSW there's one coming up soon featuring platurn & numark.
Its a great way to go back to the days of digging and basic skills being the way that parties were blown up. Quote: Its a great way to go back to the days of digging and basic skills being the way that parties were blown up. IMO, digging when you know what you are looking for overrated these days. Especially if it's readily available in a high quality form.(clean audio - digital or analog ) Ultimate Breaks & Beats made it possible for breaks to live on after all the originals got worn out on the break. I still got my ORIGINAL doubles of Freedom - Get Up And Dance that are almost unintelligible on the breaks form all the cutting, scratching and backspinning with them Pickering V15s + a nickel on the headshell. Ultimate Breaks & Beats ALSO stepped up the sound quality on records of this kind - anybody remember the horrific sound quality and off-beat looping on the Paul Winley - 'Super Disco Brakes' albums?