“Is she or isn’t she?” DB favours a spray of Harmony between
takes during the recording of Fame on Soul Train, November 1975.
Fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, etc….
You may have heard about the forthcoming 12-track compilation CD due next month called: Tommy Boy Presents: Hip Hop Roots. The album contains David Bowie’s classic track, Fame, from Young Americans just in time for the 30th anniversary of the release of the single.
Compiled by Tom Silverman, founder and CEO of Tommy Boy, the release features: “twelve of the most sampled tracks that would become building blocks of Hip Hop music.”
I was surprised to see Fame clocking in at four minutes and fifty seconds on the promo CD. (The normal album version is 4:12 while the single edit is just 3:25)
I think a clue to this different edit lays in the press release, which states: “Legendary DJ and producer, Jazzy Jay, added his extra special flavor to the compilation by editing a few tracks the way he would have done live in 1980, at the T-Connection.” So I’m guessing that Fame is one of the tracks that received this treatment.
It seems that after the familiar intro, the extra 25 seconds or so are spliced in so that the descending “Fame, fame, fame, fame…” hook is included before the main vocal starts…which now doesn’t come in for a minute and a quarter.
While it doesn’t sound a big deal, it actually works really well and I don’t think people who aren’t as familiar with the song as you or I would necessarily notice. It’s just a great way of getting a longer version of the track without it being a nasty remix.
As I’m sure you all know, Fame was David’s first US #1 and it probably helped secure him a place as one of the first white musicians to appear on Soul Train (see pic above) on which he also performed Golden Years from the forthcoming Station To Station album.
I’ll leave you with the press release, followed by the CD cover and track listing…
————————————————————————————————————-
Tommy Boy Presents: Hip Hop Roots
Tom Silverman, founder and CEO of Tommy Boy announces the release of HIP HOP ROOTS on both CD and double vinyl. Personally selected and compiled by Silverman, this collection features twelve of the most sampled tracks that would become building blocks of Hip Hop music.
From Rock hits like Billy Squier’s “The Big Beat” most recently featured on Jay Z’s “99 Problems” to Bob James’ “Take Me to the Mardi Gras” sampled by Run DMC for “Peter Piper” and LL Cool J on “Rock the Bells”…From Cymande’s “Bra” most popularly used in DJ Kool’s “Let Me Clear My Throat” to outerspace hits like UFO by ESG heard in Man Parrish’s electro hit, “Boogie Down Bronx”…. From David Bowie’s Rock/Funk hit “Fame” lifted by Public Enemy for “Night of the Living Baseheads” to the Monkees’ “Mary Mary” quoted by Run DMC for their hit of the same title…Disco, Funk, Soul, Rock, Jazz, Pop and Reggae were united and extended under the DJs hands to mold into Hip Hop.
In his liner notes, Silverman hearkens back to 1980, in the “Breaks Room”, at Downstairs Records, where a “music revolution was being born.” In this room, one could buy vinyl by artists such as “Dennis Coffey, Bob James, Jimmy Castor, The Eagles, Incredible Bongo Band, Herman Kelly and Life, The Monkees and so many more that seemingly had nothing to do with each other” except for the fact that the founding fathers of Hip Hop, were digging them up and rocking them in the Bronx.
He also recounts, in 1980, going to the legendary T-Connection, in the Bronx, to see Afrika Bambaataa spin. “There, working the turntables, was Afrika Bambaataa… To his left and right were Jazzy Jay and Red Alert waiting for their turn to mix… Some of the records had the label steamed off so other DJs would not know what he was playing. Evidently his efforts were in vain because 25 years later, DJs and producers are still relying on the beats that he, Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash discovered.”
Legendary DJ and producer, Jazzy Jay, added his extra special flavor to the compilation by editing a few tracks the way he would have done live in 1980, at the T-Connection.
Tom Silverman summarizes, “I believe that the strength of Hip Hop over 26 years unlike any other kind of music has been its inclusive nature. Rather than be elitist or separatist, Hip Hop is accepting and absorbing of outside influences. African, Latin, Disco, Funk, or the corniest Pop or soundtracks were accepted and made the genre stronger just as America is made strong by its confluence of cultures and rainbow of peoples.”
————————————————————————————————————-
01 It’s Just Begun – The Jimmy Castor Bunch (RCA, 1972)
02 The Big Beat – Billy Squier (Capitol, 1980)
03 Think (About It) – Lyn Collins feat. the JB’s (People, 1970)
04 Take Me to the Mardi Gras – Bob James (CTI, 1975)
05 Fame – David Bowie (RCA, 1975)
06 Happy Music – The Blackbyrds (Fantasy, 1975)
07 Express Yourself – Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band (Warner, 1969)
08 Bra – Cymande (Janus, 1972)
09 Mary Mary – The Monkees (Colgems, 1967)
10 Let a Woman Be a Woman, and Let a Man Be a Man – Dyke and the Blazers (Original Sound, 1969)
11 Give it Up or Turnit A Loose – James Brown (King, 1970)
12 UFO – ESG (99 Records, 1981)
Tommy Boy Presents: Hip Hop Roots is released on August 9th.
