Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Box Of 45's: Stretch

Back when I did the U-WU (the Unofficial Wu-Tang Clan Mailing List), I had a section called MP3 Of The Week, and I was doing it long before everyone else put up MP3's on their site as a regular practice. I continued to do it when I put up my own website, and it was one of the more popular sections.

As a longtime record collector, I grew up listening to 45's. There is someone of a mystique about it, whether it's the fact that some artists had enough money to record and press up one record, only to never be heard from again. Soul and funk collectors know exactly what I'm talking about, and finding these records isn't only about looking for popular drum breaks or samples, but to be able to hear a hint of the magic and anticipating the artists had at the time of the recording.

Other times, it's merely looking for something new and different, on a format that was tossed off and abused over the years. 45's are great, and thus I bring to my blog my Box Of 45's, in MP3 form.


As a producer, I too look for weird and unusual samples, as well as breaks of interest. However, I'm someone who loves to hear music that may be unknown. This record was no exception, a record on a label by a band that was unknown to me. I brought it home and it was kinda funky to me, a nice groove. All of a sudden the song breaks down for a quick moment and I'm thinking to myself "why does this sound familiar?" I knew I heard it, and then the singer mentions two numbers. OH SNAP!

I personally like it when well known samples fall into my lap, it's as if these records are saying "come to me". In truth, it's those accidental discoveries that make record hunting so great.

Stretch-"Why Did You Do It?" (4.7 mb)

3 comments:

SLurg said...

It's funny you didn't know that song because it was quite a huge hit in Europe.

John Book said...

I was six when the song came out, and it did not get any airplay in Honolulu from what I remember. It is a good song, nonetheless. Do you know if the album is as good?

idiotproof67 said...

This track formed the basis for Kwanzaa Posse's single 'Wicked Funk' in 1991 from the famous Italian Flying Fish label. Was huge in the UK & Europe & ahs been on a multitude of compilations since then. I have had it on white label since 91. They basically turned it into a classic hip hop/beat track ala Grand Central/Fat City style, that still gets played every once in awhile.

So not sure if Slurg is refferring to the original or the sampled version.