BETTY DAVIS - Betty Davis (1973-2009) RM / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Betty Davis' debut was an outstanding funk record, driven by her aggressive, no-nonsense songs and a set of howling performances from a crack band. Listeners wouldn't know it from the song's title, but for the opener, "If I'm in Luck I Might Get Picked Up," Davis certainly doesn't play the wallflower; she's a woman on the prowl, positively luring the men in and, best of all, explaining exactly how she does it: "I said I'm wigglin' my fanny, I'm raunchy dancing, I'm-a-doing it doing it/This is my night out." "Game Is My Middle Name" begins at a midtempo lope, but really breaks through on the chorus, with the Pointer Sisters and Sylvester backing up each of her assertions. As overwhelming as Davis' performances are, it's as much the backing group as Davis herself that makes her material so powerful (and believable). Reams of underground cred allowed her to recruit one of the tightest rhythm sections ever heard on record (bassist Larry Graham and drummer Greg Errico, both veterans of Sly & the Family Stone), plus fellow San Francisco luminaries like master keyboardist Merl Saunders and guitarists Neal Schon or Douglas Rodriguez (both associated with Santana at the time). Graham's popping bass and the raw, flamboyant, hooky guitar lines of Schon or Rodriguez make the perfect accompaniment to these songs; Graham's slinky bass is the instrumental equivalent of Davis' vocal gymnastics, and Rodriguez makes his guitar scream during "Your Man My Man." It's hard to tell whether the musicians are pushing so hard because of Davis' performances or if they're egging each other on, but it's an unnecessary question. Everything about Betty Davis' self-titled debut album speaks to Davis the lean-and-mean sexual predator, from songs to performance to backing, and so much the better for it. All of which should've been expected from the woman who was too wild for Miles Davis.  by John Bush  
Tracklist:
1 If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up 5:01
2 Walkin Up The Road 2:55
3 Anti Love Song 4:32
4 Your Man My Man 3:35
5 Ooh Yea 3:09
6 Steppin In Her I. Miller Shoes 3:15
7 Game Is My Middle Name 5:23
8 In The Meantime 2:47
- Bonus Tracks -
9 Come Take Me 3:56
10 You Won't See Me In The Morning 3:50
11 I Will Take That Ride 4:43
Credits:
Baritone Saxophone – Jules Broussard (tracks: 2)
Bass – Doug Rauch (tracks: 2), Larry Graham (tracks: 1, 3 to 8)
Bass Vocals – Willy Sparks III
Congas – Victor Pantoja (tracks: 1)
Drums, Producer – Greg Errico
Electric Piano, Clavinet – Merl Saunders (tracks: 3, 4)
Guitar – Doug Rodrigues (tracks: 1, 3, 4, 8), Neal Schon (tracks: 2)
Guitar [Wah, Wah] – Neal Schon (tracks: 3, 5, 6)
Organ, Clavinet – Hershall Kennedy (tracks: 1, 5, 7, 8)
Piano – Pete Sears (tracks: 3)
Piano, Clavinet – Richard Kermode (tracks: 2, 6)
Saxophone – Skip Mesquit (tracks: 2)
Trombone – Michael Gillette (tracks: 5)
Trumpet – Greg Adams
Vocals – Hershall Kennedy (tracks: 1, 5), Pointer Sisters (tracks: 6, 7)
Vocals [1st Voice] – Annie Sampson (tracks: 7)
Vocals [2nd Voice] – Anita Pointer (tracks: 7)
Vocals [3rd Voice] – Kathi McDonald (tracks: 2, 3, 7)
Vocals [4th Voice] – Patryce Banks (tracks: 4, 5, 7)
Vocals [5th Voice] – Sylvester (tracks: 7)
Vocals [Not Credited], Written-By, Arranged By – Betty Davis

BETTY DAVIS - They Say I'm Different (1976-2007) RM / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Betty Davis' second full-length featured a similar set of songs as her debut, though with Davis herself in the production chair and a radically different lineup. The openers, "Shoo-B-Doop and Cop Him" and "He Was a Big Freak," are big, blowsy tunes with stop-start funk rhythms and Davis in her usual persona as the aggressive sexual predator. On the title track, she reminisces about her childhood and compares herself to kindred spirits of the past, a succession of blues legends she holds fond -- including special time for Bessie Smith, Chuck Berry, and Robert Johnson. A pair of unknowns, guitarist Cordell Dudley and bassist Larry Johnson, do a fair job of replacing the stars from her first record. As a result, They Say I'm Different is more keyboard-dominated than her debut, with prominent electric piano, clavinet, and organ from Merl Saunders, Hershall Kennedy, and Tony Vaughn. The material was even more extreme than on her debut; "He Was a Big Freak" featured a prominent bondage theme, while "Your Mama Wants Ya Back" and "Don't Call Her No Tramp" dealt with prostitution, or at least inferred it. With the exception of the two openers, though, They Say I'm Different lacked the excellent songs and strong playing of her debut; an explosive and outré record, but more a variation on the same theme she'd explored before. by John Bush  
Tracklist
1 Shoo-B-Doop And Cop Him 3:57
Electric Piano – Tony Vaughn
Lead Guitar – Buddy Guy
Trumpet – Hershall Kennedy
2 He Was A Big Freak 4:07
Clavinet, Organ – Hershall Kennedy
Rhythm Guitar – Jimmy Godwin
3 Your Mama Wants Ya Back 3:27
Electric Piano – Merle Saunders
Rhythm Guitar – Jimmy Godwin
4 Don't Call Her No Tramp 4:06
Clavinet – Tony Vaughn
5 Git In There 4:46
Clavinet, Organ – Hershall Kennedy
Organ [High Abstract] – Merle Saunders
6 They Say I'm Different 4:14
Drums – Mike Clark 
Piano – Tony Vaughn
Rhythm Guitar, Soloist [Solo] – Jimmy Godwin
7 70's Blues 5:01
Clavinet – Tony Vaughn
Congas – Victor Pantoja
Drums – Mike Clark 
Rhythm Guitar, Soloist [Solo] – Jimmy Godwin
Timbales – Pete Escovedo
8 Special People 3:22
Electric Piano – Hershall Kennedy
Piano – Merle Saunders
 

BETTY DAVIS - Nasty Gal (1975-2002) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

 Funk diva Betty Davis was supposed to break big upon the release of her third album, Nasty Gal. After all, her Just Sunshine Records contract had been bought up by Chris Blackwell and Island Records, and they were prepared to invest not only big money in the recording, but in the promotion of the 1975 release. Davis and her well-seasoned road band, Funk House, entered the studio with total artistic control in the making of the album. This set contains classic and often raunchy street funk anthems such as the title track (with its infamous anthemic lyric: "...You said I love you every way but your way/And my way was too dirty for ya now...." ), "Talkin' Trash," "Dedicated to the Press," and the musically ancestral tribute "F.U.N.K." It also features the beautiful, moving, uncharacteristic ballad "You and I," co-written with her ex-husband, Miles Davis, and orchestrated by none other than Gil Evans. It's the only track like it on the record, but it's a stunner. The album is revered as much for its musical quality as its risqué lyrical content. This quartet distilled the Sly Stone funk-rock manifesto and propelled it with real force. Check the unbelievable twinning of guitar and bassline in "Feelins" that underscore, note for note, Davis' vocals. The drive is akin to hardcore punk rock, but so funky it brought Rick James himself to the altar to worship (as he later confessed in interviews). And in the instrumental break, the interplay between the rhythm section (bassist Larry Johnson and drummer Semmie "Nicky" Neal, Jr.) and guitarist Carlos Moralesis held to the ground only by Fred Mills' keyboards. In essence, the album is missing nothing: it's perfect, a classic of the genre in that it pushed every popular genre with young people toward a blurred center that got inside the backbone while smacking you in the face. Heard through headphones, its spaced out psychedelic effects, combined with the nastiest funk rock on the block, is simply shocking. The fact that the album didn't perform the way it should have among the populace wasn't the fault of Davis and her band, who went out and toured their collective butts off, or Island who poured tens of thousands of dollars into radio and press promotion, or the press itself (reviews were almost universally positive). The record seemed to rock way too hard for Black radio, and was far too funky for White rock radio. In the 21st century, however, it sounds right on time. Light in the Attic Records has remastered the original tapes painstakingly for the first North American release of this set on CD. As is their trademark, they've done a stellar job both aurally and visually, as the digipack is spectacular. The set also features a definitive historical essay by John Ballon.  by Thom Jurek  
Tracklist 
1 Nasty Gal 4:37
Lead Vocals – Fred Mills
2 Talkin Trash 4:43
Congas – Errol "Crusher" Bennett
Lead Vocals – Fred Mills
3 Dedicated To The Press 3:42
4 You And I 2:45
Conductor, Arranged By [Brass Arrangement] – Gil Evans
Music By, Directed By – Miles Davis
5 Feelins 2:45
Synthesizer [Arp] – James Allen Smith
6 F.U.N.K. 4:21
7 Gettin Kicked Off, Havin Fun 3:09
Backing Vocals – Carlos Morales, Fred Mills, Nickey Neal
Lead Vocals – Carlos Morales 
8 Shut Off The Light 3:54
Drums [Bass Drum] – Buddy Williams
9 This Is It! 3:28
10 The Lone Ranger 6:13
Congas – Errol "Crusher" Bennett
Synthesizer [Arp] – James Allen Smith
Credits
Bass – Larry Johnson
Drums – Semmie (Nickey) Neal Jr.
Guitar [Lead] – Carlos Morales
Keyboards – Fred Mills
 

BETTY DAVIS - Is It Love or Desire (1976-2009) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Whatever the reason that Betty Davis' Is It Love or Desire -- also known as Crashin' from Passion -- remained unreleased until 2009 no longer matters. Davis remembers a personal rift with Island's Chris Blackwell. Studio In the Country manager Jim Bateman (in Bogalusa, LA) claims the studio was never paid and therefore refused to release the masters to Island, etc. It makes no difference, because hearing this album, a ten-song set that was to be
Davis' and Funk House's final recording, is a revelation. (In 1976, funk was slowly giving way to the popularity of disco). Hindsight is 20/20, but had this album been released at the time, things might indeed have been different. Musically, Is It Love or Desire is so forward and so complete, it moves the entire genre toward a new margin. It is as groundbreaking in its way as the music Ornette Coleman was making with Prime Time à la Dancing in Your Head, and the blunt-edged fractured jazz-funk James Blood Ulmer laid down on his own a couple of years later on Tales of Captain Black and Are You Glad to Be in America?. The songwriting is top notch; some of it transcends the proto-sexual excesses of her earlier records though that's still in this wild mix, too. The production is so canny, it seems to get at the very essences of singers, songs, and musical arrangements, and then there's the music itself created by Funk House, one of the most amazing funk bands in the history of music. Being Davis' road and studio band had gelled the unit, which also practiced when they weren't working with her in a practice space at home in North Carolina. Check the dark voodoo-groove bassline Larry Johnson plays on "It's So Good," with Carlos Morales guitar filling the spaces with spidery, silvery lines, and the machine-gun snare groove laid down by drummer Semmie Neal, Jr with breaks and pops that underscore the outrageous distorted keyboards of Fred Mills, the band's music director. Speaking of Mills, his duet vocal on "Whorey Angel,"a spooky, psychedelic soul number that is far better than its title, is scary good. Check out the gris-gris choruses by Davis and her backing chorus with all that bass leading the entire band in its slow, backbone-slipping attack. The sheer sonic attack of "Bottom of the Barrel," may be country in its lyric intro, but the music is diamond-hard funk that makes no secret of its-anti disco sentiment. The ballad on the set, "When Romance Says Goodbye," is a steamy, sultry jazz noir number that gives the listener an entirely new aural portrait of Davis - Mills' piano work on the tune, with its sparse chords and spacious approach, gives Davis' natural singing voice -- rather than her sexual growl -- plenty of room to shine here. There's a bluesy number in &"Let's Get Personal," and a strutting rutting, gutter anthem in "Bar Hoppin' with some in excellent interplay between Mills' synth and Morales' guitar. The final track, a nocturnal, midtempo sexy number called "For My Man," features the violin talent of Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, to boot. It's easy to say that this the best thing Davis ever cut, especially when a record has existed in mythology for as long as this one has, but that makes it no less true. Many thanks to the Light in the Attic imprint for bringing Is It Love or Desire out of the realm of myth and the dustbin of history, and into the hands of music fans. by Thom Jurek 
Tracklist:

1 Is It Love Or Desire 2:36

Backing Vocals – Carrie, Cora, Hoyt 

2 It's So Good 3:20

3 Whorey Angel 5:02

Lead Vocals – Fred Mills

4 Crashin' From Passion 3:24

Backing Vocals – Fred Mills, Hoyt  

5 When Romance Says Goodbye 3:43

6 Bottom Of The Barrel 3:47

Backing Vocals – Carlos Morales, Fred Mills

7 Stars Starve, You Know 3:35

8 Let's Get Personal 3:32

9 Bar Hoppin' 3:12

Backing Vocals – Betty Davis, Carlos Morales, Carrie, Cora, Fred Mills, Hoyt, Larry Johnson, Nathaniel Corbett, Semmie (Nickey) Neal

10 For My Man 1:42

Violin – Clarence Gatemouth Brown

Credits:

Bass – Larry Johnson 

Drums – Semmie (Nickey) Neal Jr.

Guitar – Carlos Morales

Keyboards – Fred Mills

Percussion – Nathaniel Corbett

Producer, Written-By, Arranged By, Vocals – Betty Davis

BETTY DAVIS - The Columbia Years 1968-1969 (2016) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

et down with it now cause this is it…” sang Betty Davis, whose iconic style of revelatory punk-funk saw her rise to fame in the 1970s. Her voice tore through her songs, with throbbing bass and razor-sharp guitars. Davis never held back. Her music was raw, and something almost predatory. Songs like Walking up The Road and They Say I’m Different showed the music world at the time that she was a force to be reckoned with, even paving the way for The Commodores, penning tracks that eventually saw them signed to Motown.

But for almost half a century, a question as to whether Davis had recorded a secret session at Columbia’s 52nd Street studios in New York City remained unanswered.

Not just any session, the rumors that had been circulating suggested that Miles Davis produced these secret tracks, and members from Jimi Hendrix’s band also played on the record.

In 2016, the rumours were announced as true.

In 1969, Betty Davis did in fact secretly record sessions that were produced by Miles Davis and Teo Macero, and were accompanied by members from the Jimi Hendrix Experience, including drummer Mitch Mitchell, guitarist John McLaughlin, Herbie Hancock on keys, and session bassist Harvey Brooks. Other players included bassist Billy Cox (Band of Gypsys), saxophonist Wayne Shorter and organist Larry Young.

The entire project, which has now been brought together a labeled The Columbia Years 1968-1969, was overseen with Davis’s full blessing, and includes documents from Teo Macero, rarely seen photos from legendary photographer Baron Wolman, and new interviews with Davis herself, Harvey Brooks, and Hugh Masekela. But it’s the sounds, the voice of Davis, the beats that were thought to be almost mythological, that make The Columbia Years 1968-1969 something special. Also included in this release is an astounding Betty Davis session that took place in Los Angeles in 1968 with Hugh Masekela and The Crusaders.

The Columbia Years 1968-1969 are never before heard, and nothing short of iconic. They planted the seeds for Bitches Brew and Davis’ groundbreaking funk albums.

The Columbia Years 1968-1969 is available now on a black LP and CD.

1. Hangin' Out 4:56

2. Politician Man 5:46

3. Down Home Girl 5:26

4. Born On The Bayou 3:22

5. I'm Ready, Willing, & Able (Take 1) 1:05

6. I'm Ready, Willing, & Able (Take 9) 3:23

7. It's My Life (Alternate Take) 2:22

8. Live, Love, Learn 2:37

9. My Soul Is Tired 2:07