the buddy rich big band - the beat goes on (with cathy rich)

five years ago on this day i played on a shoutcast server that me and a few others used and abused from time to time and for boxing day i played a so called special set. i needed a mixtape to listen to on a daily basis and i assembled this tracklist with soul, jazz, funk, folk and spiritual music. as i pressed record it all flowed perfectly but i do remember noone listening at the end of the session. never the less i didn't care as the result was rewarding.

the mix starts with the classic gil scott-heron & brian jackson song "we've almost lost detroit" and it trawls along with some songs by luminaries such as dinah washington, herbie hancock, curtis & carmen lundy, patrice washington, joan baez amongst others. my original plan was to have sam cooke's "a change is gonna come" as this big peak/ender and then wind it down for the closing with karin krog's "the meaning of love".

as the final seconds rolled by on the song i pulled up buddy rich's rendition of sonny & cher's "the beat goes on" and played it as an encore of sorts. i let the bassline end on "the meaning of love" and then faded "the beat goes on" with the intro dialogue and all and it made more sense now. i have no real history with the sonny & cher original as i was introduced to the song by the all seeing i version that sampled the buddy rich version wholesale with bass & vocals being worked.

with the fact that it's a buddy rich version he keeps his drumming tight and controls the track even in the first part of the song, it's the bassplayer that's the dominant factor. this version of the song is noted as rich's daughter, who was twelve (or twelve and ahalf as rich self says in the intro), cathy sings the vocals for the song. she sings most of the lyrics sans the final verse is one of the best ones to be honest but as the biggest emphasis is on the hook, it makes it perfect for someone like buddy rich to make a version of.

buy here (itunes)

note: anyone who've heard the all seeing i version, there is a second version that they did. they cleared out cathy rich's part and out of the song and gave it to britney spears for her version. it appeared on britney's debut album and i sort of like it and i have to thank my sister for playing this album all the fucking time as i would have never cared about it otherwise. the only part i don't like about is they changed the lyrics for the song.