Week 39: Tribute
Week 39 came and went!
Sorry, I’m lagging behind thanks to some technical problems (and a heavy workload at work) – one of my laptops was fried thanks to a thunderstorm last week, and on top of that, one of my new firewire HD’s just stopped working. Both of them now replaced, but I’m still sulking over losing plenty of good music – and too much hard work down the drain. But hey, at least I got to do some tech shopping – which always lifts my spirits to some extent!
Whatever…enough of all that! Let’s get back to the reason why we’re all here – the music!
This week is a salutation to all of you 4BB devotees! How about a brand spanking new rip of Gene Page’s 1974 LP “Hot City” – the most popular album ever posted on 4 Brothers Beats (downloaded almost 5 times more than the runner up, Milt Jackson’s “Sunflower”). Since the old rip had some excessive snap, crackle and pop (and even two minor, yet very irritating skips) I’ve been on a constant look-out for a better copy than my old battered one. And on one of this summers successful scavenging hunts, I put my mittens on a still sealed copy. Not as cheap as I was hoping for, but still a bargain in my opinion…even considering the fact that it turned out to be “re-sealed” rather than “still sealed”…it’s still a copy mint enough for my purposes!
To all our followers out there…this one’s for you! 4BB salutes you!
So what about Gene Page himself? Y’all know all there is to know about Gene, right? Barry White’s long time sidekick and wingman. The man responsible for arranging the strings and the french horns just right to get that precise Barry White sound. Without Gene there wouldn’t be any Love Unlimited Orchestra…hell, without Gene there wouldn’t be any Barry White – since Barry neither could read or write music, he used to hum his ideas…and Gene would transform the ideas to that trademark soaring sound (hehehe, all this beautiful music thanks to some sort of astrologic “sign language” between two virgos). That’s how important Gene was! But then again, without Barry there wouldn’t be a Gene Page either – just listen to the solo albums Gene did without Barry…damn, these “fellow virgos” really needed each other.
Jokes aside, Gene did some great work before he found his soulmate…the soundtracks to the blaxploitation flicks “Cool Breeze” (together with Solomon Burke) and “Blacula” are both perfect examples of just that! Both of them done in 1972, the same year that Barry called him in to help out with Love Unlimited’s “Walking In The Rain With The One I Love” – the rest is history!
For a full bio on Gene click here, but to sum up Barry’s & Gene’s stellar partnership this is all you need:
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“Between 1973 and 1978, the brilliance of those pillow-talk recordings helped Barry White, as a solo artist and with his Love Unlimited and Love Unlimited Orchestra offshoots, sell over 100 million units and create what some sexologists still define as a ‘Barry boom’. No night out was complete until you’d heard the rhapsodic strings and shuffling rhythms of such songs as ‘Never Never Gonna Give You Up’, ‘Can’t Get Enough of Your Love Babe’, ‘You’re the First the Last My Everything’, ‘What Am I Gonna Do With You’ and ‘Let The Music Play’.”
(From The Independent’s well-written obit on Gene, who unfortunately died back in 1998…way to soon!)
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In 1974, at the height of their creative collab, Gene releases his best solo album “Hot City”…of course, produced by Barry White. And just listen to the take on Barry’s “Satin Soul” on the LP – definitely one of the best renditions ever! But there’s more to the album than that – “To The Bone”, “Jungle Eyes”, “She’s My Main Squeeze”, “Cream Corner” and “Gene’s Theme” are all essential tracks in any soul aficionado or beatmakers music library! I mean, just listen to this:
To end things of on a high note, and to sum up Gene Page’s career, here’s another useful snippet of information from The Independent:
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“Major Eighties successes included ‘Endless Love’ by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie, ‘Tonight I Celebrate My Love’ by Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack, ‘The Greatest Love of All’ by Whitney Houston and ‘Always’ by Atlantic Starr. In all, his name appeared on more than 200 gold and platinum records.
The last two songs were performed at Page’s funeral, during which many of the musicians who worked with him played as a tribute. The Rev William Minson Jr, who officiated at the service, remembers Page as ‘a man who always cared and shared with other people. More than his 35 year-career in popular music, I believe that is Gene Page’s biggest legacy’.”
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Amen to that…caring and sharing is what 4BB is all about as well! :¬)
Big thanks to all of our faithful followers, and for the 1,237 comments we’ve received so far (and exactly 10.000 counting in the comments on the two previous incarnations of 4BB) – but first and foremost, mad props to Gene Page…thank you for the music!
(Ps. Please note that we’re about to shut down the blogspot jump page – so you’d better make sure to bookmark this page right now! And yeah, we’re still working on the details of the upcoming 4BB Remix Competition…just need to finalize the sponsor deals to make sure we have a tasty enough grand prize! More info on all of this real soon…promise!)
34 comments on “Week 39: Tribute”
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Thank you!
keep blogging!
it is always a source of music learning for us
You’re welcome! 😀
Sweeeet! Many thanks for the post!
Yeah…sweet is only half of it…don’t forget it’s awesomeness! 😉
Dope tribute. The whole record is beautiful. But the b-side with that “Satin Soul” anthem in, is awesome.
Thanks for the post.
Thank you!
And yeah, couldn’t agree more! 🙂
Thank you keep blogging ! great music !!!
Daido…you know we will! 😀
Gene is so great! i still remember the disco cover of the John Williams theme from the 1977 Steven Spielberg’s movie Close Encounters.
Yeah…I got that LP as well, simply called “Close Encounters” from 1978. But this one, “Hot City” is by far the best! “Lovelock” from 1976 has some nice tracks, and so has his LP “Love Starts After Dark” from 1980 too…but none of them are close to “Hot City”! But if you’re missing some of these albums in your collection…just say the word, and I’ll do some ripping! 😀
Hey! I got off on the old post, so I know this will be sweeter. Thanks.
Had a good time here too.. http://marc4hero.podomatic.com/
For sure, Slick! Marc Mac knows what he’s doing…for sure! And yeah, everybody…check this out (just to be a bit more specific): http://marc4hero.podOmatic.com/entry/eg/2007-11-05T07_40_18-08_00 😀
The best album he ever did!! Other than the blacula soundtrack…………..Dope dope tunes…………
Definitely so…Blacula is my other favourite in his discography…simple, groovy and effective!!
Barry + Gene…cant go wrong wit that combo. Thanx 4 da muzik brothers
Exactly! And you’re welcome! 😉
ahh…one of my FAVORITE records of all time, of any genre! Always gets me going on a slow morning…I got a vinyl copy that looks just like that picture – $3 yall…keep funkin’ brothers!!!
Yep! Will do! 🙂
Man, I SO LATE!!!
This is a TRUE treat…
Thank 4 sharing boss!!
Yep, a treat indeed! Thanks, Beef!
My favorite Barry White production… definitely in my top 3 albums of all times!
Sounds just… magic!
Great post Laf
Thanks, homie! Yeah, this is a great album for sure!
And hey, bro…check your mail! 🙂
/L
awesome post! love those strings!
Music Maestro Please – the Gene Page, with this fabulousy orchestrated instrumental-only long player. The swirling strings of Barry White’s career are there and most importantly, the man is writing on top form with Baz and his longtime partner in crime, bro’ Billy Page. My fave is ‘Cream Corner’, but this is a lovely breezy reminder of a bygone era where a full orchestra used to be employed to great expense to give our music its glorious longevity. Great stuff, Laf – as always
Another great post..Fam. Many Thanks
Peace
Blak
Thanks to you 4 for all you do…I just recently rediscovered you guys…
Sweeeeeet , my wife likes this one so i love it too ;-D
Thank you so much. my day is always better for visiting your page. keep up the awesome work
ooo ive been lookin for gene page for a minute, thanks!
Thanks a lot !!!
Thanx a lot ,you made me happy (again)
Hi everybody,
thanks a lot for this burner, I’ve bought it once in Madrid at the end of the 1980th. Now, working in Mali in the field of development cooperation, I can hear this sound again, thanks brothers for all that stuff here…
In love, Mukasambala
[…] realizing that this album also is the perfect comeback to the recently posted Gene Page album (Week 39) – since Gene co-produced, arranged and conducted all tracks on “Stand On The Positive […]