Power Of Zeus - ‘Sorcerer Of Isis’
taken from The Gospel According To Zeus (Rare Earth, 1970)

Having stuck simply to funk for fodder for this series so far, I thought I’d mix it up a little today and throw a rock joint at you for your percussive consumption. However, in terms of supplementary info on this particular break I’m afraid it’s going to be a little light on this occasion, as Power Of Zeus are a group who I know next to nothing about and wouldn’t ever profess to.

As far as I can tell ‘Sorcerer Of Isis’ is taken from their only studio album The Gospel According To Zeus which saw a release on Motown offshoot label Rare Earth. I’m yet to hear the LP in its entirety but ‘Sorcerer Of Isis’ is pretty cool for what it is, although bear in mind that this is coming from somebody who knows next to nothing about psychedelic ’70s rock. It’s also easy to see why it’s been adopted by beatmakers, as the beautifully clean hats, kicks and snares during the opening passage of the song are divinely ripe for the chop.

This only covers a fraction of it. Keep those ears trained for the snare hits in some of your favourite beats and ignore the fact that snare-spotting is pretty much as geeky as it gets: embrace that shit. I know I have.

Dexter Wansel - ‘Theme From The Planets’
taken from Life On Mars (Philadelphia International, 1976)

Given that I’m lacking a bit of time today and am in some serious discomfort (knee cartilage is officially the bane of my life), it seems the perfect opportunity to continue my new series that focuses on everybody’s favourite part of good hippity-hoppity music, the drums. Today’s percussive treat comes in the shape of Dexter Wansel’s ‘Theme From The Planets’, a great slice of space-inspired downbeat funk that offers a hell of a lot more than just three bars of particularly crispy hats, kicks and snares.

So here’s my brief, entirely ripped-off summary of Wansel just to set you on your way into further exploration. A keyboardist raised in Philly, Wansel made his name alongside Gamble & Huff at Philadelphia International Records during the ’70s, eventually collaborating with artists such as MFSB, Grover Washington Jr. and Lou Rawls amongst many others. ‘Theme From The Planets’ comes from his most successfully commercial album Life On Mars which will now set you back a few bob if you hanker after original vinyl as a result of the presence of the track offered to you here: diggers love it. There’s little point in me regurgitating much more info, so follow the links and fill in the gaps yourselves.

As a brief aside, although whipping out the Spock costume does inevitably increase the inherent joy of the listening experience, it’s far from a necessity. However, if you do choose to take the plunge then be wary: those fake pixie ears can be a bitch to remove.

Sly & The Family Stone - ‘Sing A Simple Song’
taken from Stand! (Epic, 1969)

OK, you’re gonna have to bear with me a little here party people because getting back into this blogging game after three weeks or so off ain’t easy. What always strikes me during my holiday periods away from screaming children and mounds of paperwork is that despite having all the opportunity in the world to do all the things I want to do, the vast time I have in which to do them often means that they don’t get done very swiftly, if at all. Ultimately, I need to be squeezing things into my daily routine to actually get anywhere with them, otherwise the potential to simply loaf about and do nothing often takes a hold. Anyways, I’m back to work next week so there’s no doubt that my game will be back on big style, as avoiding the work that I’m actually meant to be doing is one of my most finely-honed personality traits. Just don’t tell my boss. She’s a little bit scary.

I’ve been toying with the idea of another series of posts for a while now, and the light bulb above my head beamed brightly when I stumbled across Sly & The Family Stone’s Stand! whilst doing the digital rounds in France. For the readers amongst you who have even a passing familiarity with prominent drum breaks then the discovery of ‘Sing A Simple Song’ will seem like a complete no-brainer, but it’s new to me (as is the vast majority of material that features in beat deconstructions and the like around these parts) so I felt it was worth sharing. It also seems like a decent jumping-off point into other drum breaks that although widely-used, don’t seem to have quite the same legendary status as ‘Blind Alley’, ‘Impeach The President’ and the like. Hence, a series of posts is born: sometimes this shit comes easy.

Check in at the 2.11 mark for the point at which the break begins and you’ll be on instantly familiar ground. What I really like about the way that these drums get flipped is that they often include remnants of some of the horn stabs which provides a layer of intricacy to the beat in which they have been employed. For proof of the importance of this particular combination of snares, kicks and hi-hats then check everybody’s favourite resource for a generous overview of its usage, although I have little doubt that this probably covers less than half of the instances in which they can actually be found. Keep your ears to the ground speakers people…