Recalling that Cornell University has a large digital archive, featuring an extensive collection of early rap flyers and photos, I stumbled onto a section chronicling the first 1,400 records in Bambatta’s original collection. Much like one of your old share-house mates might have done, Bam went through a phase where he would write his name in ballpoint pen – and number – the cover or label of every record he got his hands on. Browsing through these photos is particularly enjoyable because it reminds me how a record that has lived a hard life can end-up. These pieces of vinyl were able to live out their true purpose and be enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of party goers over the years, enduring being thrown into plastic milk crates, dumped into a van and dumped into a humid warehouse as they awaited being plucked from the pile and into the sweaty palms of that week’s unlucky record assistant. Please spare a thought for those poor LP’s that are trapped on some shut-in’s shelves, forever suffocated by shrink wrap and a Blake BOPP sleeve!
But I digress. One of the titles that I didn’t recognise was Three Dog Night‘s Captured Live At The Forum, so I chucked it on via YouTube to see if it had some monster break along the lines of Mountain’s ‘Long Red’ that I didn’t know about. Turns out the eighth track, ‘Easy To Be Hard’, featured a sweet opening bassline which may or may not (I do not recall, your honor) have been flipped on Nice and Smooth’s ‘Old To The New’ and East Flatbush Project‘s ‘A Madman’s Dream’…speaking of which, I don’t understand that weird period where UK record labels would release double twelve inch singles with over twenty mixes of the same song, which resulted in eleven remixes of ‘Tried By Twelve’ by The Herbaliser and bunch of electronic types creating increasingly unhinged versions that dive into 12-bit distortion and chip-tune noise. To be fair, we didn’t really need five versions of ‘International Zone Coaster’ either, but here we are.
My question being, was Afrika Bambatta playing ‘Easy To Be Hard’ at the old parties to give the dancefloor a break after too much Jimmy Castor and James Brown? Did he have a soft spot for this jam because he was a big fan of Hair (In Galt We Trust), or was it more of reflection of hometown pride, seeing as though the lead vocalist Chuck Negron was born in raised in the Boogie Down Bronx? We may never know the answer. One thing I am sure of, is that there are Curb Your Enthusiasm levels of awkwardness in both the TV performance of the song below, and this live footage, as fellow singers Cory and Danny are left with naught to do during the performances, other than sit or stand there. One them was resourceful enough to bring along a tambourine to keep his hands busy, but the other dude is just chilling like a bump on a log until the one part they provide some back-up. Also, did they really have to destroy all of those cars for the set? Or was that just the penalty for leaving your ride parked overnight at the ABC Television Network in between filming of The Music Scene?