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The Winstons(Amen Brother)


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Did anyone else catch this on BBC radio I, very interesting,they where talking about this single, and how the drum break in it is used all the time especially in drum and bass,I forgot who it was, someone from a well respected Drum and bass group, how ,in fact they got in touch with the the Winston's to ask for there permission to use it, and apparently its used very often over and over again,by all different artists of to-days D&B scene , they never made a penny from it, and where quite honournered by the fact to-days youth and older culture still like their music ! but the drummer who invented this infamous drum effect actually died penniless a few years ago , so I was wondering just how many riffs, rolls ect are used in to-days music what ever the genre. that are taken directley from a sixty's soul record. even though copy right laws exist. I really enjoyed the show,but I dare say some might find this post boring :thumbsup:

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I've seen this video before, I think it's awful, pretentious (he can't even say the name of the track correctly, it's not "AH-men", it's an impressions cover and they don't say it that way) and uninformed about copyright / ownership issues. The wikipedia article is written decently though.

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I've seen this video before, I think it's awful, pretentious (he can't even say the name of the track correctly, it's not "AH-men", it's an impressions cover and they don't say it that way) and uninformed about copyright / ownership issues. The wikipedia article is written decently though.

I thought you were being a bit harsh there Bob but the guy can't even get his hip hop history correct - samplers weren't a tool at the birth of hip hop - so we can see where his depth of knowledge lies.

On the break, I think the reason that no-one has gotten any money from this sample is because no one can get the owners of Metromedia to care about clearing the thing.

And on the question of people losing out on samples, it's also worth remembering the musicians who really did earn from it. I know many artists who have had unexpected retirement bonuses when they've found themselves looped up on an international best seller.

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Guest sigher the gutter snype

one for all us old skool hip hop boys, if it wasnt for records like the winstons, james brown, kool and the gang, and sly and the family stone, i dont think i would have ever come this far into this musical journey.........it was because i was trying to find drum breaks

and nice samples that opened the door to modern, northern, crossover, beat ballads,brazilian, jazz, funk, and psych..

so amen to that :D

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Guest Ste Brazil

Lost interest in the clip after a few minutes but will dig out the 45 and give it a play, its years since i even looked at it...LOVE colour him father.

Ste :D

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I thought you were being a bit harsh there Bob but the guy can't even get his hip hop history correct - samplers weren't a tool at the birth of hip hop - so we can see where his depth of knowledge lies.

On the break, I think the reason that no-one has gotten any money from this sample is because no one can get the owners of Metromedia to care about clearing the thing.

And on the question of people losing out on samples, it's also worth remembering the musicians who really did earn from it. I know many artists who have had unexpected retirement bonuses when they've found themselves looped up on an international best seller.

Yeah, I think the guy knows more about Jungle than anything else. Let me give some more background as to how I think the video is stupid.

I think there are some interesting issues about ownership / copyright related to the record. For example, Spencer has 100% writing credit but it's really sort of a medley of Amen, We're a winner, We're rolling on, etc. (the Winstons had just left as the backing touring band of the Impressions, which is why they had an earlier record on Curtom). Spencer shouldn't really be 100% writer if it incorporates all those old songs. And, who really "wrote" the drum break -- probably the drummer himself and not Spencer. And Spencer clearly doesn't own any of the actual master rights to the metromedia recording. The guy who made the video clearly knows nothing about the difference between songwriter / publishing of a song and the actual master recording, ownership of both, and the complicated ways that both of these things interact with sampling.

The video is very long and the guy spends more time discussing sample libraries that incorporate the track than these more relevant issues. The "ah-men" thing and the pressing the whole thing onto a record and playing it, combined with the fact that he made a very long video that says very little about some complicated issues, makes it over-the-top pretentious.

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Guest Andy Kempster

seems like the winstons can't stop getting ripped off to me

check this out, smacks of 'colour him father' to me!!!!

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