It's (another) new day

Skull Snaps ‎– Skull Snaps

GSF Records ‎– GSF-S-1011

Vinyl, LP, Album, US, Reissue (Original release, 1973)

Info

I mentioned this 1973 LP by Skull Snaps in my last post and figured I'd follow up on it. Continuing with the saga of "It's A New Day..."

The Diplomats, originated as a Washington DC area soul group, a trio (and sometimes quartet?) of singers who released a string of 45s through the 1960s. By the early '70s, they had moved both to New York and to a new sound. As their music shifted toward funk, so did their name, dropping the R&B diplomacy of their early days and rechristening themselves "Skull Snaps."

Skull Snaps only released one LP, a 1973 album recorded with George Kerr for GSF records. The Skull Snaps were now comprised of Diplomats Samm Culley (bass) and Ervan Waters (guitar) along with new recruit George Bragg on drums. They were billed as a band, not just a vocal trio, and album's liner notes credit them playing those instruments as well as vocals from all three.

Others can tell it to you in more detail, but the story goes that producer George Kerr wasn't satisfied with the Skull Snaps' playing for some of the album cuts. He decided to pull in some additional musicians to lay down a few backing tracks. Kerr had been recording as a singer for Sylvia Robinson's All Platinum label, so he called up labelmates Wood, Brass & Steel who made the trek from their Connecticut home base. They wind up cutting a new version of their track "Hey, What's That You Say," retitled "It's A New Day" for the Skull Snaps to lay their vocals on. WB&S's drummer, Harold Sargent, was struggling to land the exact pattern the producer was demanding for this cut... until Kerr threatened to hire Bernard Purdie to replace him. With new motivation found, Sargent dove into another take, nailed it, and one of the most sampled breakbeats in the history of hip-hop was born. 

Hundreds of samples later (in 535 different songs according to WhoSampled), Skull Snaps still get the credit while Sargent and Wood, Brass & Steel rarely get their due. Cultures of Soul, who recently reissued the Sargent produced and WB&S backed album Sparkle (buy it!), ran this short interview with the man himself about this era. Good stuff and worth a few minutes of your time. 

Harold Sargent flagged that this was before Doug Wimbish had hooked up with Wood, Brass & Steel as bassist. Sargent and WB&S guitarist Skip McDonald (aka Little Axe, aka Bernard Alexander) had known each other from their early days in Ohio, and McDonald was playing on these recordings. I've got no proof, but I like to think you can hear a little of the guitar work to come in his Tackhead and Little Axe days buried in the speedy blues workouts on the funky "Trespassing."

This is ripped from my copy of the vinyl LP. Probably a late 90s pressing of potentially questionable legitimacy. Not the world's greatest sound quality here, but that didn't get in the way of my enjoyment back then, when it wasn't easy to score a copy of this album and I had never seen it on a CD. Really, could a few pops or muddy mastering really ruin your enjoyment of the that It's A New Day break? Nah. Besides, it'll only add to your credibility when you sample it and try to pass off your new beat as some lost 90s hip-hop classic.

Wear your FLAC to the side: https://mega.nz/file/MLZERLBT#MhU6oq3d2nPEBTHtm-iRBrprcOLbL3rVByPDkoTZqic

Or MP3 with a limp: https://mega.nz/folder/FeImCDBZ#4_Cs9x-v1b1QBX8kCvpHMw

Tracklist

A1 My Hang Up Is You

A2 Having You Around

A3 Didn't I Do It To You

A4 All Of A Sudden

A5 It's A New Day

B1 I'm Your Pimp

B2 I Turn My Back On Love

B3 Trespassing

B4 I'm Falling Out Of Love