Fusion Beats Vol. 2
LABEL: Bozo Meko
SERIES: N/A
GROUPING: N/A
RELEASE YEAR: 1980 (see comments below)
CATALOGUE NO: BM001
RUNOUT GROOVES: BM-001-A (Side A) BM-001-B (Side B)
COUNTRY: U.S.A.
FORMAT: 12" Vinyl
COMMENTS: There is some discussion about the original release date for this on Discogs, but the consensus seems to be 1980. It was imported to the U.K. in October 1986 (source: James Hamilton's column in Record Mirror)
WHAT JAMES HAMILTON HAD TO SAY ABOUT THIS RELEASE:
‘Fusion Beats Vol. 2’ (US Bozo Meko Records BM001)
Replacing ‘Feelin’ James’ as hottest bootleg, this simply edited 0-108⅔-105⅔-110⅓-105-109⅓-111⅓bpm mixer alternates between bursts of the Mohawks’ much sought ‘The Champ’ and James Brown’s ‘Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved’ (rather like Original Concept’s ‘Can You Feel It’) before ending with Dyke & The Blazers’ ‘Let A Woman Be A Woman – Let A Man Be A Man’. The A-side is actually a badly recorded live ‘Flash It To The Beat‘ by (Grandmaster) Flash And The Furious 5.
SIDE A: FLASH IT TO THE BEAT
PERFORMED BY: Grandmaster Flash with The Furious Five
LENGTH: 09:01
SIDE B MIX: FUSION BEATS Vol. 2
MIXED BY: Afrika Islam (source: The below interview with Afrika Islam on unkut.com in 2015 and the below comment from Breakbeat Lou on Instagram)
LENGTH: 04:47
GENRE: Funk/Soul
COMMENTS: Discogs also credits Afrika Bambaataa and Jazzy Jay as co-creators of this mix but I have not found any interviews that confirm this fact. There is an interesting YouTube video containing information on this mix that can be viewed here.
TRACKS I CAN IDENTIFY IN THE MIX - I have only listed the ones that have prolonged elements or have a short sample repeated multiple times:
James Brown - Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved (1970); Mohawks - The Champ (1968); Dyke & The Blazers - Let A Woman Be A Woman, Let A Man Be A Man (1969)
