On Wed, 12 May 2004 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > who can tell me the track(s) that sample the keys line to 'is it all over > my face' >
Arthur Russell was obsessed with rhythms, and used to record endless takes with live musicians. The "is it all over my face" sessions were recorded with the Ingram brothers on Bass and Drums, and the great feel of that track comes from Russell's pushing them to play the same groove literally for hours. The distinctive bassline is a variation on a very common funk technique called 'walking bass' and isn't in and of itself unique. What makes the track for me is the odd structure of 12 beat phrases. Anyone who DJs or produces dance music knows that nearly everything is based on 4 beat, 4 bar phrases, but the 12 beat phrase (with 4 beats of bare drums after "Is it all over my face?)") works in a goofy eliptical way. As much as I love that track my favorite one to play out is Go Bang, which has great horns and keyboards. I think Russell generally did the keys on these tracks. It's a mark of how great a track it is that one of our most knowledgable local House DJs actually swallowed his pride to ask me what it was when I dropped it.
