Looks of Love

"Look of Love" - Sergio Mendes & Brazil '66

"Look of Love" - the Meters

"Look of Love" - Isaac Hayes

Here's a metamorphosis for you. "The Look of Love" is a fairly lightweight Burt Bacharach tune that was a huge hit for Sergio Mendes in 1968. It was soon covered by everyone and their mom - but a few of these covers ended up completely transcending the original. The Meters totally deconstructed the Mendes version, resulting in a soulful, gritty recording that's quite a bit moodier than a lot of their sides. They recorded the song in 1969, but it wasn't released until Sundazed started reissuing their material in the late 90s. Otherwise, one might wonder if it was an influence on Isaac Hayes' epic arrangement from 1970.

And now that you're an expert, name that sample:

"Stand Strong" - Smif-N-Wessun

'nard - bernard wright

bernard wright's 1981 album 'nard is an important document of an obscure and little studied era. in the early eighties, disco was over, funk was going electro and jazz fusion was starting to become really lame. the saving grace of dance music during this period was the rise of hip hop. bernard wright was not a rapper or a d.j. - he was, in fact, a sixteen year old jazz keyboardist - but this (his debut record) combined all of the innovations of seventies' funk and fusion with the latest sounds pouring out of ghetto blasters in new york city.

wright was an integral part of the jamaica, queens funk scene, which consisted of quite a few jazz players who weren't afraid to dabble in r&b. (one of the significant hits from this period - "funkin' for jamaica" - was by moonlighting jazz musician and queens resident tom browne.) 'nard is, in my opinion anyway, probably the best record to come out of that scene. it's been sampled to death, which ought to tell you about its popularity among collectors and d.j.s. check it out:

"haboglabotribin'" - bernard wright (sampled in snoop dogg's "gz and hustlas")

"master rocker" - bernard wright (slightly dubby jazz-funk number)

"just chillin' out" - bernard wright (apparently this was the single from the record.)

"spinnin'" - bernard wright (sampled in skee-lo's "i wish")