Betty Davis

Betty Davis | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 7, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Light In The Attic
• ASIN: B000NQR7HA
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #46,448 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Betty Davis by Betty Davis

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A reissue from the "Nasty Gal" of funk., January 2, 2008

By 

unplug and listen - See all my reviews

This review is from: Betty Davis (Audio CD)

This is reissue of the first self-titled "Betty Davis" album, originally released in 1973 on the Just Sunshine label.
"Something like Madonna, something like Prince. She was the beginning of all that..." So wrote Miles Davis of the one-woman erotic Swat team whose amazing first two albums - the long-lost libidinal high-water marks of early Seventies funk - have just been reissued They Say I'm Different and Betty Davis.
And Miles should have known. He was (briefly) married to her, after all !!
Former Mrs. Miles Davis, the "Nasty Gal" of funk, Betty is an ex fashion model who started singing in the early 60s prior to her Miles Davis (and Jimi Hendrix) affiliations.
And even though she and Miles divorced before 1973, Betty Mabry kept her famous last name and released three fabulously funky discs from '73-'75.
..."After the break-up with Miles, she was linked with many other musicians, including Jimi Hendrix, Hugh Masekela, Eric Clapton, Robert Palmer, and Michael Carabello of Santana. A gifted songwriter, she continued to pen songs for herself and others, but her personal relationships with jazz & rock's elite no doubt opened other doors, and proved particularly useful when it came time to gather session musicians for her first album.
Betty headed out to San Francisco in 1972, where Carabello introduced her to Sly Stone's rhythm section. Funk bassist Larry Graham and drummer Greg Errico were tapped for Betty Davis, along with guitarists Neal Schon (Santana) and Doug Rodrigues (Mandrill), and organist Hershall Kennedy (Graham Central Station). Back-up vocalists included Sylvester, the Pointer Sisters, Patryce Banks (Graham Central Station), and Kathi McDonald (Insane Asylum), among others. As if that weren't enough, the horn section featured Tower of Power regulars Greg Adams, Mic Gillette, and Skip Mesquite. The result was a unique combination of heavy funk grooves underlying Davis' gritty, piercing vocals. The standout track on the album, said to be "the classic bad girl anthem and one of the funkiest recordings ever made" was "Anti Love Song", penned by Davis and possibly directed at Miles ("No I don't want to love you / 'Cause I know how you are / Sure you say you're right on and you're righteous / But with me I know you'd be right off / `Cause you know I could possess your body / You know I could make you crawl / And just as hard as I'd fall for you, boy / You know you'd fall for me harder / That's why I don't want to love you")...(Funkgrooves.org)
With her giant Afro and space-vixen wardrobe, Davis was the missing evolutionary link between Eartha Kitt and Kelis, but her marvellously feral vocal style falls tantalisingly between 'Nutbush City Limits'-era Tina Turner and AC/DC's Brian Johnson. And while her first album contains her best-known tune - the bittersweet seductress manifesto of "Anti Love Song" - it's 1974's self-produced follow-up that is undoubtedly her finest work.
Classic raw and heavy '70s funk rock with serious attitude.
Check "If I'm In Luck...", "Game Is My Middle Name", "Walkin Up The Road" and "Anti Love Song" for the real deal.
Track listing :
1. If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up
2. Walkin Up The Road
3. Anti Love Song
4. Your Man My Man
5. Ooh Yeah
6. Steppin In Her I. Miller Shoes
7. Game Is My Middle Name
8. In The Meantime

PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED BONUS TRACKS (1974)
9. Come Take Me
10. You Won't See Me In The Morning
11. I Will Take That Ride

They Say I'm Different
Betty Davis

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Waaay before her time..., May 19, 2008

By 

R. Kyle (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Betty Davis (Audio CD)

She's got a voice like black velvet with a scratchy ripping Velcro quality. Back in a time when female singers didn't tell it like it was, she was singing about getting picked up. If you "like it rough," you need this CD. It's 11 tracks and 43 minutes of some of the strongest soul with backing from some of the best players around at the time--including Sly (of the Family Stone) and the Pointer Sisters.

I got this on a suggestion and I'll be buying the rest of Betty's CDs as I get the chance. She's well worth a listen if you love strong R&B.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Holy Sh*t!, June 16, 2007

By 

B. B. Hawes "DJ: 'White Chocolate' on KSJD" (Mancos, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Betty Davis (Audio CD)

I mean, holy sh*t! This album is hotness. This album is a magaton bomb. This album kills. The fiercest funk / soul you will ever, ever, ever hear. Just get your money together and cop this sucker yesterday before all your friends do and rub your nose in it. You play this at a party, you will be God. Try it.