If You Didn't Know Before... Look Of Love Sample

Johnny Pate - The Look Of Love (MCA, 1969)

Showbiz & A.G. - You Know Now (Remix)
Big L - M.V.P. (Remix)
both taken from Diggin' In The Crates: Rare Studio Masters '93 - '97 (Ground Floor, 2007)

Heltah Skeltah - Letha Brainz Blo
taken from Nocturnal (Priority, 1996)

April - Love What I Feel
taken from Bring Da Ruckus: A Loud Story (Loud, 1997)

Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - Searching (Remix)
taken from Rare Tracks (Wea International, 1998)

I'm serving up more sample spotting goodness today in the shape of Johnny Pate's 1969 cover of Burt Bacharach's song 'The Look Of Love' (shouts to Jay on the hook up). As you can see from the above, this has been used a fair few times by a range of hip hop producers, and with good reason: it's a wonderfully atmospheric two bar loop that seems custom built for the addition of some thumping kicks and slammin' snares. The break is composed of several key elements, all of which find their way into the compositions above. Pizzicato notes on the violin ascend in the first bar until the shimmering tremolo in the second, and this is supported by bass and regularly-spaced rim hits (I think I can also pick out some vibes in the mix as well). Its constituent parts work together to produce a rich sonic texture, and the upshot is that all five of the tracks that use it are remarkably similar: no need for chopping and rearranging here, as the break itself is perfect as it is.

April's 'Love What I Feel' was actually the first of these tracks that I came across, when as a spotty fifteen year old I got a hold of the Loud compilation that brought together some of their most successful cuts from the five years that preceded its release. It remains a nice track, although those of you who wince at the combination of hip hop beats and R 'n' B vocals should steer well clear. In the liner notes it states that this cut was produced by Shake City Productions but also acknowledges elements from Big L's 'M.V.P.', which seems a strange way of phrasing it, as there is little doubt in my mind that this is exactly the same beat produced by Buckwild for the remix of 'M.V.P.' albeit with a slight step up in pitch and tempo. Similarly, the beat for Show & A.G.'s 'You Know Now (Remix)' is also near identical and is produced by the D.I.T.C. legend: the man got a hell of a lot of mileage out of this one.

Elsewhere, Baby Paul does a nice job with the sample on Heltah Skeltah's 'Letha Brainz Blo', letting the slightly filtered loop talk for itself and teaming it up with satisfyingly weighty kicks and resonating snare hits, allowing Rock and Ruck to shine in the way that they did so consistently on their debut LP. Finally, the Soul Brother has a contribution to make with the remix of 'Searching', the original of which was one of many highlights from 'The Main Ingredient'. I think I still prefer the cut in its original incarnation, but this is a welcome addition to Pete Rock's remix catalogue which continues to amaze me with its breadth and astounding level of quality.

As with Schifrin's 'Danube Incident', it is striking how much these songs rely on the mood created by their inspiration to succeed. The deeper I get into discovering sample sources, the more appreciation I have for music from days gone by and understand how important these largely forgotten artists have been to hip hop culture (stating the obvious I know). Production-wise it is difficult to draw any particular distinction between these songs, and this is an attestation of the caliber of Pate's arrangement in the first place. There's not much information out there on this song or a great deal about Pate himself, but make the effort and you can find nuggets of information here and there that build a picture of an artist who has quietly placed himself in the chronicles of music history. One great sample, five great tracks: you do the math.

Links to check out:

Johnny Pate @ Wikipedia
Johnny Pate profile
Johnny Pate biography