Limited Edition Color Vinyl LP!
First Official Re-Release! Remastered From The Original Tapes!
Includes 8-Page Booklet With Liner Notes & Rare Photos!
Betty Davis was riding high in the '70s. A new record label, a series of high profile relationships, and intensely sexualized live performances made her a rising star. It seemed like everything was aligned to take the music world by storm. So Betty and band got back into the studio where she would act as writer, producer, and performer, creating what she thought would be her definitive release
What emerged was the unapologetically uncompromising, self-referential 1975 album Nasty Gal. Now over forty years later Light In The Attic Records is proud to announce the vinyl reissue of this final Island Records-release by unparalleled funkstress Betty Davis.
The re-release features liner notes by John Ballon (writer of the Wax Poetics Betty Davis cover story in 2007), original album art, complete lyrics and rare studio and stage photographs. Ahead of its time, Nasty Gal shows Betty digging deeper into her musical and cultural expression than ever before, and delivers from every angle. This is Hendrix and Sly Stone inspired funk-rock at its finest. From the title track's mutant groove and grunt to her onetime husband and jazz legend Miles Davis's co-written ballad "You and I", this lady will tear your heart out! Bettys time is now
"If you were to draw a diagram of funk music in the early 70's, Betty Davis would be dead center." - The New Yorker
"On this record, her shot at making it big, she wrote and sang a strain of 1970s, pre-disco, keyboard-based funk, with and without horns, that was sly, sexy and wonderfully raw. The controversy surrounding Davis, however, has always been about her voice. Her ferocious grooves were indisputably strong, taking inspiration from both Hendrix and Sly, and they grew in large part in very similar ways to what George Clinton was doing in his musical universe. But it's Davis's voice that is the edge on which her fans and detractors turn. Her vocal tracks are filled with shrieks, screams and growls. It's a style and approach you either buy into or you don't. It works to perfection on tunes like the title track to Nasty Gal. While she will always be thought of more as a songwriter and musical visionary, Davis's vocal energy, a perfect match for her upbeat material on Nasty Gal, like 'Talkin' Trash' and 'F.U.N.K.,' will never be thought of as pretty or particularly appealing. If you're looking for Judy Garland, you need to look elsewhere. As a hint of what might have been however, on Nasty Gal, she sing-talks her way through the very tender, 'You and I,' a ballad supposedly inspired by her relationship with Miles, proving that she could bring it down a notch and find success as a softer interpreter of her music. Vocal concerns aside, Betty Davis and her music will always get eternal credit for the artistic path she cut for other artists, particularly women to follow. Perhaps the most lasting judgment on her music came from Prince, who always gave her credit for being one of his most essential inspirations. One nasty girl indeed." - Robert Baird, Stereophile
Features:
Limited Edition Color Vinyl LP
First official re-release
Remastered from the original tapes
LP housed in a deluxe gatefold Stoughton tip-on jacket with full lyrics
8 page booklet with liner notes by John Ballon and rare stage and studio photographs
Selections:
Side A:
1. Nasty Gal
2. Talkin Trash
3. Dedicated To The Press
4. You And I
5. Feelins
Side B:
1. F.U.N.K.
2. Gettin Kicked Off, Havin Fun
3. Shut Off The Light
4. This Is It!
5. The Lone Ranger
First Official Re-Release! Remastered From The Original Tapes!
Includes 8-Page Booklet With Liner Notes & Rare Photos!
Betty Davis was riding high in the '70s. A new record label, a series of high profile relationships, and intensely sexualized live performances made her a rising star. It seemed like everything was aligned to take the music world by storm. So Betty and band got back into the studio where she would act as writer, producer, and performer, creating what she thought would be her definitive release
What emerged was the unapologetically uncompromising, self-referential 1975 album Nasty Gal. Now over forty years later Light In The Attic Records is proud to announce the vinyl reissue of this final Island Records-release by unparalleled funkstress Betty Davis.
The re-release features liner notes by John Ballon (writer of the Wax Poetics Betty Davis cover story in 2007), original album art, complete lyrics and rare studio and stage photographs. Ahead of its time, Nasty Gal shows Betty digging deeper into her musical and cultural expression than ever before, and delivers from every angle. This is Hendrix and Sly Stone inspired funk-rock at its finest. From the title track's mutant groove and grunt to her onetime husband and jazz legend Miles Davis's co-written ballad "You and I", this lady will tear your heart out! Bettys time is now
"If you were to draw a diagram of funk music in the early 70's, Betty Davis would be dead center." - The New Yorker
"On this record, her shot at making it big, she wrote and sang a strain of 1970s, pre-disco, keyboard-based funk, with and without horns, that was sly, sexy and wonderfully raw. The controversy surrounding Davis, however, has always been about her voice. Her ferocious grooves were indisputably strong, taking inspiration from both Hendrix and Sly, and they grew in large part in very similar ways to what George Clinton was doing in his musical universe. But it's Davis's voice that is the edge on which her fans and detractors turn. Her vocal tracks are filled with shrieks, screams and growls. It's a style and approach you either buy into or you don't. It works to perfection on tunes like the title track to Nasty Gal. While she will always be thought of more as a songwriter and musical visionary, Davis's vocal energy, a perfect match for her upbeat material on Nasty Gal, like 'Talkin' Trash' and 'F.U.N.K.,' will never be thought of as pretty or particularly appealing. If you're looking for Judy Garland, you need to look elsewhere. As a hint of what might have been however, on Nasty Gal, she sing-talks her way through the very tender, 'You and I,' a ballad supposedly inspired by her relationship with Miles, proving that she could bring it down a notch and find success as a softer interpreter of her music. Vocal concerns aside, Betty Davis and her music will always get eternal credit for the artistic path she cut for other artists, particularly women to follow. Perhaps the most lasting judgment on her music came from Prince, who always gave her credit for being one of his most essential inspirations. One nasty girl indeed." - Robert Baird, Stereophile
Features:
Limited Edition Color Vinyl LP
First official re-release
Remastered from the original tapes
LP housed in a deluxe gatefold Stoughton tip-on jacket with full lyrics
8 page booklet with liner notes by John Ballon and rare stage and studio photographs
Selections:
Side A:
1. Nasty Gal
2. Talkin Trash
3. Dedicated To The Press
4. You And I
5. Feelins
Side B:
1. F.U.N.K.
2. Gettin Kicked Off, Havin Fun
3. Shut Off The Light
4. This Is It!
5. The Lone Ranger
