Betty Davis
They Say I'm Different
Betty’s sophomore masterpiece!
Expanded vinyl edition featuring gatefold jacket and 20-page booklet including rare
photos, lyrics and new 2022 liner notes by Danielle Maggio interviewing Betty.
Vinyl plated at RTI.
One can hardly imagine the genre-busting, culture-crossing musical magic of Outkast,
Prince, Erykah Badu, Rick James, The Roots, or even the early Red Hot Chili Peppers
without the influence of R&B pioneer Betty Davis. Her style of raw and revelatory punk - funk defies any notions that women can’t be visionaries in the worlds of rock and pop. In recent years, rappers from Ice Cube to Talib Kweli to Ludacris have rhymed over her intensely strong but sensual music.
There is one testimonial about Betty Davis that is universal: she was a woman ahead of
her time. In our contemporary moment, this may not be as self-evident as it was thirty
years ago – we live in an age that’s been profoundly changed by flamboyant flaunting of
female sexuality: from Parlet to Madonna, Lil Kim to Kelis. Yet, back in 1973 when Betty
Davis first showed up in her silver go-go boots, dazzling smile and towering Afro, who
could you possibly have compared her to? Marva Whitney had the voice but not the
independence. Labelle wouldn’t get sexy with their “Lady Marmalade” for another year
while Millie Jackson wasn’t Feelin’ Bitchy until 1977. Even Tina Turner, the most obvious
predecessor to Betty’s fierce style wasn’t completely out of Ike’s shadow until later in the
decade.
Ms. Davis’s unique story, still sadly mostly unknown, is unlike any other in popular music. Betty wrote the song “Uptown” for the Chambers Brothers before marrying Miles Davis in the late ’60s, influencing him with psychedelic rock, and introducing him to Jimi Hendrix — personally inspiring the classic album Bitches Brew.
But her songwriting ability was way ahead of its time as well. Betty not only wrote every
song she ever recorded and produced every album after her first, but the young woman
penned the tunes that got The Commodores signed to Motown. The Detroit label soon
came calling, pitching a Motown songwriting deal, which Betty turned down. Motown
wanted to own everything. Heading to the UK, Marc Bolan of T. Rex urged the creative
dynamo to start writing for herself. A common thread throughout Betty’s career would be her unbending Do-It-Yourself ethic, which made her quickly turn down anyone who didn’t fit with the vision. She would eventually say no to Eric Clapton as her album producer, seeing him as too banal.
Her 1974 sophomore album They Say I’m Different features a worthy-of-framing futuristic cover challenging David Bowie’s science fiction funk with real rocking soul-fire, kicked off with the savagely sexual “Shoo-B-Doop and Cop Him” (later sampled by Ice Cube). Her follow up is full of classic cuts like “Don’t Call Her No Tramp” and the hilarious, hard, deep funk of “He Was A Big Freak.
4/5 REVIEW IN MOJO REISSUES OF THE MONTH : ‘A raw-power, riff-
heavy minimalist funk behemoth’
"To mark the 50th anniversary of her self-titled debut, four essential
remastered titles from the queen of avant-funk get a well-deserved reissue"
MOJO - Reissues Of The Month
"Armed with a “proto-punk” vocal style, sexually explicit lyrics, a domineering
stage presence and simmering funk-rock,Davis was too confrontational to
ever be a star in the 1970s, but her influence still reverberates half a century
after her debut album, and a year after her death." UNCUT - 3 PAGE
FEATURE
Delivery
We currently only deliver to the UK. Delivery costs are clearly provided at the checkout at the time of purchase. We offer free delivery when spending over £60 in one transaction.
| Royal Mail First Class (order value below £60) | £2.95 |
| Royal Mail First Class (order value above £60) | FREE |
To qualify for free delivery please expect all your items to be delivered in one package i.e if you have ordered a 'pre-order' item please expect to wait until all your items are available before any are delivered.
We send our packages via Royal Mail. While we endeavour to get your purchase to you as quickly as possible, once it has left our depot it is out of our hands and we cannot be held responsible for any packages arriving later than expected.
Packaging
All our items are packaged in good quality cardboard packaging which should prevent any damage during transit. Please kindly note that any clingfilm or shrink wrap around the item is not considered part of the product.
Returns
If you decide that a product is not suitable within 30 days of delivery, you can return it to us at your own cost for a replacement or refund. Returns must be unused and in their original, undamaged packaging. Return address information will be included with your purchase.
If a product is damaged please get in touch so we can resolve it quickly for you.
Refunds
Refunds will be issues to the card that was used to purchase the item.
Refunds for returned items will be issued once the item has been received and checked.
Undelivered Packages
If a package is returned to us due to an incorrect address being supplied or because it was not collected from a local depot, an additional postage fee will be payable in order to resend. We will contact you to arrange this before anything is resent.