Skull Snaps
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Album Summary
Skull Snaps is the self-titled debut album from the quartet of Ed Stasium, Samm Culley, George Bragg, and Ervan Waters, originally released in 1973 and later reissued on the beloved UK imprint Mr. Bongo, a label with a reputation for rescuing deep-pocket soul and funk gems from the shadows of obscurity and putting them back where they belong — in the hands of the people. The original release landed quietly, the way so many of the greatest records do, with little fanfare but with grooves so deep you could lose yourself in them for days. Mr. Bongo's reissue gave a whole new generation the chance to discover what the crate diggers and the true believers had known all along.
Reception
- The album received little mainstream attention upon its original 1973 release, circulating largely among dedicated soul and funk enthusiasts rather than crossing over to wider commercial audiences.
- The Mr. Bongo reissue brought renewed critical appreciation, positioning the album as an essential deep-soul artifact worthy of serious attention from collectors and music lovers alike.
- Over the decades, the record built a devoted cult following, with its raw, unpolished grooves earning it a reputation as one of the more underrated soul-funk documents of its era.
Significance
- Skull Snaps sits at a compelling crossroads of raw early-seventies soul and hard-driving funk, representing the kind of independently-spirited, uncompromising Black music that defined the genre's grassroots vitality during that era.
- The album's nine tracks — from the aching vulnerability of 'My Hang Up Is You' to the swaggering intensity of 'I'm Your Pimp' — showcase a band unafraid to move across the full emotional spectrum of the soul tradition.
- Thanks in large part to the Mr. Bongo reissue, the record has become a touchstone for collectors of rare soul and funk vinyl, cementing its place in the canon of overlooked classics that the reissue culture of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries helped restore to their rightful prominence.
Samples
- "It's A New Day" — one of the most heavily sampled breakbeats in hip-hop history, with its drum break appearing across a vast catalog of rap and electronic music recordings throughout the late 1980s and beyond.
- "I'm Your Pimp" — the drum and groove elements from this track have been sampled by hip-hop producers drawn to its raw, hard-hitting rhythmic foundation.
- "My Hang Up Is You" — sampled within the hip-hop and soul production community, contributing to the album's broader reputation as a goldmine for breakbeat hunters.
Tracklist
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A1 My Hang Up Is You 128
4:02
-
A2 Having You Around 123
4:30
-
A3 Didn't I Do It To You 96
3:15
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A4 All Of A Sudden 114
3:23
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A5 It's A New Day 96
3:04
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B1 I'm Your Pimp 125
4:03
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B2 I Turn My Back On Love 169
2:45
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B3 Trespassing 101
4:03
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B4 I'm Falling Out Of Love 90
2:46
Artist Details
Skull Snaps were a soulful funk outfit whose lineup of Ed Stasium, Samm Culley, George Bragg, and Ervan Waters cooked up a raw, rhythmic sound that kept the groove locked tight and the spirit alive. Their music found a second life through the UK's Mr. Bongo label, which helped introduce their hard-hitting funk and soul to a whole new generation of listeners and record diggers across the Atlantic. The band's legacy is a testament to the kind of deep, uncompromising funk that never truly goes out of style, no matter how many decades roll by.
