THE "CHAMP" by THE MOHAWKS, PAMA LABEL PMLP 5, FUNKY ORGAN / REGGAE, 1968 VG+

	£		205
	$		272

This is a rare opportunity to purchase a piece of legendary music history. Recordings sampled over 650 times by various artists. A very very rare copy of The "Champ" by Alan "The Hawk" Hawkshaw (The Mohawks) and his Funky Hammond Organ.

The record condition is as follows:

VISUAL – SIDE 1   light hairlines

                 SIDE 2   light hairlines, marks to track 2

AUDIO – SIDE 1   very occasional light ticks, but nothing that would detract from the quality of the audio. Bearly noticeable.

                SIDE 2   very occasional light ticks, but nothing that would detract from the quality of the audio. Bearly noticeable.

LABELS – SIDE 1 EX

                 SIDE 2 EX (VERY FAINT LETTERS WRITTEN ON THE TOP - see photo)

MATRIX – SIDE 1   PMLP+5+A

                  SIDE 2   PMLP+5+B

Despite the visual marks, on listening to the record, I have to say I was blown away by the clarity and quality of this 54 year old record, and I believe it deserves an "EXCELLENT" rating for audio quality.

COVER

The front cover has some very light creases to the laminate (not very visible) and some slight damage to the bottom right corner, but nothing serious (see photo). The back of the cover is generally in Very Good + condition, just a slight rubbing near the bottom (see photo). The spine is also in VG+ condition, hardly any wear and tear at all (see photo).

The record has been deep cleaned and test played to give you the most accurate assessment of it's condition.

Please see my excellent feedback record and bid with confidence.

If you are not satisfied with your purchase, you may return it within 30 days for a full refund. Return postage to be paid by the buyer.

UK buyers only please and Payment via Paypal.

The record will be posted 1st class Royal Mail Tracked, and packaged securely in a record mailer with stiffeners.

Thank you for looking.

Here are a few snippets that I found relating to this iconic record.

Whilst the original recording of ‘The Champ’ is well known by funk aficionados and record collectors, it’s almost certain you’ve fallen in love with one of the six hundred or so tracks to have sampled its contagious organ melodies and unforgettable chants.

On a summer’s day in June, 1968 a group of individuals, instruments in tow, approach Lansdowne Studios in West London. But this isn’t just any day in the studio as, little to their knowledge, this one time collective of session musicians are about to make a contribution to the history of recorded music of great importance.

Despite being formally known as The Mohawks, Alan ‘The Hawk’ Hawkshaw, one of the musical masterminds behind the track, described the group as ‘the band that never was’. Remarkably, only one take was needed for Hawkshaw, Les Hurdle and Byron Davis to create their iconic homage to Redding’s 1967 hit Tramp; leaving them to part ways before the Sun had even set.

Having worked with the likes Tom Jones, Dusty Springfield, Olivia Newton-John, Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, Hawkshaw himself was one of the 60’s most in-demand studio players. So, released under Carl and Harry Palmer’s Bluebeat and Reggae label, Pama Records, it’s no surprise that ‘The Champ’ and its respectively impressive B-side, Sound of the Witch Doctors, were instant hits.

Spending ten consecutive weeks at No.4 in the UK R&B Singles Chart, this truly marked the beginning of ‘The Champ’s longstanding legacy.

‘The Champ’ with its unmistakable vocal chant, an impossibly catchy organ riff and funky groove is one of a handful of songs the influence of which reaches into almost every corner of popular culture. First released on the PAMA label back in 1968, the song enjoyed a 1980s renaissance after being adopted by the pioneering DJs of the early Hip Hop scene. The track would go on to become a staple of the genre, first at Hip Hop jams and block parties and later as a ubiquitous sample source. Renewed interest would once again see the track climb the charts with a re-issued version hitting #58 on the UK singles chart in 1987.

To date the track has been sampled over 650 times placing it in the Top 20 Most Sampled tracks of all time. Now, in 2018, ‘The Champ’ is celebrating a particularly special anniversary. This year marks some 50 great years since one unassuming record started a journey which would see it become one of the most sampled songs in history. Bold statement though it may be, without ‘The Champ’, the face of music today could look very, very different.

The Champ was reissued on 7” Vinyl for Record Store Day 2018.

Very few songs can claim to have influenced popular culture in the same way that The Champ has. Released the same year as James Brown’s ‘Say it Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud’ and Sly & The Family Stone’s ‘Sing a Simple Song’, the catchy Hammond groove of ‘The Champ’ found itself sitting alongside these foundation stones of Hip Hop in the crates of the pioneering Hip Hop DJs of New York’s South Bronx and neighboring areas. It’s a testament to the eclecticism of those DJs that a relative obscurity recorded by a band of British session musicians was given the same cultural currency as some of Funk & Soul’s biggest names.

In 1982 three such DJs, Afrika Bambaataa, Afrika Islam and Jazzy Jay committed the sound of the Block Party to wax, borrowing liberally from The Champ and James Brown for ‘Fusion Beats Vol. 2’. In the years that followed The Champ transitioned from being a DJ favorite to a go-to sample source in the emerging sampled based Hip Hop sound of the 1980s, making appearances on tracks by the biggest names in Hip Hop throughout the 80s: Eric B & Rakim, Marley Marl, Mantronix to name just a few.

Unlike many samples popularized during this period The Champ’s popularity was not limited to a particular moment in the genre’s rapid evolution or tied to particular sub-genre or sound. Into the 90s the sample added authentic Old School flavor to anthemic tracks by artists ranging from KRS-One and Onyx to Mary J Blige. Beyond the 90s the sample became an intrinsic part of sample based music’s vocabulary, the iconic ‘Champ’ shout appearing on literally hundreds of tracks from House music to Trap. In the last couple of years the sample has appeared on tracks by some of the biggest names in commercial Hip Hop, R&B and Dancehall including the likes of Nicki Minaj, Frank Ocean and Vybz Kartel.