BRAINSTORM The group!!!! Newbies and lurkers take note

[daddyacey]

An SDF family BONIFIED CLASSIC group whos debut album ,"STORMIN" has never been released on CD and because the LP in its original vinyl release is so incredible in sound, [[that it falls into that catagory of ,it ain't broke so don't f>>k with it...... ,unless you are one of the best of THE BEST engineers on the planet), is one of the most coveted recordings of the 70's. The second album, "Journey to the Light", which is available on CD, is just as good. One track from that second album that stands out is "On Our Way Home", [[By Gerald Kent), with its solo bass intro,[[Bassist Deon Estes), grabs you by the collar and gets straight up in your face for 4 bars,then a full orchestra of strings and horns slaps the shii out of you for 4 more bars before the vocals come in and finish you off. There is also a Stevie Wonder composition, "Every Time I See You I Go Wild", that is also a aural ass whoppin. There is a third album "Funky Entertainment", [["Hot For You" was a memorable track!), that I only have the 12' of. But from reading the article in the link below and for whatever reasons,[[one being the ugly stupid cover turned me off), I've run across this LP countless times in my travels, but never picked it up, I am now on the hunt for it. I'm looking for my SDF brotheren and sisters for comments on this trilogy of albums from a group that should have been more popular than it was. Was Brainstorm one of the casualties of the "Disco schizum" phenom of the 70's that killed off some of the good Big Band ,FUNK/R&B/Dance groups??? [[Such as Brass Construction ,Mass Production, Ripple, Pockets ,Blackbyrds ,Tower Of Power, Hidden Strength, Kokomo, Kleer, Con Funk Shun, etc...........)

Here is the link that started me off to post this thread.
Read more: Brainstorm | SoulTracks - Soul Music Biographies, News and Reviews


As I said , newbies and lurkers take note,........and to my brothers and sisters in Funk.........[[Yall know who you are ), let's talk..................

[mellow_q]

Always liked Brainstorm, but was only familiar with the songs that received airplay in NYC during their late 70s heyday. That would be those that you mentioned ...
"Lovin' Is Really My Game" [[summer 77)
"On Our Way Home" [[spring 78)
"Hot for You" [[spring 79)

As much as "This Must Be Heaven" has become a Quiet Storm classic, I don't remember it being played on the radio in '77 [[I was 12 years old), and only became aware of it when I started hanging out in clubs in the mid-80s.

I wish they had attained more commercial success. BTW, does anyone have an update on Belita Woods?

[soulster]

Never heard of them...

[tamla617]

not sure if i have.[[this must be heaven rings a bell)but after that 1st post from daddyacey i'm going looking for brainstorm stuff.thanks

[nosey]

We had the album but completely forgotten about them. I've stated this before some of the 80s music is a blur to me as I was BUSY raising kids at that time. My husband was into music more than I. I did go on youtube and remembered their music.

[glencro]

They've made some great music and I can't understand why "Stormin'" is still not on cd. Growing up in Detroit, I heard "This Must Be Heaven" a lot on the radio as a kid

[marv2]

They've made some great music and I can't understand why "Stormin'" is still not on cd. Growing up in Detroit, I heard "This Must Be Heaven" a lot on the radio as a kid

Glencro, "This Must Be Heaven" was like an anthem in the Fall of '77! It was just that popular. Even my High Schools chorus performed it for an assembly. One of the truly great songs.

[ollie]

Daddy
Brainstorm's Stormin introduced me to 'Waiting For Someone' very nice tune with some interesting vocal and story by Belita Woods. The flute is classy and puts it in a nice frame. The bassline is kickin', really like the song. 'This Must Be Heaven' a classic slow jam. What else can you say, ' Easy Thangs ' is a great and funky song, good pace in it. So if you like r&b music, you sure like Brainstorm. The music will put a on your face. Your body suddenly starts to move by itself. Good Band!

[daddyacey]

Thank you all for responding. I was curious if the knowledge of this group was regional or age [[old school) related. The fact is that Brainstorm and groups of the same level are not recognized and talked about in forums ,considering that we are losing important people that are part of this genre we talk of day by day. It seems that a lot of individuals that feel they have extensive knowledge of the history of the development of the genre of Jazz/ R&B/ Soul/Funk, are not aware of groups and individual musicians that are not as well known but have contributed greatly to the genre ,[[I call them missing links). The tracks that Ollie spoke of are truly deep classics. The first 2 Brainstorm albums are play "all the way through" classics. Fresh at being 30 years old plus today. Things that the "Digging in crates" generation ,seldom find because they are so rare. Theres a lot thats not on CD ,important stuff that old timers have ,and truth be told as an Old Schooler I learn about stuff from back in the day from this board everyday.

[marv2]

Thank you all for responding. I was curious if the knowledge of this group was regional or age [[old school) related. The fact is that Brainstorm and groups of the same level are not recognized and talked about in forums ,considering that we are losing important people that are part of this genre we talk of day by day. It seems that a lot of individuals that feel they have extensive knowledge of the history of the development of the genre of Jazz/ R&B/ Soul/Funk, are not aware of groups and individual musicians that are not as well known but have contributed greatly to the genre ,[[I call them missing links). The tracks that Ollie spoke of are truly deep classics. The first 2 Brainstorm albums are play "all the way through" classics. Fresh at being 30 years old plus today. Things that the "Digging in crates" generation ,seldom find because they are so rare. Theres a lot thats not on CD ,important stuff that old timers have ,and truth be told as an Old Schooler I learn about stuff from back in the day from this board everyday.

Daddy, coming from the Detroit area, I am going to say knowledge of Brainstorm and their initial popularity was regional! They were played regularly in Detroit, Toledo, Windsor, Flint,Cleveland, Dayton, etc. The performed in and around Detroit a lot in those days too. However, I can recall hearing their music on programs like American Bandstand, Soul Train and of course The Scene which was our local Detroit Dance.Music television program.

[gary]

One of the best local bands to ever come out of Detroit. As Marv said, they were VERY hot in the area during the late 70s and early 80s. Belita Woods was the lead singer, she had a dynamite voice, and later she did some real nice duets with Ron Banks.

"Lovin' Is Really My Game" is still a jam to this day. Brainstorm had a sound that should have put them up there with all the better known 80s bands like Atlantic Starr, S.O.S. Band, Zapp, Dazz Band, Midnight Star, etc. Too bad they never got the right management deal that would have put them up on that level.

[paul1970]

Every Time I See You I Go Wild is a great song by Brainstorm that could/should have been a hit

[ollie]

Daddy

Brainstorm must have been a regional hit at first, guess that goes for most bands.
The quality of the Brainstorm songs is truly great and from a high caliber.
In germany we detected Brainstorm through some fine d.j.'s and US army friends that lived among us. Not from airplay. Brainstorm arrived on the scence, when funky r&b had the most band output, and they just didn't surface out of the pool of so many talented bands and musicians. Maybe record politics or lack of time. But they left the music, and as you said it still sounds fresh today. That is what good music does, it stands the test of time.

[roger]

In England I remember their UK debut single in 1976 "Wake Up And Be Somebody" got regional airplay on Nottingham's Radio Trent. I still have my copy on U.K. RCA PB 0811 with "We Know a Place" on the "B" side.

In 1977 big things were expected of "Loving Is Really My Game" which had a beat and rhythm that appealed to the '60s/Northern crowd, but it never really happened, a think a lot of sales were creamed off by people buying the U.S. import 7" on Tabu.

A year or so after it's U.S. release a 12" extended version [[7mins 33secs) of "Loving Is Really My Game" was released in Britain on the Miracle label, backed with "Stormin'". Miracle really gave it all they had, releasing it on red transparent vinyl, complete with seven "disco eye cues", but I think it must have sold very poorly as in my Record Collector "Rare Record Guide" for 2008 it is listed as being worth £40 [[US$70) in mint condition.

During the height of the disco-fever of 1979 their "Hot For You" was released by UK Tabu on a 10minute 39seconds long 12" single, but it failed to attract much attention outside the hard-core "Disco" crowd.

Roger

[destruction]

I had the album for years from a flea market "box and save" before I played it.....

I used to play "Loving" and "Heaven" back to back to neophytes....and every person was suprised to learn that it was the same group.

Years ago there was a topic started about the most underrated band. Brainstorm's name came up....was seconded......thirded......quartered....etc......a nd no other band was mentioned.

Deon is a Monster.

[daddyacey]

"12" extended version [[7mins 33secs) of "Loving Is Really My Game" --------------That's a tasty item to look for. Thanks for that info.

{"In 1977 big things were expected of "Loving Is Really My Game" which had a beat and rhythm that appealed to the '60s/Northern crowd, but it never really happened, a think a lot of sales were creamed off by people buying the U.S. import 7" on Tabu. "}
That's interesting because at the time R.C.A. was also the distributor of TABU here in the states. So why import the U.S. 45 to the U.K.?

{"Hot For You" was released by UK Tabu on a 10minute 39seconds long 12" single, but it failed to attract much attention outside the hard-core "Disco" crowd."}
It was also released here in the States. It was remixed by Rick Gianatos ,who used to post here some time ago.

I have also noticed that the first album "Stormin" was manufactured and distributed by R.C.A. ,while the second album was released when C.B.S. picked up TABU for manufacture and distribution. R.C.A. has a poor record as far as "Dance and "Black Music" promotion is concerned. That may be the reason why STORMIN is not available on CD. Also consider that this was in the time period that it was claimed that C.B.S. had "conspiered" to take control of a big chunk of the "Black Music market". TABU product under control of C.B.S. did consistantly better from the jump , for example THE SOS BAND and ALEXANDER O'NEAL releases, along with the new deal that GAMBLE and HUFF had with the C.B.S. manufacture and distribution of the newly created P.I.R. BRAINSTORM just seem to have vanished after FUNKY ENTERTAINMENT. The bulk of the 12' that I have that are on TABU are C.B.S , and are from THE SOS BAND or ALEXANDER O'NEAL. Both groups excellent and representative of the "NEW FUNK" era, where electronic instruments replaced the string and horn sections with synth's. I think of it as the same way COKE and PEPSI stopped using cane sugar and used corn syrup instead for sweetner. The music changed and the WAY the music was made changed. BRAINSTORM was one of the casualties of that change.

[roger]

Daddyacey ..

In answer to your question ..

"That's interesting because at the time R.C.A. was also the distributor of TABU here in the states. So why import the U.S. 45 to the U.K.?"

Back in the '70s there were a number of record shops in Britain that imported the latest records from the U.S. independent of any record company involvement. Notable ones were Record Corner and Contempo in London, Spin Inn in Manchester and Selectadisc in Nottingham .. plus dozens of others.

Generally, back then, there would be a delay of 2 or 3 months between a record being released in the U.S. and any U.K. release, whilst the U.K. rights etc. were sorted out.

In the meantime, those who wanted to have the latest tunes [[D.Js and Collectors) could spend a bit more and get the import. Typically, around 1976/77 a U.K. released 7" was 50pence and an import 7" would be around 80pence.

Often hot new releases from the U.S. would sell so many copies as an import that any chance of them becoming big "sales chart" records was lost.

The U.K. record companies didn't like it but effectively there was little they could do.

Roger

[francis t]

As a trader in import new releases back in the seventies [[mainly at progressive northern soul venues like Blackpool Mecca and the Ritz), I used to sell good quantties of tracks like Brainstorm.I actually believe that rather than take sales from the UK companies, in some cases the demand created by the imports was responsable for a number of big sellers and chart hits.
Ones that spring to mind are Bo And Ruth, Betty Wrights-Where is the Love, the Crown Heights Affair and I am sure there were others.
Looking back it was the simultaneous release of tracks in the UK and US which took the fun and buzz out of buying a new record in my opinion, and many deejays lost interest.
I certainly did not bother stocking the UK releases.
I realise this probably makes no sense and it was the music that mattered, but even today a similar mindset I suspect drives those who look for alternative remixes of a track.[[Even if the original could not really be improved on)
I think the value of Brainstorm 12 inch "Lovin you.." has dropped a little as it was a mainstay record for deejays who now no longer use vinyl and play off cd or other boring devices.But it does mean the vinyl copies turn up more often as the deejays ditch their collections
It was easy to spot a mobile deejay in the past by his long arms from carrying the vinyl boxes!
Going back to the original post, I will have to see what I have in my racks at work a home and give Brainstorm another listen.
regards
francis t

[daddyacey]

francis t--------
[["deejays who now no longer use vinyl and play off cd or other boring devices.But it does mean the vinyl copies turn up more often as the deejays ditch their collections
It was easy to spot a mobile deejay in the past by his long arms from carrying the vinyl boxes!")

LOL-- My arms are a bit longer not to mention the trick back and knees.
I like that comment re: CD and other boring devices.
Here in the U.S. ,we looked forward to the import 12's[[U.K.,Canada ,France and Holland) because most titles came out on import first or not at all in the 12 format except for very restricted promos. 12' Promos from Atlantic ,Warner Bros ,Salsoul ,RCA, Prelude and Delite were hard to get here unless you were in a record pool, but those records were available sometimes as imports.

[daddyacey]

francis t--------
[["deejays who now no longer use vinyl and play off cd or other boring devices.But it does mean the vinyl copies turn up more often as the deejays ditch their collections
It was easy to spot a mobile deejay in the past by his long arms from carrying the vinyl boxes!")

LOL-- My arms are a bit longer not to mention the trick back and knees.
I like that comment re: CD and other boring devices.
Here in the U.S. ,we looked forward to the import 12's[[U.K.,Canada ,France and Holland) because most titles came out on import first or not at all in the 12 format except for very restricted promos. 12' Promos from Atlantic ,Warner Bros ,Salsoul ,RCA, Prelude and Delite were hard to get here unless you were in a record pool, but those records were available sometimes as imports.

[cozmic]

Great group. Their trombone player Jheryl Bright was also part of it.
He joined Cameo after that and eventually formed the group MCB with
Cameo-bassman Aaron Mills, and Cameo-keyboardist Thomas "TC" Campbell.

[paladin]

Great group, time to pull out the vinyl and give them a play. Brainstrom was very popular in Chicago and we gave them a lot of much deserved love. Funny thing after they went dormant, a lot of similar groups stared popping up like Unlimited Touch, SOS Band etc, that weren't nearly as good.

[Jay Negron]

Being a Club DJ in the NYC scene [['74-'82), Brainstorm had a place in ALL our crates...."Wake Up & Be Somebody", "Lovin Is Really My Game", & "Hot For You" was on MY playlist for months. "Lovin..." was sampled on several "house" tracks in the 90s also.....

[uptight]

Stormin' is as valuable an album to release on CD as any other classic funk album. It would make a nice CD with the extended 12" versions included.

[juicefree20]

I'll never forget & may have a tape that I recorded off of the radio from late 1976 & I still remember the song that followed it. Brainstorm was just hitting the airwaves when Frankie Crocker played "Wake Up & Be Somebody" followed by "Turn On To Love" by Jumbo. Why I should remember this nearly 35 years to the month later, I don't know. I guess that some things just stay with you.

From the "Stormin'" Lp I liked "Wake Up & Be Somebody" & the 2 definite classics, the Disco stomper "Lovin' Is Really My Game" & the "Quiet Storm" classic "This Must Be Heaven". I honestly liked their sophomore Lp "Journey To The Light" a bit more. Absolutely loved "We're On Our Way Home", especially Pt. 2. "Loving Jut you" was nice & I liked their remake of Stevie's "Every Time I See You I Go Wild". Unfortunately, the end came after their 1979 "Funky Entertainment" LP & the only song that I remember liking from that LP was the scorching "Hot For You".

I honestly don't know what happened with such a talented group, with one hell of a lead singer in Belita Woods. I believe that what happened is that when their 2nd Lp didn't sell too well, there must've been pressure to make more dance read DISCO cuts. This didn't work out too well for them & we know what happened in 1979 with the whole "Disco Sucks" movement. I would guess that they grabbed the wrong end of the stick at the worst possible time & were swept away by the tide.

Whatever the reasons, it's a shame because they were a good group & one would think that they should've been more successful.