The Winstons – Color Him Father / Amen, Brother

Don't listen to all the, "ouuu is it stereo", talk. It's they orginal Amen you nutters, their all like "ouuu this press, no confidence" like it's some hipster repress, like this isn't they most sampled record ever, absolutely hilarious. Lay off the Starbucks soy latte lads!

Amen break is always sampled in mono anyway, advanced mic'ing techniques of drums didn't even exist in the time period this track was recorded. You always mono in to your sampler. traditionally an S950.

This is Amen, what more is there to say, what more do you want? It's a slice of history and more than perfectly fine for the purpose of sampling, it is the standard.

But... Prices people are trying to scam the hipsters, prices are getting extortionate, don't ever massively over pay, when there's a very high quality Soul Jazz Records repress and there's the difference but still usable Ultimate Breaks (it's a 33 on the break part) version too.

If you can get a copy at a reasonable price go for it, I see it for under £10 in charity shops and at car boot sales at least twice a year, this record is not rare. I paid £8 for my VG original press version, its not mint but it plays completely fine, DO NOT pay 30 to 80 quid for Amen!!! It's just Amen - everyone has it! Do not let resellers exploit you if you are new to vinyl! It's they most sampled record ever because everyone has it, it is not rare.

Soundsoftheuniverse will sell you the JSR high quality repress for £12 (currently in stock), people a scummily reselling this record for double and more, if your in London just cycle on down to Soho (bus isn't worth it as getting it posted to you is cheaper),
And cop a copy for 12 quid , if you can't pick up in person they'll post it to you anywhere in the UK from purchase on the website for £2.80.

Amen is an important / legendary break yes, but it's value is around £10 max, most people who own it got it free or for 50p from a charity shop (I'm not over exaggerating), don't get robbed people. Look up reviews and the Jazz Soul Records press, it is highly rated. The UBB version is about £14 with postage! And again just keep an eye out in the charity shops and at boot sales, almost everyone who ever gave up hardware sampling has or had a copy of Amen so these get dumped in charity shops all the time from attics.

I own most versions of Amen Brother (I have multiples of some), if you are a prolific Amen break sampler, assuming your needle is in good nick and your turn table is decent (1210 being my base standard of "decent", so as good as that or above) - your going to get a few thousand plays out of the record from new before it's completely destroyed, a typical VG original that's already been played a lot, give it a wash and call it 100 plays before it's done. Obviously you'll save your sampled Amen at different clip on the audio in to your sampler, play it at different speeds and through different outboard gear like compressors an all that, 100 spins is more than enough to last a few years as you'll reuse each sample dozens of times. So you really only need two alright copy's and your golden. You don't need 50x of this record and you don't really "NEED" the original considering the JSR press is the bees knees. If you can, on a budget of max £30 get the original or JSR and maybe a year later pick up the UBB version on a repress run - your ABSOLUTELY golden mate!

Iconic record. A must for break beats sample based production, but not worth these inflated hipster prices. Other good options are available (quality represses).

NOTE: video 2 is Stereo wish listers would take care and check and LISTEN first.
(this deffo samples the odd bar of Rescue Me)

Sadly the videos from youtube do not inspire any confidence in this pressing as BOTH tracks are mono,
not 100% sure if Columbia's stereo text is correct. It's crazy that posters do not check and list sonics, for buyer's and collectors alike it's a massive selling point.
Is this single Stereo or Mono? If it is stereo, then the youtube video needs to go as it's sonically incorrect and a waste of time!

The most famous loop af all times! "Amen Break," a six-second drum sample( starts at 1:26 ) from the b-side of this chart-topping single from 1969. This sample was used extensively in early hiphop and sample-based music, and became the basis for drum-and-bass and jungle music, a six-second clip that spawned several entire subcultures.

Links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SaFTm2bcac
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amen_Break
http://www.myspace.com/amenbros