Breakwater (band)


Breakwater is an American funk band from Philadelphia. The band released two albums: Breakwater in 1978, and Splashdown in 1980. The latter features the song "Release the Beast", which was sampled for the Murs track "Intro" in the album . "Release the Beast" was later sampled by Daft Punk for the song "Robot Rock", which appeared on the album Human After All.

Background

The band, originally from Philadelphia was formed in 1971. The original members of Breakwater consisted of Gene Robinson, James Gee Jones, Lincoln 'Zay' Gilmore, Steve Green, Vince 'Garnel' Dutton, Greg Scott, John 'Dutch' Braddock, and Kae Williams, Jr. They were signed to the Arista label in 1978. Their second album Splashdown, which was released in 1980 has been referred to by Tom Bowker of the Broward Palm Beach New Times as a funk masterpiece.

Releases

In September, 1979, their single "You Know I Love You", written by Greg Scott, and produced by Rick Chertoff was a Billboard top single pick.
For the week ending July 5, 1980, their album Splashdown at its 8th week in the Billboard charts had moved up from 35 to 34. At its 13th week, it was sitting at 57, the position it was the previous week.

Sound

The sound of Breakwater's music is normally that of slow jams, but they have been known to incorporate rock music and funk styles into their songs, much like their song titled "You". "Release the Beast" is best known by non-funk music fans, and the band's sound can be closer compared to that of Con Funk Shun or Earth, Wind & Fire.

Later years

On October 16, 2014, the eleven-piece band with four man horn section played Warmdaddy's on S Columbus Blvd in Philadelphia.
It has been announced that the band and fellow seventies act Pockets, an R&B funk band from Baltimore, will appear at London's Brooklyn Bowl on January 7, 2017.

Discography

TitleRelease infoYearFNotes
BreakwaterArista AB 42081978LP
SplashdownArista AB 42641980LP
Breakwater Get On Down GET-512692010CD
SplashdownGet On Down GET-512682010CD
Breakwater / SplashdownExpansion EXP2CD 492016CDCompilation