Ultimate Breaks and Beats (also commonly abbreviated as UBB) was a series of 25 compilation albums released from 1986 to 1991 by Street Beat Records and edited by "BreakBeat Lou" Flores and "BreakBeat Lenny" Roberts. Featured on the albums were funk, R&B, soul, jazz and rock tracks from the 1960s to 1980s that included influential drum breaks.
The albums found high popularity with hip hop producers, with each new release in the series leading to many records featuring samples of the breaks. In this way, the series impacted the soundscape of rap, hip hop, dance, and pop music in general.
Re-releases of the LPs, some packaged in pairs for DJscratching and mixing convenience, became available and are currently found in many record stores. CDs of some of the volumes may be found as well, including a 2-CD and DVD box set featuring nearly all of the tracks on the 25 albums.
Releases
Complete track listing, taken from Geocities.com and updated with performers' names, missing in the track lists of volumes SBR 499, SBR 500 and the first version of SBR 508.
An asterisk after a track name indicates that the song was remixed for inclusion in this compilation.
Not official
SBR 499
The Limit – "She's So Divine" (from CP-721 12-inch single) (1982)
Kashif – "I Just Gotta Have You (Lover Turn Me On)" (from CP-728 12-inch single) (1982)
Kenton Nix featuring Bobby Youngblood – "There's Never Been (No One Like You)" (from WES 22130 12-inch single) (1980)
Mr. Magic – "Magic's Message (There Has to Be a Better Way)" (from POS-1213 12-inch single) (1984)
SBR 500
Tia Monae – "Don't Keep Me Waiting" (from CART-320 12-inch single) (1983)
Cloud One – "Flying High" (from HS-1010 12-inch single) (1982)
Tom Jones – "Looking Out My Window"* (from "45-40035" 7-inch single (1968) Parrot Records ***Note: Looking Out My Window" does not appear on the 1968 LP "Help Yourself" although it does so on later cd reissues.
Dynamic Corvettes – "Funky Music Is the Thing Part 2" (from ABET-5459 7-inch single) (1975) Abet Records
2 – "(Runaway) I Wouldn't Change a Thing" is actually two songs by Coke Escovedo put into one track: the ending of "Runaway" and "I Wouldn't Change a Thing".
Dyke & the Blazers – "Let a Woman Be a Woman, Let a Man Be a Man"* (from Greatest Hits) (1969) Original Sounds Records
Bram Tchaikovsky – "Whiskey and Wine" (live version from "The Girl Of My Dreams" 7" E.P.') (1979) Radar Records***note The song "Whiskey & Wine" was originally covered by the group The Motors and Bram Tchaikovsky was an original member. Their version from the album "1" is a studio recording and has no drum break***
"L.L. Bonus Beats" – Fancy – "Feel Good"* (from Wild Thing) (1974) Big Three Records BT 89502 ***note; Looped as a 1:40 min. bonus beat on vinyl edition at 45rpm***.
SBR 518
Bar-Kays – "Let's Have Some Fun" (from Flying High on Your Love) (1977) Mercury Records
There are some oddities in the collection, with releases SBR 499 and SBR 500 discontinued and now considered "unofficial", while SBR 508 was released with two different track listings. The later, alternate track listing for SBR 508 is as below.
SBR 508
Incredible Bongo Band – "Sing, Sing, Sing" (from The Return of the Incredible Bongo Band) (1974)
Also, two later volumes were released, both as SBR 526. The first version was re-released as Strictly Breaks 1, and the second version was actually mixed and re-edited by Louis Flores.
SBR 526
Joe Tex – "You Said a Bad Word" (from the Mercury Records 6052156 7-inch single) (1972)
Tony Alvon & the Belairs – "Sexy Coffee Pot" (from Atlantic Records 452632 7-inch single) (1969)
Hank Carbo – "Hot Pants Pt. 2" (from the A-1172 7-inch single) (1971)
Other notes
The earliest track on the Ultimate Breaks and Beats series is Joe Tex's "Papa Was Too", released in 1966, with the latest being Fonda Rae's "Touch Me (All Night Long)", released in 1984.
The rarest track to be included on the Ultimate Breaks & Beats series is Manzel's "Midnight Theme", originally released on a Fraternity Records 7-inch record in 1975, though multiple reissues have been released and the song is available on many websites, including YouTube. However, for unknown reasons, the track was the only track left off a CD of all the tracks ever released on the Ultimate Breaks and Beats albums, possibly due to copyright issues.
DJ Superix, a British DJ, is the first DJ known to have compiled every single break from every volume of Ultimate Breaks and Beats into one mix, entitled "Ultimate, Ultimate, Ultimate!", released in 2008. DJs Harry Love and MK originally released a mix CD as a tribute to the series entitled Beats Per Minute. While this CD did not feature every break, it was one of the first in the UK dedicated to be the Ultimate Breaks & Beats series.
The first ever DJ mix in tribute to Ultimate Breaks & Beats is DJ Q Bert's Demolition Pumpkin Squeeze Musik (1994). Subtitled as "A Pre-School Break Mix", DJ QBert mixed duplicate copies of UBB tracks with scratching and incorporated dialogue and samples from television, film and popular culture, notably comic books, cartoons and video games.
Other similar breakbeat compilations
Many drum break series compilation albums followed Ultimate Breaks and Beats, including: