Note to Marks & Spencer: Whispering over the top of slow motion footage of food doesn't make it tast...
Note to Marks & Spencer: Whispering over the top of slow motion footage of food doesn't make it tastier or any less fattening.
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INTRO ---------- After 1980's rappers and The Smiths, James Brown is my other musical icon of choice. With a career in entertainment spanning his debut single release, "Please Please Please" in 1956 to his appearance with Will Young at this year's Olympic Torch Concert, only Cliff Richard could boast a career equal in longevity. Cliff, though, can't boast James Brown's critical kudos and influence. Of the 116 albums he's released, this effort - originally from 1981 - is one of 17 "best ofs" on the market!
WHO IS HE? ------------------- Even if you don't know any of his music directly, the chances are that you'll have been affected indirectly by his vast 45 year output. For a start, he invented what used to be called "soul", that genre that put feeling and vocal passion before lyrics and image. He was 8 years ahead of Motown and Stax and was experimenting with soulful innovations whilst Chess records were still courting rock n roll and blues in the late 1950s. Towards the end of the 60's, "soul" became a bit more danceable and a subgenre called "funk" was born.
In the mid-70's, Brown upped the ante and the tempo with the use of the hi-hat. Voila! A prototype of "disco" had emerged. "Disco" morphed into "house" in the late 80s and "house" is the old name for the "dance" music of today.
In the mid 80's, rappers and DJs began sampling his funky grunts, soulful beats and brassy stabs. This acceptable theft ensured hip hop moved out of the ghetto and into the charts at the end of the 80's. This new-found commercial sound was, of course, supplied by much of James Brown's 60s and 70s output.
OK, so this is a generalisation and I'm suggesting that James Brown virtually invented all black music of the last forty years (except reggae). He didn't, of course, but it's not that much of an exaggeration to cite Brown as an influence on every important
black artist of the last 40 years: Prince, OutKast, Public Enemy, Sly Stone.
THE TRACKS -------------------- For an artist with 45 years of recorded output, the 10 tracks here hardly constitutes a "some of" let alone a "very best of", but this was the first Brown album I ever bought (£3.00 in a second hand vinyl shop - bargain) and it helped ease me gently into the confusing, wild, innovative world of this unique singer. I've sinced purchased about 15 of his CDs and there's many more on my wishlist. The 10 tracks here are his most famous and should be familiar to most people, but there are some glaring omissions which I will cover later. Anyway, here's the listing with a description of each track, along with the Most Brown-like Moment (or MBM):
1. I Got You (I Feel Good) Brassy stabs and squeals and the zigzagging trumpet after he sings "I feel good" provide the backbone to this track that I've grown weary of due to overexposure on radio and at wedding receptions. It was originally released in 1965 and reissued in 1988 after the success - and it's inclusion on the soundtrack - of Good Morning Vietnam. Mark: 3/5 MBM: "When I hold you in my aaaaaaaaaarms"
2. Get Up I Feel Like Being A Sex Machine This, for ages, was his biggest hit in the UK and defines the new direction soul and funk was taking when it was released in 1970. The beat is astonishingly fresh and the addition of the great Bobby Byrd (the bloke who sings "get on up" throughout the track) is a masterstroke. Brown's band remain tight for duration of the track and given that it's nigh on 35 years old, Sex Machine rocks like ten Donningtons! Mark: 5/5 MBM: "Can I count it off? A-1-2-3-4"
3. It's A Man's Man's Man's World With the exception of some of Brown's late 1950s output, a ballad by this artist is something of a rarity. He was happier with the horns screaming, the drums thumping and the funky guitar strumming. This is a radical departure and one of only two ballads on the album. A lovely guitar note plucks consistently along as James pinpoints the achievements in life made by men, but concedes wholeheartedly that life would be nothing with a woman (or a girl). Beautiful song, questionable sentiment. Mark: 4/5 MBM: "It would be nothing, nothaaaaaaaang without a woman or a girl"
4. Papa's Got A Brand New Bag This song has been reduced to comedic effect in 1980's Hollywood films. Stupid white men (like me) dancing sideways with their shoulders hunched and lips pursed in offices only to get spotted by the janitor. Strip all this nonsense away and you still have a very fine song This was recorded in 1965, was way ahead of it's time and congratulations if you can work out more than half of the word without using the lyric sheet! Mark: 5/5 MBM: "Papa's got a brand new bag. Diddaliddaliddalidda. Bang! "
5. Cold Sweat I've heard this two note brass riff on a thousand rap singles over the years, but the original still oozes superiority, still reeks of passion. It's typical Brown with just the funky drums, the picked guitar and baritone sax underpinning his vocals. The best James Brown tracks are those that build up to a feverish instrumental climax before falling away to leave just the vocals and this track is no exception. Class. Mark: 5/5 MBM: The music stops for Brown to sing: "in a cooooooold sweat"
6. Get Up Offa That Thing "I'm back, I'm back", he sings over a vocal and trumpet, call and answer intro before the uptempo disco beat and 70's retroporn keyboards kick in to unleash "the funk". A brilliantly distant backing group vocalise with yobbish appeal in answer to Brown's superb vocals. Here he half sings/half talks his way through possibly his second most groundbreaking moment after Sex Machine. Mark: 4/5 MBM: "Where's dem JB's?" he asks his band when he should be singing
7. Hot Pants, Pt. 1 How funky is this? It's a few BPM down from Get Up Offa That Thing and the looped guitar that saunters through the track is just superb. No one on Earth can do this sort of music with this sort of groove. It's just against the law! All the old Brown cliches are there: "smokin", "good Gard", "hey, heeeeeey" etc. About a minute in , an excited trumpet kicks and stays for the reminder of the track as Brown waxes about the aesthetic delights that are hot pants. Class. Mark: 5/5 MBM: The sudden key change near the end before Brown requests: "bring it on home"
8. I Got the Feelin' Back to a more frenetic beat this time, with Brown screaming all over the shop. I don't think this warrants an inclusion on this album as it's not really vintage James Brown. All the trademarks are there: the squeals, the excited brass, the all-over-the-place drums and ding-a-ling guitar, but it just doesn't gel that well. Mark: 2/5 MBM: When the music stops for Brown to sing: "baby baby baby I got the feeeelin'"
9. Out of Sight Another of the ancient tracks on the album and a riproarer! It's very similar in feel and pace to Papa's Got A Brand New Bag. Starting with a chirpy bit of bass, James Brown comes straight in with the VERY 1960's soul lyric: "you got ya high heel sneakers on...". If you took the vocals away it would sound like the theme tune to "Bottom"! But that's a good thing, isn't it? Mark: 4/5 MBM: As it fades, Brown goes: "ooooooh....weeeeee"
10. Please, Please, Please This song is 48 years old and, although it sounds very much of its time, also sounds incredibly fresh. This was Brown's "pre-funk" period and the song is typical 50''s "doo-wop" with the emphasis on lush backing harmonies and 4/4 drums and bass and piano. Mark: 4/5 MBM: When the music stops and Brown pleads: "please, PLEASE, pleeeeease"
GLARING OMISSIONS -------------------------------- Funky Drummer: the most sampled song in pop history Try Me: At least equal in sorrow and emotion to Please Please Please Bewildered: Another 1956 masterpiece Rapp Payback: Virtually invented rap music back in 1979
OTHER BEST OF COMPILATIONS ----------------------------------------------- Forget the 17 others, there are only three that can be counted as essential:
Sex Machine: The Best Of (1991) 20 tracks from 1956's Please Please Please to 1988's I'm Real. A step up from The Very Best Of but nowhere near as exhaustive as...
Star Time (1991) ...a 4CD behemoth of every US and UK single release from 1956 to 1988. It's been updated and repackaged for the 2004 market but you'll struggle to get change out of £40 for this.
The Godfather (2003) Settle for this one. All the key singles and album tracks of the last fifty years squashed into a 24-track bundle of fluffy joy. Lovely.
MODERN DAY ALTERNATIVES -------------------------------------------- Brown has influenced most musicians, here's some modern reference points:
Artist: Joss Stone Album: The Soul Sessions Year: 2004 Why: Her "wait a minute" refrain from "Super Duper Love" is nicked from "Sex Machine"
Artist: Prince Album: Parade Year: 1986 Why: his soul screams on "Kiss" mirror Brown's on "I Feel Good"
Artist: Terence Trent D'Arby Album: Introducing The Hardline... Year: 1987 Why: The break in "Who's Loving You" is identical to "Please Please Please"
Artist: Big Daddy Kane Album: It's A Big Daddy Thing Year: 1989 Why: Play "spot the sample" on at least 8 of the 15 tracks!
Artist: OutKast Album: Stankonia Year: 2001 Why: The moves in the videos and smooth soul that flows throughout
SUMMARY --------------- Whilst this is not a definitive collection, nine of the ten songs collected herein are his most famous (I Got The Feeling excluded) and act as a superb primer for newcomers to his music.
Thanks for reading, hope it helped.
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