If James didn’t single-handedly
change the face of pop music by moving rhythm to the forefront he was at the
very least one of the primary exponents in doing so and this collection helps
display many of his finest dance grooves from one of his most creative periods.
The collection covers only a scant year and a half or so – September 1969
through July 1971 – and marks his transition from balladeer and dancer
extraordinaire to Sex Machine (a song recorded during this period, but not on
this collection). And if you’re a fan of that song – or of any funk from the
era – and don't have this, you're missing out. This is, for me, the definition
of funk – or at least one of them, with perhaps Sly Stone’s work right
alongside it and Parliament-Funkadelic around this time writing a new chapter
of slower, spaced-out grooves.
Everything here is a full-length
dance floor workout – discounting the DJ-friendly "Bonus Beats"
reprise of one song, the shortest song clocks in at 6:09 while the longest is a
magnificent 9:13 of "Funky Drummer," possibly the single most sampled
song of all time due to its famous drum break (you’ll know it when you hear
it). But from the seemingly effortless screams James unleashes – sometimes as
punctuation, sometimes held back to a climactic moment of a song – to the
irrepressible groove created by the rhythm section (variously held down by
bassists Bootsy Collins or Sweet Charles and drummers Clyde Stubblefield or
Jabo Starks or Melvin Parker) to the intertwined guitars scratching out the
rhythm to the horns playing patterns and sometimes solos over the rhythmic
beast they’ve created, this music always moves with a single-minded purpose –
and that’s to move your feet.
For those who think that dance
music and pop are a young man’s game, you should note that Brown was 36 when
the earliest of these cuts was laid down and had been sharpening his recording
work since his debut in 1956, constantly changing and refining his work. It’s
startling to hear how far he’d come even since the famed revue-style recording
of Live at the Apollo in 1962, but this era marked a period of creative
flow that he’d rarely equal. Of course, these songs aren’t the first one where
he staked a claim on an irresistible groove, 1965's “Papa's Got A Brand New
Bag” is certainly a precursor, and by 1967's “Cold Sweat” he'd made a
definitive turn toward this style of music dominating his output, laying down
extended works in the studio that only sometimes found their ways to albums at
their full strength – hence the added necessity of this invaluable compilation.
It’s a bias of rock-centric thinking that albums are the only format worth
attending – when the music is this good, who cares how it finds its way out, as
long as it does? Be sure to attend to the highlights – “It's A Brand New Day”
kicks things off, leading into the legendary “Funky Drummer” and the simply
great “Give It Up Or Turn It A Loose.” Later, we’re treated to the anthem
"Get Up, Get Into it and Get Involved" and the salacious (and terrific)
"Hot Pants (She Got To Use What She Got To Get What She Wants)." But
everything here kills it, from beginning to end, and even the “Bonus Beats” are
fun if you’re on the dance floor – you won’t mind hearing them again.
- Patrick Brown
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