James Brown In the Mid- to Late-Seventies

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The so-called "classic JB" definitely ended around the time of "The Payback" in 1973, one of his most influential singles ever. And after that, things were seriously hit or miss — this much we all know.

Less acknowledged in discussing his decline was how utterly desperate it was for an artist of his stature — and fascinating. At times, it seems almost every track began with JB yelping, "I'm back!!" (a lesson disciple Sly Stone would appropriate within months to similar effect). There were titles like Sex Machine Today and The Original Disco Man (featuring "the original disco band") and bizarre songs like "The Future Shock of the World" in which JB's sole contribution consists of him whispering "Disssssco!!!" through a reverb chamber for five minutes. On "Hot (I Need To Be Loved, Loved, Loved)" the Godfather actually steals a Bowie riff, which Bowie reportedly didn't bother even suing him over because the single tanked so badly.

Many such moments were highlighted on the 1985 cassette comp (not to be confused w/ the more-is-less 2-CD comp from the 90's) Dead On the Heavy Funk (74-76), which also featured such highlights as "Superbad, Superslick" (and its great clavinet comping and shrieking lady backing vox), the drop-dead "Your Love", "Bodyheat (Part 1)", and other lost chestnuts.

And almost unbelievably, the cassette made a solid case for this era — arguing that he was at his best in the 70's when he was not sticking to his guns a la the "Hot Pants"-esque "I Can't Stand It '76", but desperately trying to adapt to modern conventions. And that, of course, was disco. It was almost as if the more baldly transparent the product—slick horn charts, said clavinets and shrieking girls—the more the essential energy of the man's music was elicited. It's hard to pinpoint, really. But I wonder whether it had to do with the fact that, much like Miles Davis, JB was at his best when he was looking forward as an artist, not backwards (a quality that managed to abandon both in the 1980's — albeit in slightly different ways for slightly different reasons).

Regardless, given the man's historical import, it's an era ripe for rediscovery — unfortunately, Polydor has all but decimated this period. Like each of the records from 75-80, the Dead On... cassette never made it onto CD and went out of print sometime in the late 80's. The expanded 2-CD issue bumped the immortal "Funky President (People It's Bad)" to the earlier retrospective where it didn't really belong, covered material all the way until 1983, in the process creating a totally different and unsatisfying product that inexplicably left off many of the earlier set's highlights. And now that's out of print, too. So, where the 1969-71 era has the incredibly tight and influential In the Jungle Groove comp, apart from about five or six tracks on the Star Time box and a spare track on comps here and there, this one now has virtually nothing. What a tragedy.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:29 (eighteen years ago) link

well, I dunno if its a tragedy of titanic proportions - vinyl reissues of some of the post-"Payback" stuff are still easy to find (as is JB's "The Original Disco Man", which I've seen a lot). I think the main reason this period is so depressing and desperate for JB is fairly obvious - all of his quality musicians had deserted him. He had screwed over everyone, and the people who had *really* made his trademark sound and understood it weren't gonna take his bullshit anymore. Maceo, Bootsy, especially Fred - they had all jumped ship, and only rarely returned for the occasional live date. JB's slide during this time is almost entirely attributable to his own hubris and lack of actual musical ideas.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 27 May 2005 16:36 (eighteen years ago) link

I REALLY like JB's Groove Machine, which came out in 1979 on a TK Records subsidiary. I think it sits well with Connie Case's Get On Down...you just have to get over the idea of it not being "classic James".

― PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:38 (eighteen years ago) link

the 2CD is SO not more-is-less it isn't funny

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:39 (eighteen years ago) link

fun fact: "Future Shock" was originally called "Let's Go to the Discoteque and Dance Your Ass Off," the reason he whispers "future shock" into an echo chamber is to cover up the word "ass" so it could get played on the radio, which it promptly wasn't.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:40 (eighteen years ago) link

Sex Machine Today was recently reissued on CD; Dusty Groove has it.

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:53 (eighteen years ago) link

Also, if somebody wants to burn me a copy of the 2CD Dead On The Heavy Funk, I'd really appreciate it.

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:54 (eighteen years ago) link

I wish I'd kept mine. I'm thanked in the liner notes!

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:54 (eighteen years ago) link

Matos in self-promotional shockah.

All I was saying, Matos, is that the cassette comp was tight as shit — the 2-CD one wasn't and blew off some of his best moments.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:27 (eighteen years ago) link

cassette or LP? what, if anything, is the difference? and what got left off?

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:30 (eighteen years ago) link

Really, Matos? Sweet!

Anyway, I'm a huge fan of the 2-cd Dead on the Heavy Funk. Sex Machine pt. II is great (it's actually a good reworking, one of the last tracks with Jabo, "do you like hairy legs or VERY legs" haha), but also Jam, Too Funky in Here, Hustle, Bring It On, For Goodness Sakes Just Look at those Cakes (!), etc.

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:32 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm just glad to have finally heard all of "For Goodness Sakes," STILL the greatest song title ever. (the mention--run and hide, Weiner, lest I offend your delicate sensibilities--is due to a fanzine thing I wrote about some earlier JB reissues that ended with a request to hear "Cakes")

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:34 (eighteen years ago) link

Ha ha ha.

It was cassette. Left off were "Superbad, Superslick", "Funky President" (which belongs on this), "Future Shock Of The World", "Don't Tell It". And it was only a 9-track comp anyway...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:36 (eighteen years ago) link

ooh yeah, "Funky President" - that's a painful omission for this period of JB.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 27 May 2005 17:38 (eighteen years ago) link

I might feel the same way if I'd heard the earlier iteration first, obviously. But with JB I'm definitely a more-is-more kind of person. (which ultimately makes me a sucker, I'm sure, and I'm fine with that.)

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:41 (eighteen years ago) link

(you're right about the self-promo, btw. it's a bad habit.)

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:43 (eighteen years ago) link

"Funky President" does belong here, conceptually, you're right. certainly sonically--the Fred Thomas/Fred Wesley JBs had a distinct sound that's all but gone by "FP." the thing that's fascinating to me about the 2CD Heavy Funk is how scrapbooky it is--it's like the mirror image of Roots of a Revolution. (You could call it Remnants of a Revolution, maybe.)

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:46 (eighteen years ago) link

Sex Machine Today isn't great, but there are some good tracks. I actually like Jam/1980s and Original Disco Man quite a lot, myself. But I guess '67 to about '73 is the prime JB, with his work in '69 and '70 being the absolute peak. I saw him in the early '80s and he still kinda had it; I saw him maybe ten years later and it was a shuck.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:50 (eighteen years ago) link

no love for "Body Heat"? (I've never heard it myself, but that's another used record bin staple, it seems like)

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 27 May 2005 17:51 (eighteen years ago) link

(you're right about the self-promo, btw. it's a bad habit.)

Whatever — just giving you shit. Besides, we all do it at some point here. I just noticed you'd mentioned it in another JB thread.

"Funky President" does belong here, conceptually, you're right. certainly sonically--the Fred Thomas/Fred Wesley JBs had a distinct sound that's all but gone by "FP." the thing that's fascinating to me about the 2CD Heavy Funk is how scrapbooky it is--it's like the mirror image of Roots of a Revolution. (You could call it Remnants of a Revolution, maybe.)

A good read on it, for sure. Now if only IT WERE STILL AVAILABLE.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:53 (eighteen years ago) link

No one whose name appears on Dead on the Heavy Funk should be prohibited from mentioned it on a thread essentially about Dead on the Heavy Funk!

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:56 (eighteen years ago) link

if you mean Body Heat the album, I've never heard it. if you mean "Body Heat" the song, ALL TIME CLASSIC, easily his best disco foray.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:57 (eighteen years ago) link

And that's one thing the 2-CD surpasses the cassette with — it's the full nine-minute version...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:58 (eighteen years ago) link

>the full nine-minute version

There's an 11-minute "Body Heat" on Motherlode...

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Friday, 27 May 2005 18:17 (eighteen years ago) link

"full"

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 27 May 2005 18:18 (eighteen years ago) link

The cassette Weiner's talking about was also an LP release, one of three in Polydor's "James Brown Story" series.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Friday, 27 May 2005 20:01 (eighteen years ago) link

Track listing of the original LP/cassette:
Superbad, Superslick
Your Love
Bodyheat (pt. 1)
Hot (I Need To Be Loved, Loved, Loved, Loved)
Get Up Offa That Thing
Funky President (People It's Bad)
Don't Tell It
The Future Shock of the World
Woman

"Superbad, Superslick" is now out of print; no big deal. "The Future Shock of the World," as "Future Shock," is on the JBs' "Funky Good Time: The Anthology." "Funky President" and an alternate "Don't Tell It" are on "Make It Funky: The Big Payback 1971-1975." The rest are on the "Dead On the Heavy Funk (1975-83)" CD.

I believe "In the Jungle Groove" was originally intended to be made obsolete by the sequence that goes "Foundations of Funk (1964-69)," "Funk Power 1970: A Brand New Thang" and "Make It Funky: The Big Payback." But there was enough demand for it that it came back. And its mono mixes of some of the Collins Brothers-era jams smoke the stereo versions.

There's reportedly a half-assembled JB live retrospective that's been looking for a spot on the release schedule for a few years.

― Douglas (Douglas), Friday, 27 May 2005 21:03 (eighteen years ago) link

"Superbad, Superslick" is now out of print; no big deal.

WRONG

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 27 May 2005 21:10 (eighteen years ago) link

The rest are on the "Dead On the Heavy Funk (1975-83)" CD.

Which is also out of print.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 27 May 2005 21:11 (eighteen years ago) link

three years pass...

I was just thinking, "Man, I should start a thread about how great James Brown was in the late Seventies" and came across this thread...that I started.

― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 11 September 2008 02:15 (fifteen years ago) link

Man, I guess I need Dead On the Heavy Funk.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 11 September 2008 02:38 (fifteen years ago) link

Good fucking luck.

― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 11 September 2008 02:47 (fifteen years ago) link

Let me ask a question; what records from the era do folks think are more interesting than others?

― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 11 September 2008 04:52 (fifteen years ago) link

Trying to answer this question myself, I pulled down Bodyheat, Sex Machine Today, Everybody's Doing the Hustle and Dead on the Double Bump and The Original Disco Man. Hot is on the way.

Thus far, Everybody's Doing the Hustle seems really strong — I'll rep for "Superbad, Superslick" anyday and the remake of "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" is ace. As for Bodyheat, "Kiss in '77" is a different sound for him — synth strings and all and his disco version of "What the World Needs Now" is pretty awesome. JB and clavinet were a good pairing.

Still listening, but I'm willing to say that I could make a better comp than what's been available anyway.

― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 12 September 2008 14:09 (fifteen years ago) link

Good fucking luck.

― Naive Teen Idol, Wednesday, September 10, 2008 9:47 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

is it oop or something?

― you don't make friends with salad (Jordan), Friday, 12 September 2008 15:00 (fifteen years ago) link

It's the Battle of the Aging Black Geniuses Straining To Connect With Young People:

http://www.wegofunk.com/photo/742223-908109.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g203/blindprophets/Miles-Davis-On-The-Corner-356954.jpg

― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 12 September 2008 15:58 (fifteen years ago) link

wow I don't think I've ever seen that "Get Up Offa That Thing" sleeve before! nice.

On the Corner is kinda untouchable tho

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 12 September 2008 16:05 (fifteen years ago) link

Sex Machine Today from 1975 was killed when it came out, but it's really interesting not so much as a "disco record" but as a document of JB trying to reconcile his earlier sound with what was happening on the charts then. It has "Sex Machine" itself -- the bizarre "hairy legs" rant notwithstanding, the feel of the groove is totally different than the original or the 1970 take with Bootsy and the guitar creates a completely distinct sense of space compared to any previous version.

Likewise, "Dead On It" (featuring Maceo and Fred Wesley) is 13 minutes of grooves that originally aired during his 1969-1971 polyrhythmic heyday but re-purposed and inverted here by the four-on-the-floor drum and bass parts more typical of 1975. Featuring assorted contemporary instrumental textures, it also features an extended On the Corner-esque wah-wah clavinet solo by JB himself.

Interesting stuff.

― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 13 September 2008 20:47 (fifteen years ago) link

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