POO: James Brown

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I don't know which one, and I probably won't for a while. I am tentatively choosing "The Boss".

― Nate Patrin, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Or "The Payback". Or "It's A Man's Man's Man's World". Or... ah hell. This is HARD.

― Nate Patrin, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

GOD DAMMIT QUIT DOING POO THREADS AND NOT GIVING REASONS FOR CHOOSING YOUR SONGS, JUST LISTING A BUNCH OF SOGNS IS THE MOST BORING THING EVER

― Josh, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

the payback

― Ron, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

hahahaha

― Ron, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

POOBAEYSJDGB (pick only one but also explain yourself so josh doesnt get bored)

― Ron, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

If I have to explain why I like James Brown to you then you'll JUST NEVER GET IT. Ha.

― Nate Patrin, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Besides, my eight-page dissertation on what makes "Get Up Offa That Thing" great is taking a while to write because I need to find the right Jacques Derrida quote.

― Nate Patrin, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

At Josh's request I will refrain from offerring my favorite JB track (its 'papa dont take no mess', btw) because I have no idea what makes one better than another. I do agree that these need more explanation, but, Josh please, it's "POO!" not "POO".

― Keiko, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

all I'm asking for is like seventh-grade level, patrin. you don't need to do a literature search or check with your advisor beforehand.

― Josh, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

first off, I knew someone was gonna have to do this one sooner or later (and it figures it's Patrin), since THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE! there is no such thing as "only one" JB song--it's unfair, and it tempts me to adopt a bunch of email pseudonyms so I can keep picking different songs. JB was the greatest musician of the 20th century (my argument, anyway), and anyone who's even heard a lame single-disc best-of knows you can't just choose one. arrrgggghhhh!

that said, "Get Up I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine" seems as archetypal as anything he's done: unstoppable, still as fresh- sounding as ever, full of humor and vitality, absolutely 100% perfect in a way that I don't quite think anything else he did was (that is, other stuff sounds 99% or 98% perfect in comparison) (I'm sure Douglas is gonna cream me for saying that). how's that Josh?

Also: a sub-thread. POO James Brown...AND POO James Brown-related (outside production etc.). My pick in the second category is Bobby Byrd's "I Know You Got Soul," corny/hackneyed/obvious a choice as it is.

― M Matos, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

a little better, matos

― Josh, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"a little"?

― M Matos, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Papa's Got a Brand New Bag/I Got U/I Got The Feelin' medley from 'Love Power Peace' for the rock & roll energy and the crazy hits, + the segue into Give it Up or Turn it Loose.

― Jordan, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Side-note: Phelps Collins, the most-underrated guitarist ever?

― Jordan, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

no derrida quotes, matos

― Josh, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

not derrida, deriding

― M Matos, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Definitely.

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Might I mention, O Josh, that I haven't given an explanation yet because I haven't even finalized which song I'm going to pick yet? If you want, I can utilize my seventh-grade level writing skills to go on about how "The Boss" has that great guitar rhythm or how "It's A Man's Man's Man's World" contains one of the greatest vocal performances in modern-day music but what if it turns out "Think" or "Super Bad" is actually my favorite? Like double M sez: IMPOSSIBLE.

I do know that I will not pick "Living In America", at least.

― Nate Patrin, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

a little better, patrin

― Josh, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

OK, here goes: "Super Bad, Pts. 1 & 2". Not only do you get James delivering some of the greatest catchphrases of his career ("Jump back/wanna kiss myself", for instance -- hell, even the title itself is great, and the more it's repeated in the song the cooler it seems), but he does it over a rhythm where this thick, soupy, jittery bassline that careens all over the place is playing against these near-mechanical, ultra-precise and borderline-minimalist guitars and one-note horn blasts. And then JB yells "BRIDGE!" and those horns are unleashed and MAN, it sounds like there's fifty of 'em and they're all being blasted out with superhuman gusto. This song has pretty much everything that makes both Brown and his band absolutely incredible when kicking out the uptempo dance groove (with IAMMMW the other side of the JB coin, maybe).

― Nate Patrin, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I apologize for using the term "dance groove" but it is humid and 88 degrees outside and I am dehydrated.

― Nate Patrin, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'll pick "There It Is," for the way in the chorus that all the patterns that have been going on line up at once and there's a split- second gap that's like a puff of cold air every time I hear it, every time it occurs in the song. I absolutely love that for reasons I can't even fully understand.

To follow up on Matos' subthread: that'd have to be Marva Whitney's "What Do I Have To Do To Prove My Love To You," 148 seconds of sheer whammo.

― Douglas, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Although I hesitate greatly to differ with Mr. Wolk in this category, I'm going to go with the version of "Ain't It Funky Now" on Love Power Peace because Phelps Collins' solo on that is probably my favorite guitar solo ever.

― J Blount, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Mr. Blount--my point exactly!

― Jordan, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

You know, that version of "Ain't It Funky Now" was a VERY VERY strong contender for my pick... about 5 or 6 years ago, I saw Judah Bauer quote that solo in its entirety in the middle of some JSBX song.

― Douglas, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

my two top runners up, btw, are "Mother Popcorn," which contains both his greatest horn riff ever and his greatest scream ever (you know the one, about 2 1/2 minutes in); and, "I've Got Money," from 1962, left-field pick inspired by Peter Shapiro's suggestion that it might be JB's most intense record ever--he's right, it might be.

GREAT call on "What Do I Have to Do," Douglas

― M Matos, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

A few hours after starting the thread I went up to the local CD shop and found a used copy of Polydor's "The J.B.'s - Funky Good Time: The Anthology" on 2 CDs. Currently in that regard I'm leaning towards Maceo & the Macks' "Cross the Track (We Better Go Back)" since that opening horn fanfare knocks me upside the head every time, the bassline holds my booty hostage and the weird electronic noises are simultaneously strikingly out-of-place and oddly appropriate. And no, Guy Ritchie had nothing to do with my pick.

― Nate Patrin, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Sex Machine.

Hmm, that was easy.

― Jeff W, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Hey America" just because it starts so wonderfully - "Hey America, it's Christmas time - all year long you've been giving me the V Sign!". It's mostly gibberish after that but I don't care.

― Tom, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"I'm Black And I'm Proud" for extremely obvious reasons.

― Dan Perry, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Mind Power". I don't want to write an essay about it (Julian Cope already did one about the whole record - with an emphasis on the title track in particular - anyway), but it's got it all: super- tight, lock-stepped drum patterns, a flute riff, syncopated horns, a dynamic rhythmic shift halfway through the song (that is eventually twisted around back to the wah wah guitar at the beginning), all set to James' rhytmic shaman rambling about how to uplift people. Beeeyootiful. I never tire of it.

A close second would be "Talkin Loud (And Saying Nothing)" but just because I was listening to it last night and the breaks are awesome, not to mention the unstoppable bass line. Ahhhh Bootsy....

― Shaky Mo Collier, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

(shaky do you think bootsy plays differently w.brown and then w.clinton?)

― mark s, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm not Shaky, but god yes Bootsy plays different with Brown than Clinton. James Brown would never have let a damn bass player stand out like that.

― dleone, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

My favorite moment of "Mother Popcorn" is actually the cymbal smash about 4 or 4 1/2 minutes into it--the one that's so hard it momentarily obliterates the rest of the track and disorients the horn players.

― Douglas, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Hot Pants

― JM, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

dleone is OTM. Bootsy w/ P-Funk became an entirely different creature: tons of effects, synth lines, fuzz bass solos, goofy vocals, different rhythyms, more snapping and popping, etc.

― Shaky Mo Collier, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Sex Machine. That piano riff seems to me to be one of the most wonderful moments in music, and you wouldn't have to do much with this to make it into a modern house record.

― Martin Skidmore, Tuesday, 25 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Brand New Funky President.... simple reason. when its on i cant help from shaking my ass.

― chaki, Tuesday, 25 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

cold sweat

― queenoftheharpies, Tuesday, 25 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

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