Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Songs of the Day
Today, I'm reviewing the first half of the album (seven tracks): "Coldblooded," "Hell," "My Thang," "Sayin' and Doin' It," "Please, Please, Please," "When the Saints Go Marching In," and "These Foolish Things." Man, James' band was so fucking killing. They really set the precedent for what a "tight band" was meant to sound like. I love the latin influences throughout these tracks, which is much thanks to percussion - it adds a nice flavor to the tunes. It's especially present in "Please, Please, Please," and lemme tell you, James' spanish is hilarious. "Yo te quiero muche" - yeah, "muche" isn't a word, and he keeps saying really random shit, but I dig it all the same. A common thread throughout James' music is an incredible horn section, and that's most certainly present in this first collection of songs. I especially love the groove on "My Thang," definitely a solid, funky track that doesn't have too much going on, but just enough. "Sayin and Doin' It" is my favorite of the day - super funky stuff, and a great horn line! The only thing I don't dig is the gong after every song - it gets repetitive and keeps tricking my mind into thinking that I'm about to listen to "Jungle Boogie" haha.
Album Factoids
Hell
Released: July 1974
Genre: Soul/funk
Label: Polydor Records
Producer: James Brown
Released: July 1974
Genre: Soul/funk
Label: Polydor Records
Producer: James Brown
Week 75: James Brown
So, I'm a huge James Brown fan, grew up on the guy. There's even an 8 minute long video of me at age 3 dancing to "Payback," which is definitely in my top 5 songs of all time. Even so, I can't say that I've ever listened to one of his albums front to back. I listened to the whole album on my drive down to Philadelphia, and with the exception to the last song, I was completely unfamiliar with all the tracks on the album, so having something fresh is going to be really fun. Time to get funky with the godfather of soul!
Sunday, July 29, 2012
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