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!
