Say it Loud

JAMES BROWN 1933-2006 A Collector’s Tribute by John Doran

When the accolade for creating an entire genre of music singlehandedly is awarded posthumously most of us, quite rightly, cry foul. But if there is one person from the canon of late 20th Century music who can arguably be awarded this prestigious honour, it is the formerly hardest working man in show business, Mr James Brown. You only have to listen to Cold Sweat, recorded in 1967 for Polydor, once and compare it to contemporaneous soul fare such as It Takes Two by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, or Mustang Sally by Wilson Pickett, to see what a quantum leap forward Brown had taken in hammering soul into funk. In fact, it was Pickett that Soul Brother Number One had in mind when he declared: “Before I let them take my sound, I’ll break out in a cold sweat!” His record company must have been perspiring in fear as well when they heard this with its sickly, elastic, one chord bass line, demented screaming and thunderous break beat. But luckily it was licensed by PYE in the UK, and still proves a much sought after disc. As always in these cases there is another claimant to the crown, but unusually it’s James Brown as well. Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag was recorded two years earlier for Polygram and, true enough, it’s a revolutionary platter hitting home on the downbeat with horn stabs that sound like squealing breaks. At the very least, …

by John Doran
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