Wednesday, May 03, 2023

Honor Thy Godfather: James Brown 90



James Brown & The JB's - Get On the Good Foot


I've been messing with this for days and I'm gonna sneak it up, warts and all.

What is it with 90 these last 10 days? First Carol Burnett, then Willie Nelson, and now this guy.

I guess Spring 1933 was not-so-hot in Germany, but the US was doing fine, Great Depression be damned.

I've covered this particular timeless architect of all music since he showed up before, but a milestone birthday like this is worth repeating, even if he's dead decades.

There's not a whole lot to say except this tape has been around forever, but at the wrong speed and in need of some filigree, seen?

It turned 50 in March, so it's due for a renovation or twelve.

To say that the music featured here is essential would be like saying respiration is a good idea for staying alive.

It's not every bootleg that you get full sets of prime JB's and their boss, so I took some time to make this thing as poppin' as it can be.

It's still its rough and noisy-in-the-quiet-parts self, but at least it doesn't sound like it's on Quaaludes now that I've corrected the speed.

I'm usually featuring lamppost-level skills at the pitch stuff, but I think I got it right, thanks to the 7" single of Hot Pants Road.

Anyway James Brown would have been 90 today, so let's trip on back in the Funktemporal Device 50 years to the stage in Lausanne for a 96-minute lesson in The One.


James Brown and The JB's
"An Avalanche Of Funk"
Theatre de Beaulieu
Lausanne, Switzerland
3.7.1973

CD1: The JB's
01 stage introduction
02 Danny Ray introduction
03 Backstabbers
04 Hot Pants Road
05 Theme from "Shaft"
06 From the Back Side
07 Wine Spot
08 Pass the Peas
09 Party
10 Danny Ray introduces Maceo Parker
11 The Popcorn
12 Me & Mrs. Jones/introduction of Lyn Collins
13 I'll Take You There
14 Never Gonna Give You Up
15 Do Your Thing
16 Think

CD2: James Brown
01 Danny Ray introduction
02 Get On the Good Foot
03 Soul Power
04 Make It Funky
05 Bewildered
06 Super Bad
07 Try Me
08 Hot Pants
09 Sex Machine
10 I've Got a Brand New Bag of My Own
11 It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World/Jimmy Nolen solo feature
12 Please, Please, Please
13 I Can't Stand Myself/Cold Sweat

Total time: 1:36:45

James Brown - vocals, organ, drums & percussion
Darryl "Hasaan" Jamison, Isiah "Ike" Oakley & Jerone "Jasaan" Sanford - trumpet
Fred Wesley - trombone
Maceo Parker - alto saxophone, flute & vocals
St. Clair Pinckney - tenor & baritone saxophones
Eldee Williams - tenor saxophone
Jimmy Nolen & Hearlon "Cheese" Martin - guitar
Fred Thomas - bass
John "Jabo" Starks - drums
Clyde Stubblefield - drums
Johnny Griggs - percussion
Lyn Collins & Martha "High" Harvin - vocals
Danny Ray - MC

soundboard recording of indeterminate origin
sourced from the 2003 silver boot CD set "An Avalanche of Funk" on the Big 'Fro label
speed-corrected, retracked, edited, repaired & remastered by EN, May 2023
517 MB FLAC/direct link


Like I said I did the best I could do with this one, but you can only put so much lipstick on the thing, you know?

Oh yeah, we made shirts and such again, because we like to!
All can be found on our Teespring site and we appreciate your patronage!

All this work is worth it though, this tape representing the Vintage Funk Bomb that it does, even despite the limitations of capture technologies gone by. So get on the good foot, and let's work ourselves into a cold sweat, OK? Uhhhhh!!!--J.


5.3.1933 - 12.25.2006

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