James Brown (View Discography)

Release Info

Why was disco such a strange era for James Brown? Could it be that the beat was too relentless, never giving him the opportunity to breathe, to roam the way he loved so? Perhaps it was due to his band steadily losing all of its prime players, leaving him with journeymen who didn't infuse the rigid 4/4 with flair. Either way, the singles collected on the 11th and final volume of Hip-O Select's series of double discs chronicling James Brown's King/Polydor singles is a little haphazard, flitting between the generic, the perfunctory, and the passable, sometimes sliding into the pretty good. Brown is all over the place here, covering "I Go Crazy" with little passion, pumping out the disco and surprisingly coming up with a quiet storm ballad "Regrets" that flirts with country. The inclusion of nine 12" mixes -- including versions of "For Goodness Sakes, Look at Those Cakes," "The Spank," and "It's Too Funky in Here" -- and a live single accentuates the scattershot nature of these three years, and while there are certainly worthwhile moments, they're the kind only the devoted, the ones who have stuck through this series through ten preceding volumes, will find of note. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Tracks

1. Star Generation
2. Women Are Something Else
3. The Original Disco Man (Short Version)
4. The Original Disco Man
5. Let the Boogie Do the Rest
6. Regrets
7. Stone Cold Drag
8. Let the Funk Flow
9. Sometimes That's All There Is
10. Get Up Offa That Thing
11. It's Too Funky in Here
12. Rapp Payback (Where Iz Moses)
13. Rapp Payback (Where Iz Moses), Pt. 2
14. Stay with Me
15. Smokin' & Drinkin'
16. Give That Bass Player Some, Pt. 1
17. Give That Bass Player Some, Pt. 2
18. I Go Crazy
19. World Cycle Inc.

1. Get Up Offa That Thing/Release the Pressure (12" Version)
2. If You Don't Give a Doggone About It (12" Version) - J.B.'s
3. Eyesight (12" Version)
4. The Spank (12" Version)
5. For Goodness Sakes, Look at Those Cakes (12" Version)
6. It's Too Funky in Here (12" Version)
7. Star Generation (12" Version)
8. Rap Payback (Where Iz Moses) (12" Version)
9. Give That Bass Player Some (12" Version)