Well, I want you to experience the gloriousness of this music, too. So I'll try to introduce you to a little bit of the music by the artists we all know that's outside the realm of the songs we all know. I'm not talking about the really obscure "second outtake of the fifth song on Bob Dylan's most overlooked album," mostly because I don't know that stuff, either. You may know a few of these songs, too. But the point is that you probably won't know it too well.
So we'll take this artist by artist in some sort of occasional feature. We'll call it "Get to know ... " And we'll start with James Brown because, after all, this blog is called "Feel The Funk, Y'all."
What you know: The Godfather of Soul, Soul Brother Number One, The Hardest-Working Man in Show Business; pretty much invented funk in 1965 with "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" and "I Got You (I Feel Good)"; the on-stage theatrics--capes, screams, dance moves and all; an icon of black pride, especially for his famous Boston concert after MLK's assassination and the anthem, "Say It Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud)."
Get to know: James Brown's pre-funk period. It's true--Brown was around long before he started laying everything "on the one," and he was making pretty interesting music then, too. You can best hear the beginnings of his move toward funk on 1961's "Night Train." Compared with the smooth soul Sam Cooke and Ray Charles were doing, this was positively quirky stuff--especially the tight, staccato horns and the emphasis on the downbeat. The same qualities were on display pretty clearly a year earlier, too, on "Think." And while musically, 1956's "Please, Please, Please" sticks to the standard '50s doo-wop/soul stuff, you can still hear the deep, primal feeling that characterized everything the Godfather recorded.
The tape comes from Mixwit. You should be able to click on it and listen to it go.
1 comment:
I am sOoooooooO much wiser for having e-visited here today
and my verification word is "vfunc" - coincedence.... I think not
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