Customer Reviews

JB40: 40th Anniversary Collection

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With Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, and Elvis Presley, the US has had its share of influential musical giants. But, for my money, THE most influential and definitely one of the best is The Godfather of Soul. If you don't hear echoes of James Brown in most of the stuff around for the last thirty years, then you must have been stranded on an Aleutian Island. Nearly the entire mid-to-late 70's & 80's soul scene was a pale imitation of the amazingly rhythmic originality of Mr. Brown's work. Not that all of the spin-offs were that good; some were and are awful. But some of the best music around (like Parliament) was directly influenced by The Godfather.

The first disc is the more "soulful" of the two: in other words, these songs epitomize the Soul genre of music. "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" & "I Got You" are known by everybody except maybe an errant Martian or two. "Licking Stick" and "Mother Popcorn" are already well on the way to full-blown funk. "Say It Loud" is a timely response to the prevailing attitudes of the nation during that period. "Please, Please, Please" shows clearly that the basis for soul, funk, and most jazz is gospel.

Disc two is the "funky" one. I defy anyone to sit still while listening to this disc. "Get Up...", "My Thang", "Talkin' Loud...", "Get Up Offa That Thing", among others are classic funk. "Papa Don't Take No Mess" is compulsively funky.

Some have commented about the redundancy of this compilation; but for the person new to James Brown, this is the place to start. Unlike some of his successors, James Brown is real, varied, and the original.

That's blasphemous to some of you readers, I'm sure, but hey, at one time I owned both sets. I kept 40th because it has "Down and Out in NY City"; 'Star Time' does not. Anyway, I found myself going for the 40th set whenever I needed some JB. I guess I just don't have the time or patience to wade through box sets anymore.
As for the music, well what can I say? The man INVENTED funk and rap. Think about that -- James Brown invented two musical genres. It boggles the mind. EVERY R&B performer who came after him owes their career to "the Hardest Working Man in Show Business", "Soul Brother #1", "Mr. Dynamite", "the Godfather of Soul", ladies and gentlemen, I give you Mr. James Brown!
This set has the songs in chronological order so you get to follow his progress from journeyman soul balladeer to one of the most important figures in 20th century music.
"Sex Machine" is one of the greatest songs ever conceived by the mind of man....
The one complaint I have is you can't see James performing this stuff...
So, if you have the $ and the time, get 'Star Time'. But if you're like me 'JB40' is where it's at. Hunh! good gawd!

These discs prove without a doubt that James Brown is THE MAN. This is one of the only CD's that I have permanently kept in the car because no matter how many times I hear it I won't get tired of it. The man has charisma, a message and SOUL to the max. These two CD's capture his journey from the ballads of the 1950's to the hardcore funk of the 1970's featuring Bootsy Collins on bass, "Friendly" Fred Wesley on trombone, and Maceo Parker on sax. James Brown is to funk what Miles Davis was to jazz; he has a knack for surrounding himself with incredible musicians and bringing out the best in himself and his players through the music. "Get Up Offa That Thing", "Sex Machine", "Super Bad", and "There Was A Time" are incredible. These discs are essential for any party; I have been at many where this music has made many people get on their feet and get down. You aren't human if this doesn't move you.

This cd was released to celebrate James Brown's 40th anniversary in show business , and what a collection it is .

Kicking off with the 1956 deep soul ballad "Please , Please , Please " this compilation gives you all of James Brown's most important hits in chronological order . Sit back and listen to the man who invented funk develope his sound , and along the way enjoy classic singles like " Think " , and " Night Train " , and then listen to the first rumblings of a new sound with the likes of " Out Of Sight " and " Papa's Got A Brand New Bag " ( he certainly had ) which he was able to build upon to give us the seminal " Sex Machine " and the frenzied funk of " Superbad " , this was the zenith of his career . From this point on James Brown stopped innovating and stuck to his tried and tested musical formula but he still managed to churn out heavyweight funk like " Get On The Good Foot " and " The Payback " . These days the funky riffs that he developed have been sampled by so many people at the cutting edge of dance music that even if you haven't heard any of these tracks , the chances are that you've heard a lot of these riffs on other recordings ( a true testimony to the greatness of James Brown's legacy ) .

This is not only a history of James Brown but also a history of black dance music from 1956 .

The only cd out there that matches this one for killer funk is James Brown's " Foundations Of Funk " because nobody else can even come close !

UNBEATABLE !

Excellent compilation of some of JB's best R&B. An important note is the contrast between the artist's early and later music evident in this collection, from early soulful balads to straight out funk, this is a great 2 CD set.

James Brown changed the course of R&B forever in the 1960s. This collection only serves to remind us of his valuable contribution - to virtually every genre of popular music. This is pure(sometimes demented!)funk.

The only thing missing is seeing him dance. Everybody from Sly to George Clinton, Prince and Jackson crawled out of his pocket.

Without question this is the one definitive collection of the Godfather of Soul. It is virtually all studio cuts, and has every one of his greatest hits (those popular on the radio and happily many many of the others).

James Brown was truly The Hardest Working Man in Show Business. Other great albums capture much of his stage presence (which I am convinced cannot be truly captured via recordings, but must be experienced). All the great ones are here though, from the early days of "Please, Please Please" to his funkier dance works like "Super Bad", "Mother Popcorn", "There was a Time" (this is one of two CD's which has the studio version of this classic), "Sex Machine" and "Cold Sweat". J.B. then moves into his phase of more ethnic awareness, like "Say It Loud", "Talkin Loud" and a host of others.

You cannot sit still, listening to James Brown. He was a dynamo onstage, frenetic, always in motion. This colection has all one needs to have the definitive J.B. collection. A must have!

After listening to this disc once, any self promotion JB did during his career is justified. This is an amazing overview of an extremely productive career. I did a ton of research of which album to buy a my first adventure into R&B and I found the perfect place to start. Just try and sit still listening to this one.

This 2-CD set kicks some major booty. Nice overview of JB's career. If you wanted to delve deeper into his hardcore funk years, you might wanna look for individual copies of his later albums, but for most of his hot early hits with a slice of the funky stuff, this is pretty nice.

IN THE 50'S WHEN I WAS GROWING UP I USED TO TUNE IN TO BLACK MUSIC STATIONS. IT WAS SOO MUCH FUN FOR ME TO LISTEN TO A DIFFERENT KIND OF VERY SOULFUL AND BEAUTIFUL SOUND. I JUST LOVED LISTENING AND LEARNING ALL I COULD ABOUT JAMES BROWN, ETTA JAMES,SOLOMON BURKE,LAVERN BAKER, JACKIE WILSON ETC. I PARTICULARLY LOVED HEARING THE BALLADS YOU WILL HEAR IN THIS FANTASTIC ALBUM. IT'S THE JAMES BROWN SOME PEOPLE NEVER KNEW.HE WAS TO ME, AT HIS ULTIMATE BEST!"TRY ME", "PLEASE,PLEASE, PLEASE" ARE AMONGST HIS BEST SONGS.BY THE TIME THESE SINGERS BECAME CROSSOVERS (THANKS TO DICK CLARK'S "AMERICAN BANDSTAND" FROM PHILADELPHIA) I ALREADY WAS FAMILIAR WITH THEM, WHILE MY FRIENDS WERE NOT.LET THIS INCREDIBLE ALBUM TAKE YOU BACK TO THOSE DAYS, SO THAT YOU CAN LISTEN TO RTHYM AND BLUES THE WAY IT SHOULD BE SUNG!BUY THIS C.D. IT IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST. THEN YOU WILL WANT TO EXPLORE THE MUSIC OF SOME OF THE OTHER SINGERS I'VE MENTIONED FROM THOSE TIMES.DON'T MISS OUT ON THIS ONE. THEY'RE THE ORIGINAL SONGS AS I REMEMBER THEM!!!