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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad at all.. fills in historical gaps in JB catalog, September 10, 2004
You will love this CD if you love James Brown, the JBs, Maceo, Bobby Byrd, Hank Ballard or any of the incredible musicians in their orbit during their late 1960s-early '70s heyday.
Bottom line: It fills in gaps left in previous comps. It includes some rare historic moments. A few of the most notable:
It starts with an oddly slowed, "rock" original version of "Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothin'" that evokes the stoned, slovenly funk crawl later adopted by Sly Stone in his "Riot" era. It's not especially good, but it's an intriguing opener to this lovably obscure odd-lot compilation.
Hank Ballard telling fellow Blacks that they won't get any respect if they don't get rid of their "processed," or straightened (usually with lye) hairstyle, a remnant from the just-past "Negro" days. Hank says he used to wear a process but now has chosen, as a political statement, to wear a "natural" Afro, one more suitable for a beautiful Black brother or sister. (In a delicious touch of irony, backing vocals for this black empowerment anthem are provided by The Dapps, the lone all-white group signed to James Brown Productions.)
Then you have Brother Bobby Byrd "Doin' The Do," a long jam that is essentially a predecessor (recorded at the Olympia Theatre in Paris!) of the JB's mesmerizing and legendary 16-minute "Escape-ism"/"Make It Funky" jam on the ridiculously essential 1971 Apollo live disc, A Revolution Of The Mind. "Catfish" Collins, brother of Bootsy, works overtime on the funky guitar.
You also have a pissed-off JB, feeling robbed by a few Average White Band songs, trying to outdo The Man at his own game once again. In trying to create a Top 40 instrumental over the backing track of an old song ("Hot Pants Road"), he fails, but instead he creates a funky, almost "Superfly" soundtrack vibe that could have come from the opening music for a Quinn Martin Productions TV cop show of the '70s.
And you've some of the great, criminally underrated female vocalists in the JB stable: Lyn Collins (in a fiery "Giveit Up") and Vicki Anderson. You have just about every great musician of JB's funk era represented here as well.
Maybe this isn't the most essential JB compilation ever, but don't dismiss it so quickly. More than just another CD, this album is a powerful reminder of one undisputed fact. Social historians, musical archivists, scholars and others will spend the next 150 years just listening to and cataloguing the records the Hardest Working Man in Show Business was at one time able to make as easily and effortlessly as paper airplanes on a lazy afternoon.
Instead of these piecemeal comps, Polydor needs to just drop a 95-disc box set of every known JB recording, with maybe a holographic soul sister research archivist (wearing HOT PANTS, no doubt) to help you sort through it all.
This would be one of the discs on that set; it's not the most incendiary of them, but it is another piece of the vast and beautiful mosaic created for us by James Brown and these amazing musicians over a period of decades.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
How Ya Like James NOW..., July 29, 2000
This is the third volume of cuts under the "Funky People" moniker, and, as you might expect, it is not as strong a collection as the first two. Those first two sets concentrated on James' People and Brownstone labels. This new issue explores some rare material from the King days, as well as a cut from the Identify imprint. Among the highlights here is "Doin' The Do." On it, Bobby Byrd sounds more confident than usual, and he is backed by the original JB's (Bootsy and Co.) in what was their final recording with James. It's a long, funky workout, and the JB's are just so aggressive and innovative. You wonder what would have happened if James had recorded songs like "Hot Pants" and "Make It Funky" with this group. You may not believe this, but on "How You Gonna Get Respect," Hank Ballard does a pretty mean impersonation of JB. I hadn't heard this one since it was out back in '68. It hit #15 on the soul chart. Lyn Collins gets right to the point with her version of "Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose." After giving this a listen, you're sure to have no doubts about why they nicknamed her, "The Female Preacher." The live version of Marva Whitney's "It's My Thing" is included here, but I'd just as soon have had the original version, thank you. A special treat is "Mr. Hot Pants," a smouldering funk-me-up that was written, arranged, and produced by Dave Matthews, who usually handled James' ballad material (like "King Heroin"). But the REAL story of this disc is the so-called "underground rock" version of "Talkin' Loud And Saying Nothin'"! What it is, is a standard funk monster of the period (1970), with Kenny Poole wailing away with a scratchy guitar that is WAY up in the mix throughout. It works as a stretching of The Sound for James, who sings below Bobby Byrd on the chorus of this one (he sings an octave higher and above Bobby on the hit version of the song). This was not the last time James would experiment with a "rock" sound. Check the bridge on "Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved" or all of "Blues And Pants," which owes a debt to this recording of "Talkin' Loud." It's a mystery to me, why James didn't let this stay on the marketplace. It was first scheduled for release and cancelled. Then it was rescheduled and issued, but almost immediately withdrawn. A few copies circulated though, and this track has become somewhat of a legend. Kool Moe D even managed to appropriate James' spoken rap at the front end of this. I guess when James asked, "How Ya Like Me Now?", Kool REALLY liked him! Based on the uneven quality of the other tracks, I wouldn't expect to see a fourth volume of "Funky People."
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
...There Was A Time, August 6, 2000
A great series concept - highly significant artists performing material which taken individually or collectively represents a major section of the American Music Library. Ofcourse the originally withdrawn [w. new at-the-time Funky people] "Talkin' Loud.." by JB (I bought it retail! ) is the highlight, along with the live "It's My Thing..." by Marva Whitney. (Yes, I saw MW sing it **l-i-v-e** at Madison Square Garden in July, 1969). The prev. unrel. Bobby Byrd track and Vicki Anderson's contribution to the "Cold Sweat" session also reinforce the value for listeners.
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