I got into James Brown right after I saw the movie “Just One Of The Guys”.

The character in the movie only busted out of his shell when he heard James Brown playing.

I chose as my foray into James Brown one of the endless “Greatest Hits” CDs available. It was good, and I found myself hooked… only I loved the funk stuff and was less interested in the rest. For me it was “Sex Machine”, “Get On Up” and “The Payback”. Don’t get me wrong, songs like “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World” are good, but it was the funk I was after.

Later I came across an album that struck me with a feeling just looking at it that I couldn’t describe. I was compelled to buy it, it just called to me. It was a compilation album, which was a strange choice since I already had “Greatest Hits” but there was something about it that really hooked me and I don’t know if I really knew at the time that it was a compilation.

The album was called “James Brown – Dead On The Heavy Funk 74-76”

Is it the best James Brown compilation? Probably not, but I loved it. No idea what happened to it, it may have succumbed to my “replace everything with CDs” phase. Sigh.

Recently I had occasion to listen to “James Brown – The Payback” and since it had been quite a long time since I had really listened to any James Brown I found myself asking myself… why?

Then I thought about “James Brown – Dead On The Heavy Funk 74-76” !

To my shock and surprise, though I could find almost any James Brown album I could think of on You Tube to listen to, the only track from the actual “James Brown – Dead On The Heavy Funk 74-76” I could find was someone playing a track while showing the record spinning and the sound from the speakers. It was well, not great.

This is the first time in a long time that I was unable to find a full album to listen to when I looked on You Tube.

Fluke maybe, but then it got me thinking. Was this vinyl I wanted to own again?

Answer… yes.

I found someone selling a VG+ copy for under $20 and ordered it.

Track list.

The vibe of this album is without a doubt funky. There are slower songs, but they are not ballads. Bravo to whomever collected all these tracks together.

I played this today and when the song “Hot (I Need To Be Loved, Loved, Loved, Loved)” came up I suddenly flashed back to my teenage bedroom and wondering about why the bass line from David Bowie’s song “Fame” was clearly being used for this track. I mean, it is 100% obvious. It may have been the first time I heard a bass line or rhythm lifted from another song.

I had to check out this situation. Found this on Wiki that explains it all:

“Hot (I Need To Be Loved, Loved, Loved, Loved)” is a funk song by James Brown. Released as a single in December 1975, it reached #31 on the R&B chart. It uses the main riff from the David Bowie song “Fame”, released earlier the same year. Guitarist Carlos Alomar, who created the borrowed riff and was a co-writer on “Fame”, was briefly in Brown’s band in the late 1960s. Alomar said, “[Bowie] was extremely flattered that James Brown would take one of his songs.” The song also appeared as the lead track on Brown’s 1976 album Hot.

It’s a great combo of a fantastic bass line and James vocals.

At any rate, this album is a splendid blast from the past and though it is a compilation, which I usually shy away from when buying vinyl, this one was a rare gem and well worth it.

Too hot!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin