Label: Polygram
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: Dead On the Heavy Funk 1975-1983
James Brown's kingdom of soul was collapsing by 1975. His record sales were down, the original JB's were gone, and disco had stolen his backbeat. So what did the hardest-working man in show business do? He proclaimed himself the Minister of the Heavy Funk and made some of the nastiest tunes of his career.
Culled from over a dozen albums, this collection features that older but still masterful Brown. "Sex Machine" is slower than the original 1970 version but still packs a wallop. "For Goodness Sakes, Look at Those Cakes" celebrates posterior glories with a mean horn riff. "Eyesight" meets disco head-on with a bubbling bassline and a snakey trumpet.
This collection should quiet critics who have dismissed Brown's late '70s/early '80s oeuvre as lackluster. There's enough sweat on "Dead on the Heavy Funk" to make any dance floor slick.
