{"id":5007,"date":"2014-08-05T16:15:32","date_gmt":"2014-08-05T21:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=5007"},"modified":"2014-08-05T16:16:20","modified_gmt":"2014-08-05T21:16:20","slug":"james-brown-on-film-and-vinyl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=5007","title":{"rendered":"James Brown: On Film and Vinyl"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Example\" <\/strong><\/p>\n

The Godfather of Soul<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Example\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the trainspotters in the crowd, this is the 1970 Capitol Record Club issue of ‘Ain’t It Funky Now’<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Listen\/Download James Brown and the James Brown Band – Use Your Mother<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download James Brown and the James Brown Band – Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose (Inst)<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Greetings all<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

I had something else planned for today, but then the Missus and I took in a showing of \u2018Get On Up\u2019<\/strong> at the local cinematheque, and those plans changed.<\/p>\n

Back some months ago, when trailers started to emerge for the James Brown biopic \u2018Get On Up\u2019, I was both excited, and filled with trepidation.<\/p>\n

I mean, someone was finally working on a biopic of the Minister of the Super Heavy Funk.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the flip side of that coin was the thought, \u2018Oh, shit, how many ways are there to fuck up such an undertaking?\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the last week saw reports from trusted sources start to dribble in, so we decided to catch a matinee.<\/p>\n

I am here to tell you that \u2013 in the words of the corporate world left behind<\/em> \u2013 my expectations were met, and exceeded.<\/p>\n

The first thing you should know about \u2018Get On Up\u2019, is that it is quite good.<\/p>\n

It certainly had weak spots from time to time, but I have to admit that it stood up relatively well to my own high level of James Brown<\/strong> nitpicking.<\/p>\n

Chadwick Boseman<\/strong>, who plays Brown, was amazing, and if he\u2019s not nominated for an Oscar, they need to turn out the lights and shut the doors on that operation.<\/p>\n

The performance sequences of the film are fantastic, and beautifully filmed.<\/p>\n

The supporting cast, especially Nelsan Ellis<\/strong> as Bobby Byrd<\/strong>, was excellent.<\/p>\n

If I had a fairly substantial beef with the movie, it would be that whatever (or more importantly, whoever\u2019s<\/em>) source material was used had an axe to grind with Maceo Parker*.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The way he is portrayed in \u2018Get On Up\u2019 seems at the very least unfair. Though it was Parker that led the (just) band revolt against Brown, he is portrayed not only as an incessant complainer, but also seemingly oblivious to the evolution of the funk.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a scene in the film regarding a rehearsal of \u2018Cold Sweat\u2019 in which Parker has to be stepped through the paces of the song like some kind of amateur, which makes no sense at all.<\/p>\n

My suggestion would be that readers check out Maceo\u2019s book \u201898% Funky Stuff\u2019<\/strong> <\/a>for a look at his side of the story.<\/p>\n

That said, I thought that Brown’s own story was exceptionally well told, with a pretty serious level of detail, considering that this is a major motion picture, and not a multi-part documentary (which he\u00a0certainly deserves).<\/p>\n

I’d like to hear what those of you that saw the movie thought about it, as well.<\/p>\n

Since I\u2019m writing about the movie, I thought that this was an excellent time to dip into the crates and pull out some little-heard James Brown (and band<\/em>).<\/p>\n

The 1970 LP \u2018Ain\u2019t It Funky Now\u2019 \u2013 credited to \u2018James Brown and the James Brown Band\u2019<\/strong> \u2013 is a collection of mostly instrumental tracks (some original, others like \u2018Cold Sweat\u2019 existing tracks with overdubbed guitar**), some dating to 1966.<\/p>\n

The tracks run from long-form funk vamps like \u2018Ain\u2019t It Funky Now\u2019, to bluesy cuts like \u2018Fat Wood\u2019.<\/p>\n

There are a couple of exceptional tracks, that never appeared (as far as I can tell) anywhere else.<\/p>\n

The first of these is the funky \u2018Use Your Mother\u2019, with some tasty horns and a superb rolling bass line. It has the feel of a slightly underdeveloped James Brown funk 45 of the classic era.<\/p>\n

The second, is an extended instrumental take of \u2018Give It Up or Turnit A Loose\u2019 with some exceptional guitar work from Jimmy \u2018Chank\u2019 Nolen<\/strong> and Alphonso \u2018Country\u2019 Kellum<\/strong>. This is one of at least three different LP versions of the tune released in 1970 alone!***<\/p>\n

While I wouldn\u2019t describe \u2018Ain\u2019t It Funky Now\u2019 as essential, if you find it, grab it, if only for these cuts.<\/p>\n

I mean, come on, it\u2019s James Brown.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That said, dig the tracks, see the movie, and I\u2019ll see you all on Friday.<\/p>\n

Keep the faith<\/strong><\/p>\n

Larry<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Example\"<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0* I have a suspicion that we may have litigation to blame for some of the omissions in the film<\/strong><\/p>\n

** There are several times on the album where JB’s original vocals bleed through into the instrumental track<\/strong><\/p>\n

***On ‘Ain’t It Funky Now’, ‘It’s a New Day So Let a Man Come In’ and ‘Sex Machine’<\/strong><\/p>\n

_________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived!<\/strong> The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock.<\/strong> They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US).<\/strong> Click here to go to the ordering page.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Example\"<\/strong><\/a> \"Example\"<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Godfather of Soul For the trainspotters in the crowd, this is the 1970 Capitol Record Club issue of ‘Ain’t It Funky Now’   Listen\/Download James Brown and the James Brown Band – Use Your Mother Listen\/Download James Brown and the James Brown Band – Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose (Inst)   Greetings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[124,11,14,66,77,30,143],"tags":[163,166,178,164],"class_list":["post-5007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drums","category-funk","category-funky16corners","category-instrumental","category-james-brown","category-lp-tracks","category-movies","tag-funk","tag-funky16corners","tag-james-brown","tag-soul"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-1iL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5007"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5012,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5007\/revisions\/5012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}