James Brown left a mighty legacy in soul music over the years – not just his own recordings, but a host
of other great work inspired by his own genius – recorded by artists who all do a pretty darn good job
of copping his groove! This excellent set looks at the prime years
of that legacy – the late 60s/
early 70s funky 45 underground, which was filled with James Brown-inspired tunes from a variety
of artists from all over the country. Yet like most attempts to imitate genius, the real charm here is when the groups go slightly wrong – when they step out
of line from straight JB copycatism, and bring either their own genius, or own mistakes into play on the tracks. Compiler Gilles Petard has done a wonderful job
of pulling together the best
of these tracks – tunes that start out
sounding a lot like James Brown, but nicely take a left turn somewhere along the way – often with surprising results! And almost even better, many
of these numbers veer into real James Brown jamming territory – that great "part 2" that was almost the better part
of the James Brown legacy than part 1! As with the label's Absolute Funk series, there's full notes on the music, as well as dates and original single release information – on titles that include "I Found You" by James Hanns & The Soul Entertainers, "I Can't Stand Myself" by Mona Lisa, "Funk Line (parts 1 & 2)" by Fabulous Shalimars, "Sh'Mon" by Mr Dynamite, "Soul Brother's Testify (parts 1 & 2)" by Chester Randle's Soul Senders, "Sock A Poo Poo 69 (parts 1 & 2)" by Maurice McKinnies & The
Champions, "Country Girl" by Gino & The Gentlemen, and "I'm A Love Man With A Love Plan" by Jules & The Dynamics.