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CD
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NA 5119CD
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"This album is the Rosetta Stone of funk's dominant idioms, yet its existence has barely been a rumor. In 1970 James Brown perfectly captured a definitive moment in modern music when he ordered Bootsy Collins into the studio to record the tracks that would be test pressed on King Records as These Are The J.B.'s. This album is the epitome of funk music, Brown's innovation that influenced everything that came after it, from Afro-beat to disco to hip-hop. And if there is any funk ensemble as influential as Brown's, in the post-'Cold Sweat' musical landscape, it's the Parliament/Funkadelic contingent. Those two streams, as Grammy Winning James Brown historian Alan Leeds details in this album's liner notes, converged for the first time here. This link between Brown's funk and all that followed features Bootsy and his young band running through twelve-minute instrumental take of Marva Whitney's 'It's My Thing,' replete with blues chord changes, alongside interpretations of the Meters, Kool and the Gang and none other than Jimi Hendrix. This is a young band's James Brown-turned-on-his-head style of funk that they nail in a one-minute vamp that pre-dates their obscure but important work as the Houseguests ensemble and embodies the essence of the psychedelic-flavored music that would propel them into the orbit of George Clinton and his mothership, where they poked cosmic holes in funk's polyrhythmic ozone layer in the mid-1970s. There are only two extant copies of the original King Records test press LP of These Are The J.B.'s. The first commercial issue of this album, was overseen by Now-Again's Egon alongside Leeds and Universal Music Group's James Brown expert Harry Weinger. It was mastered specifically for vinyl by Elysian Master's Dave Cooley from the original two-track stereo master that James Brown and his engineer Ron Lenhoff delivered to production forty-four years ago."
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CD
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NA 5189CD
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"Here it is, rumored no more: the demo Bootsy Collins and his band recorded for James Brown in 1969 that won them the title 'The J.B.'s' -- and changed the course of popular music. Also included is the complete version of 'When You Feel It, Grunt If You Can,' presenting two never-issued songs in a 22-minute medley, and the unreleased instrumental 'The Wedge.' The companion piece to Now-Again's first-ever issue of the lost J.B.'s album These Are The J.B.'s. All tracks mixed by Mario Caldato, directly from Brown's original multi-track masters."
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LP
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NA 5189LP
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RSD Black Friday 2019 release. "The funk starts here. Here it is, rumored no more: the demo Bootsy Collins and his band recorded for James Brown in 1969 that won them the title 'The J.B.'s' -- and changed the course of popular music. Also included is the complete version of 'When You Feel It, Grunt If You Can,' presenting two never-issued songs in a 22-minute medley, and the unreleased instrumental 'The Wedge.' The companion piece to Now-Again's first-ever issue of the lost J.B.'s album These Are The J.B.'s. All tracks mixed by Mario Caldato, directly from Brown's original multi-track masters. Contains extensive booklet with full annotation, liner notes by Brown historian Alan Leeds and never-before-published photos."
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LP
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GET 54075LP
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"Get On Down proudly presents another top-notch vinyl reissue, from their long-running series of collaborations with James Brown's famed 70s funk label People Records. As the 1970s wore on, the classic funk sounds that had defined James Brown's backing band, The J.B.'s, gave way to the rise of disco music. Fred Wesley and his collective of musicians couldn't resist the chance to make their mark, releasing Hustle With Speed in 1975, with Charles Bobbit and Don Love producing, and the godfather himself, James Brown co-writing and providing arrangements. Hustle With Speed didn't cross over like the band had hoped it would, but it was nonetheless remarkable album, featuring The J.B.'s signature funky style married with disco to exciting effect. All the while there's still plenty to be had for the funk die-hard, from the brass blow-out jam 'Here We Come, Here We Go, Here We Are', to the trombone-heavy 'All Aboard The Funky Soul Train', to the powerhouse opening salvo that is '(It's Not The Express) It's The JBs Monaurail'. Songs from Hustle With Speed would take on lives of their own decades after the album's release, through sampled appearances in tracks by Jay-Z, Nas, Eric B. & Rakim, Ultramagnetic MCs, EPMD, and many more."
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LP
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GET 54076LP
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2017 repress. "For starters, this platter begins with one of the great intros of all time: 'Ladies and gentlemen, there are seven acknowledged wonders of the world. You are about to witness the eighth...' Lodged in a deep groove between the JB's' debut LP Food For Thought (1972) and the more complex and at-times political Damn Right, I Am Somebody (from 1974) sits the ridiculously vampy and infectious classic, Doing It To Death. First moving hips and making heads nod in 1973, the James Brown-produced, 5-song album is one big funk lick, broken up into many delicious moving parts. As with pretty much everything produced by the JB's -- led by Fred Wesley with heavy help from a supporting cast that included saxophonist Maceo Parker, guitarists Jimmy Nolen and Hearlon 'Cheese' Martin and drummer John 'Jabo' Starks -- all songs began and revolved around a devastating riff. The title track is most certainly guilty-as-charged, as it starts strutting right out of the gate and continues for just over 10 minutes, driven by a guitar lick and MCed by the inimitable James Brown, with soloists stepping up and out while the song chugs on. The other centerpiece of the album is the 8-minute 'You Can Have Watergate Just Gimme Some Bucks And I'll Be Straight,' whose groove is interestingly teased two times before it arrives in full form. The song title itself is provocative, and the music keeps a stone-cold groove despite the less than cheery undertones. Again driven by an infectious guitar morsel, the breakdowns in this song gave sampling producers and DJs sweet dreams in the '80s, and Fred Wesley's trombone solo rides beautifully over the group's cries of 'We need some money.' Beyond the aforementioned sure-shots, the twitchy 'More Peas,' 'La Di Da La Di Day' and the much jazzier, solo-heavy 'Sucker' round out this incredible album. It's just another perfect example of how James Brown's funk machine could stop the world when they hit a groove."
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LP
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GET 54081LP
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"The renowned Get On Down label pays reverent tribute to this classic by pressing it on 150 gram vinyl, in a 70s style Stoughton jacket. There are funk bands. And then there are The JB's. In the early 1970s, James Brown's production stable was quite simply overflowing with soul. Beyond his own genre-bursting music -- which brought funk and R&B to new stratospheres with each platter he released -- he began to curate his own label, People Records, to explore and expose the lesser-known talent in his own groups and musical universe. After a mysterious, psychedelic album by a group calling themselves The Grodeck Whipperjenny in 1970, The Godfather Of Soul released a slew of 7-inch singles for the next several years on People. In doing so, he firmly established the label as the world's premier outlet for super-funk, with artists including James Brown himself, Lyn Collins, Hank Ballard and Fred Wesley. In 1972, the next album on People was an easy choice: The JB's and their ridiculously funky full-length debut, Food For Thought. Made up of JB sidemen including bandleader Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, John 'Jabo' Starks, St. Clair Pinckney, Fred Thomas and Bobby Byrd, the group was the definition of a powerhouse. As proof, look no further than the fact that the ten songs on this platter have been sampled by an almost uncountable list of producers over the past 40-plus years, and grooved to by hundreds of thousands. From 'Pass The Peas' and 'Gimme Some More' to the sonic attack of 'The Grunt' [which also contained work from William 'Bootsy' Collins and his brother Catfish, who had recently defected to join Parliament-Funkadelic] Food For Thought remains one of the funkiest albums ever made."
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LP
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NA 5119LP
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2015 repress. "Never-before-heard James Brown and J.B.'s originals and covers of Jimi Hendrix, Kool & the Gang, the Meters. Contains a 12-page booklet with full annotation, liner notes by Brown historian Alan Leeds and never-before-published photos. This album is the Rosetta Stone of funk's dominant idioms, yet its existence has barely been a rumor. In 1970 James Brown perfectly captured a definitive moment in modern music when he ordered Bootsy Collins into the studio to record the tracks that would be test pressed on King Records as These Are The J.B.'s. This album is the epitome of funk music, Brown's innovation that influenced everything that came after it, from Afro-beat to disco to hip-hop. And if there is any funk ensemble as influential as Brown's, in the post-"Cold Sweat" musical landscape, it's the Parliament/Funkadelic contingent. Those two streams, as Grammy Winning James Brown historian Alan Leeds details in this album's liner notes, converged for the first time here. This link between Brown's funk and all that followed features Bootsy and his young band running through twelve-minute instrumental take of Marva Whitney's 'It's My Thing,' replete with blues chord changes, alongside interpretations of the Meters, Kool and the Gang and none other than Jimi Hendrix. This is a young band's James Brown-turned-on-his-head style of funk that they nail in a one-minute vamp that pre-dates their obscure but important work as the Houseguests ensemble and embodies the essence of the psychedelic-flavored music that would propel them into the orbit of George Clinton and his mothership, where they poked cosmic holes in funk's polyrhythmic ozone layer in the mid-1970s. There are only two extant copies of the original King Records test press LP of These Are The J.B.'s. This, the first commercial issue of this album, was overseen by Now-Again's Egon alongside Leeds and Universal Music Group's James Brown expert Harry Weinger. It was mastered specifically for vinyl by Elysian Master's Dave Cooley from the original two-track stereo master that James Brown and his engineer Ron Lenhoff delivered to production forty-four years ago. It comes with a 12-page booklet with liner notes by Leeds and Egon and many unpublished photographs and ephemera."
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LP + 7"
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GET 54068LP
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Repress, originally released for Record Store Day 2014 "There are funk bands. And then there are The JB's. In the early 1970s, James Brown's production stable was quite simply overflowing with soul. Beyond his own genre-bursting music -- which brought funk and R&B to new stratospheres with each platter he released -- he began to curate his own label, People Records, to explore and expose the lesser-known talent in his own groups and musical universe. After a mysterious, psychedelic album by a group calling themselves The Grodeck Whipperjenny in 1970, The Godfather of Soul released a slew of 7" singles for the next several years on People. In doing so, he firmly established the label as the world's premier outlet for super-funk, with artists including James Brown himself, Lyn Collins, Hank Ballard and Fred Wesley. In 1972, the next album on People was an easy choice: The JB's and their ridiculously funky full-length debut, Food for Thought. Made up of JB sidemen including bandleader Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, John 'Jabo' Starks, St. Clair Pinckney, Fred Thomas and Bobby Byrd, the group was the definition of a powerhouse. As proof, look no further than the fact that the ten songs on this platter have been sampled by an almost uncountable list of producers over the past 40-plus years, and grooved to by hundreds of thousands. From 'Pass the Peas' and 'Gimme Some More' to the sonic attack of 'The Grunt' (which also contained work from William 'Bootsy' Collins and his brother Catfish, who had recently defected to join Parliament-Funkadelic) Food for Thought remains one of the funkiest albums ever made. The renowned Get On Down label pays reverent tribute to this classic by pressing it on 150 gram vinyl, in a '70s style Stoughton jacket and housed in an eight-gauge custom bag emblazoned with an embossed People Records logo. And the deluxe-ness does not end there: in addition, the Record Store Day package comes with a 22" x 22" poster featuring the original cover art, as well as a 7" of 'The Grunt Parts 1 & 2' pressed on purple vinyl." Last copies of this now deleted version -- replaced by GET 54081LP.
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LP
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UNI 1951LP
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