James Brown: Soul On Top
James Brown: Soul On Top
Label: King Records
Year: 1970
James Brown comes in crooning over a big band playing Oliver Nelson’s arrangements, although JB isn’t adopting a jazz vocal style as much as he places his style on top. Everything falls together on “Your Cheatin’ Heart”, band leader Luigi Paulino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni is a one man engine room, and James gets inside the lyric of “What Kind Of Fool Am I?”. Every member of the band is up for it on “It’s A Man’s, Man’s Man’s World”, bassist Ray Brown powers “The Man In The Glass”, “For Once In My Life” is a good song and Louie Bellson cranks the engine on “I Need Your Key (To Turn Me On)”. Soul On Top is an album on which James Brown wanted to challenge himself by taking himself out of his comfort zone and in turn everyone got challenged.
Available at your local shop or favorite online retailer