Product Description

IN THE JUNGLE GROOVE documents one of the most important periods in the development of James Brown's music. In 1970, Brown's bandleader/sax player Maceo Parker departed to form his own band, taking much of Brown's group with him. This event heralded the arrival of the JB's, which included monster bassist Bootsy Collins, whose hyperkinetic style made Brown'sfunk harder, leaner, and meaner. This album gives listenersa bird's-eye view of the change, featuring the final sessions of the Maceo-led band as well as the first recordings of Bootsy and the JB's.
Maceo and company were at their hardest and funkiest at this point, as seen on "The Funky Drummer", where Clyde Stubblefield lays down the drum break that would launch a thousand hip-hop samples. Stubblefield stuck around long enough to be part of the first JB's, whose trackshere are full of frenetic, barely controlled energy. The sense of joy and revelation in the groove is audible in these orgasmically polyrhythmic sessions. Collins and Stubblefieldlay down some of the heaviest grooves in the history of recorded music. As Brown himself observes on the aforementionedMaceo-era "Funky Drummer", "it's a mutha!"

Track Listing

1. It's A New Day - James Brown
2. Funky Drummer - James Brown
3. Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose - James Brown, The J.B.'s
4. I Got To Move - James Brown, The J.B.'s
5. Funky Drummer - James Brown
6. Talkin' Loud And Sayin' Nothing - James Brown
7. Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved - James Brown
8. Soul Power - James Brown, The J.B.'s
9. Hot Pants (She Got To Use What She Got To Get What She Wants) - James Brown, The J.B.'s
10. Blind Man Can See It - James Brown, The J.B.'s

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4735 in Music
• Released on: 2003-06-30
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 71 minutes

Customer Reviews

The most exciting music ever committed to record!
Don't expect any ballads, easy listening, or the hit singles, this double album length CD, recently reissued with a bonus track, collects together ten extended funk jams recorded between 1969 and 1971. With their raw energy and improvised feel, these vital studio recordings encapsulate not only the intensity of Brown's live performances, but also his volatile off stage existence during this period. Brown was a hard task master and in March 1969 his regular backing band walked out; luckily for musical history not before recording the famous Funky Drummer, with its infectious and oft sampled rhythm. The version here features alternate sax, guitar, drum, and stabbing organ solos by Brown himself, over a gorgeous groove that goes on forever (actually 9 minutes; indeed all the tracks on this album are so hypnotic and persistent, they each feel like twice their actual length).

Even more energetic is Give It Up or Turnit a Loose featuring a new band allegedly commissioned to perform a gig with two hours notice and no rehearsal. Unfamiliarity doesn't show as the song kicks off with a muted guitar riff before the funky drummer (Clyde Stubblefield remained from the original band) comes crashing in and the new "JBs" deliver a high octane slab of chunk funk with Brown extolling "Ain't it funky now!".

And it just keeps on coming - peaking with the stupendous, foot tapping, head nodding, body popping and simply exhausting Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing where the band lock into another fast and furious, horn honking groove as tight as one of their leader's latter day waist bands.

A tremendously exciting record guaranteed to get your party cooking!

'Go turn it loose, 'cos it's a Mother!'
As the review below said, this is a collection of extended jams from James Brown and his backing band the JB's at the end of the sixties / start of the seventies. At a time when James was single handedly creating a new form of music - funk, this compilation finds the probably the tighest, funkiest band there has ever been at the very top of their game. JB himself is almost like another instrument, giving orders and guiding where the groove goes rather than doing any conventional singing.

Quite simply, this is one of the most important albums ever made. Without it Funk, Disco, Hip Hop & any other form of music that uses breaks & beats would be very different & may not even exist!

But enough of the history lesson, get this CD and marvel at the playing (so tight & so familiar from samples, it actually sounds like breakbeats), special mentions for Bootsy Collins & Clyde Stubblefield who combined to create the best rhythm section ever - fact!

Get on up, get into it & get involved as the great man with the bizzare hair said himself, R.I.P James Brown.

Random example of genius from the Godfather
In The Jungle Groove is a compilation of extended grooves from one of the very
best periods of James Brown's career-it's all fantastic,but if you hear anyone
question the genius of Brown-arguably the most influential black musician of
all time,certainly in the top 2 (Miles Davis is up there of course)-then play
them the full ten-ish minutes of Funky Drummer and watch their jaw hit the floor.