674 James Brown - In the Jungle Groove (1986)

Compilation Album - Funk

About the Act:

James Brown was an American Soul and Funk singer, composer and band-leader, from South Carolina. He started his career in 1953 and retired when he died in 2006.  He was billed as "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business", and "The Godfather of Soul" and was famous for the energy and length of his concerts. He was instrumental in the creation of the Funk genre. He has released many, many albums, had 17 US No. 1 singles, lots of accolades, lots of controversy, four wives and a spell in jail. 

About the Album:

The origins of this album are unusual. The recordings date from around 1969-71, when Brown was developing his funk sound, and this 1986 compilation came about as a result of the rise in Hip-Hop and sampling. The album was created with the specific intention to make these tracks more easily available for sampling, and intentionally includes an almost drum-only track of Funky Drummer, reputedly at the time the most-used drum loop sample. Several critics have given the opinion that as an album, this is only of interest to hard-core JB fans and completionists.

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

As I said above, several critics have given the opinion that as an album, this is only of interest to hard-core JB fans and completionists. I disagree, because I am neither of those, but I enjoyed this album a lot.

It's funk, in one of its purest forms. I like funk. I started to explore funk about 10 or so years ago. Let me try and give a musical description.

It's all about the groove. There is a repeated pattern over 1, 2 or 4 bars. The basis is the drum pattern which mostly is constant, and is a medium pace but uses 16th notes (quavers) a lot. This is a deliberately danceable speed and there are particular patterns that are used that give a bouncy feel. For some tracks there are congas as well.

Next add a bassline. Now we have notes, it is predominantly over one chord. Actually that is misleading in some ways as this kind of funk doesn't really follow the idea of chords in the same way that a lot of music does. It is in a key, and centred around the root chord, but uses a lot of other notes in the key. It tends to be somewhat pentatonic, or maybe modal, or in a minor key... my music theory is not strong enough to properly understand it, but I think it is based on modal jazz. Anyway, this bassline normally covers one or two bars as a pattern and repeats over an over. One important aspect is the playing of the "root note" the one that defines the key on "the one" - the first beat of the pattern. The basslines are agile and fit the bouncy rhythm of the drums. There is often some minor variations in the pattern, especially towards the end of each repeat of the pattern.

Now add the other instruments, predominantly a clean guitar sound, a brass section, and sometimes a keyboard/organ. These play little stabby riffs, which fit together to make the final part of the repeated pattern, usually interleaved so that no two things are playing at the same time, giving a sparse feel that emphasises the bouncy funkiness. This usually has a pattern of 2 or 4 bars, and often twice the length of the bassline pattern. Once again this repeats over and over.

Finally add the James Brown vocals. There are some grunts and other noises, and very short utterances, often just a word or two. There is some singing, but again quite rhythmic and limited. The lyrics are often not very important, as this music is really about the groove and dancing.

The repetition is normally relieved by having a second pattern, over a different root note but in the same key, usually with different words. This is called "the bridge".

I'm going to show off a bit now, sorry about that. As I was listening to this, it struck me that this kind of music is unusual in many ways, but as well as obviously having its origins in soul music, it owes quite a bit to some styles of African music. This basis of repeated patterns, with interleaved bits that create a whole, has a lot of similarity to African drumming, which usually has several drummers playing interleaving patterns. This is then taken forward to music styles like Afrobeat (notably Fela Kuti) which has a similar approach of repeated patterns, long tracks based on a groove. Similar things were happening in Krautrock and Space Rock, Electronic music, the birth of Ambient, and the electric Jazz of Miles Davis.

Also, I can hear the roots here of lots of later dance music, the minimalist words, the long tracks (typically 6-8 minutes) the repeated patterns, and actually a style that can be realised quite well with samples and sequencing.

That's a long time spent on description, mostly because it's a type of music I feel I understand well. This is typically James Brown stuff, with his great screechy voice and energy. There is a second singer/speaker, which I think is his "MC", and there are sometimes backing singers. Some of the bass-work is Bootsy Collins, the most influential funk bassist. I listened to it in the car and couldn't help bopping along to it. It is really infectious dancy funk and I loved it. If you wanted a collection of some of the best James Brown funk grooves, this is a great option.

As an album, it does have a couple of down-sides. As a compilation, especially a compilation with a specific point, it is quite samey, and it's also a little long for an album-listening experience. But, oh yeah! Funky!

8/10

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEF7yKpdG5p_A1TZN7vtRLS7XxySPMFc2

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Jungle_Groove