Food for Thought

James Brown’s band the JBs had a shifting membership and their first album from ‘72 is a collection of singles from two sets of players. The tracks here were variously recorded before or after Brown had to assemble a new band following the walkout of sax player Maceo Parker and several other band members. Either way, under Brown’s strict guidance, the JBs were in the process of re-inventing R’n’B and soul, stripping away melody and song structure, leaving just an interlocking musical funk machine. Many of these tracks have been sampled literally thousands of times: foundational funk.