A ‘new’ James Brown song that is nearly 55 years old
Plus, Vinyl of the Week: ‘The Legend of Ice-T: Crime Stories’
Whenever there’s new music released by a long dead artist, it typically falls into two categories.
The first, and most obvious, is that it’s simply not that great and there’s a clear reason why it was in the vault. The other is the egregious use of, say, a vocal track, and trying to build a song around it with present day musicians.
Usually, those aren’t too good either.
Thankfully, none of that is the case with the brand new, almost 55-year-old song from James Brown, who has been dead for 18 years.
Titled “We Got to Change,” the piece was recorded back on Aug. 16,
1970, at Miami’s Criteria Studios.
All at once, it’s socially conscious, powerful with conviction and, most importantly, funky.
The other players on the track are 26-year-old guitarist Phelps “Catfish” Collins and his 18-year-old bassist brother William “Bootsy” Collins.
Just when Brown was finding his footing, these two young bloods changed the script by bringing a harder edge and a fresh new identity to his music.
“James Brown always leaned into the social tip,” Bootsy Collins said in a statement about “We Got to Change.” “He always was trying to keep the youngsters informed and the people informed on what’s going on. The new breed was coming in and certain things were going out. He loved to inform people on what was coming and what was going to be because he felt like he was part of it, and he was.”
This new unit with the Collins brothers in place was responsible for the 1970-71 singles that soon became classics in “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine,” “Super Bad,” and “Soul Power.”
Brown acknowledged this revitalized sound by tagging his group with a new name:
The J.B.’s.
“We Got to Change,” which is streaming on all platforms, is another example of Brown’s social outreach seen in singles like “Don’t Be a Dropout,” “Say It Loud — I’m Black and I’m Proud,” “Get Up, Get into
It, Get Involved” and “King Heroin.”
The song was laid down during a pivotal period in the world of James Brown since, a few months earlier, longtime members of his famed James Brown Orchestra had walked out.
The Criteria session featured a reunion with one of Brown’s 1960s sidemen in the great Clyde Stubblefield.
“The Funky Drummer,” as he was known, would grace several of Brown’s subsequent hits and become one of the most sampled drummers of the hiphop era.
Also on the track is James Brown’s longtime No. 2, Bobby Byrd, who is heard alongside Brown in the chorus.
“We Got to Change” is also a testament to Brown’s diverse musical language, quoting from Little Jimmy Dickens’ 1949 hit “Take an Old Cold Tater (And Wait)” and the African American anti-war spiritual, “Down by the Riverside.”
The release of the song ties in the new A&E fourhour docu-series “James Brown: Say It Loud,” which premiered this week and is now available on demand.
Vinyl of the Week
Keep an eye on this spot as each week we’ll be looking at new or soon-to-be-released vinyl from a variety of artists. It might be a repressing of a landmark recording, special edition or new collection from a legendary act.
This week, it’s a three-LP set from one of the most legendary gangster rappers in history.
• Ice-T, “The Legend of Ice-T: Crime Stories”
There’s little argument that Ice-T is the original embodiment of Los Angeles hip-hop and a cultural icon who helped popularize gangster rap. Through music, his books and lecture tours of America’s prisons, high schools, libraries and colleges, he’s also become an influential spokesman for America’s youth, regardless of color.
One of the ways Ice-T is able to connect so well across mixed media is because he knows how to tell a story, which is the theme of a brand new, three-LP collection titled “The Legend of Ice T: Crime Stories.”
It features some of the most powerful songs from his catalog, as well as some lesser-known and previously unreleased material.
Born Tracy Lauren Marrow, his first break came when the producers of the 1984 film “Breakin’ ” asked him to rap in the movie. He went on to become rap music’s preeminent gangster, writing songs like “Six in the Mornin” and “New Jack Hustler.”
Ice T formed Rhyme Syndicate Records in 1989 and released a string of groundbreaking West Coast rap records. “Crime Stories” mines from each of the eight studio LPs in his catalog.
“This album is all story rhymes,” Ice said in an unboxing video for the set. “This is not just normal IceT music.”
Containing tracks like “The Tower,” “Soul on Ice” and “Common Sense,” the set is part of the Studio 4 Vinyl Signature Series, audiophile grade, and comes on clear vinyl with blood red splatter.
It’s also double gatefold with foil stamping.
There are in-depth liner notes penned by Ice-T, where he breaks down each track — “a short explanation of every song” — and goes deep in the credits for each composition.
These days, Ice T stars in NBC’s “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” as Detective Odafin Tutuola, a role he’s played for some 24 seasons.
He and his wife, Coco, starred in the E! reality show “Ice Loves Coco.”
Look for “The Legend of Ice T: Crime Stories” online and from all respectable retailers who carry vinyl.