— Cliff White
It has long irritated me that sixties rock stars tried to label themselves as punks. Mick Jagger reckoned that longtime collaborator Keith Richards was someone you couldn't possibly "out-punk". Others have made the case for John Lennon and Pete Townshend (strangely, no one ever tries to prop up Ray Davies' punk bona fides and his songs were actually covered by late-seventies punks and new wavers). If anything, such claims always reveal how out of touch this generation had become by the end of the seventies. Rather than admitting that they may not have been relevant to what was going on in 1977, they had to make it all about themselves. (That's not to say there weren't proto-punks out there in the sixties and early seventies but it's significant that the likes of Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and the MC5 didn't seem to have any use for apologists talking up their punk cred)
It's fascinating to imagine a similar situation surrounding disco, especially when applied to people previously tied to funk and soul. These artists weren't leeching off of the latest fad, they were the original stars of disco, you see. Diana Ross was a disco starlet long before she did "Upside Down", Smokey Robinson's "Get Ready" was so proto-disco that they didn't have to spruce it up much in order for it to be suitable. In that spirit came the latest album from James Brown, titled (imagine that) The Original Disco Man. See? Black music had simply caught up to where the Godfather of Soul had been all along. (Marvin Gaye's own dabblage, "Got to Give It Up", took a different tack as he permitted disco to come to him)
James Brown may seem like the sort of artist who spent his vast career recording the same song again and again (but in a good way like Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles and Van Morrison rather than one of those groups — Oasis, Status Quo, UB40 — who grow increasingly tiresome as their creative rut lingers) but he changed with the times. Getting his start in gospel, he first hit it big as a member of R&B group The Famous Flames before going solo with one of the few non-in house bands in sixties soul. His high-powered records such as "I Got You (I Feel Good)" and "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" would eventually aid his evolution towards funk in the seventies. Toning it down by the end of the decade meant moving closer to disco.
"It's Too Funky in Here" was the maiden single from The Original Disco Man and is his one truly successful shot at the current dance craze. With many of his old stalwarts from the original J.B.'s — the likes of Bootsy Collins and Maceo Parker having departed to play with George Clinton — Brown was at something of a loss and had to make do with studio musicians for the first time in close to a quarter century and did so in very non-disco hot spots Muscle Shoals and Nashville. He was also short of material and had to rely on composition from collaborators and some iffy covers (his version of "Love Me Tender" is well-meaning but vile).
Already at a disadvantage, it's little wonder Brown and disco conservatism didn't quite fit. The material is way too safe for both his voice and his image, without a trace of anger, sex and/or politics for him to grasp. He still puts everything he has into it — he's easily the best thing about this record — but his passion is for almost naught. Cliff White is obviously an admirer and even has good things to say about the "forceful funk with a modern disco beat" played with a "demonic energy and aggressive determination" but these wouldn't even be worthy of mention if the recording was being fronted by a smooth disco lothario. Having Brown's customary grunts pushes things on and makes it seem weightier than it is.
Picturing James Brown as a punk may be on the surface ludicrous but he still had the respect of his peers while remaining persona non grata with the "establishment". He hadn't become an institution — and, indeed, never would be — and no one would have needed to build up how punk he used to be way back when. He was also, it would seem, disco well before anyone else. He gave showstopping performances, crowds got down to his vast repertoire and listeners found themselves growing confident and reassured by his work. How about that? I always knew the two genres shared a lot more in common than you'd otherwise assume, I just didn't know that Mr. Dynamite would be the one pointing the way. Everyone else would still have some catching up to do.
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
B.A. Robertson: "Bang Bang"
Just the "silly-season" summer hit that White predicts, "Bang Bang" made B.A. Robertson a name few, fan and detractor alike, could forget. I've heard people slag him off a lot lately so I wasn't expecting much from "Bang Bang". It's not terribly impressive but I can imagine not being so put off with it that I'd hurl a slipper at the telly every time he'd be on. Not a glowing recommendation but sometimes the little things can make all the difference, such as those cheery-looking girls in the promo who are sporting some very non-revealing white shirts which sits much better than had they tried to knowingly sex things up. He doesn't pull off being the musical hall wit half as well as he fancies but his biggest hit is catchy and, yes, plenty silly.
It has long irritated me that sixties rock stars tried to label themselves as punks. Mick Jagger reckoned that longtime collaborator Keith Richards was someone you couldn't possibly "out-punk". Others have made the case for John Lennon and Pete Townshend (strangely, no one ever tries to prop up Ray Davies' punk bona fides and his songs were actually covered by late-seventies punks and new wavers). If anything, such claims always reveal how out of touch this generation had become by the end of the seventies. Rather than admitting that they may not have been relevant to what was going on in 1977, they had to make it all about themselves. (That's not to say there weren't proto-punks out there in the sixties and early seventies but it's significant that the likes of Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and the MC5 didn't seem to have any use for apologists talking up their punk cred)
It's fascinating to imagine a similar situation surrounding disco, especially when applied to people previously tied to funk and soul. These artists weren't leeching off of the latest fad, they were the original stars of disco, you see. Diana Ross was a disco starlet long before she did "Upside Down", Smokey Robinson's "Get Ready" was so proto-disco that they didn't have to spruce it up much in order for it to be suitable. In that spirit came the latest album from James Brown, titled (imagine that) The Original Disco Man. See? Black music had simply caught up to where the Godfather of Soul had been all along. (Marvin Gaye's own dabblage, "Got to Give It Up", took a different tack as he permitted disco to come to him)
James Brown may seem like the sort of artist who spent his vast career recording the same song again and again (but in a good way like Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles and Van Morrison rather than one of those groups — Oasis, Status Quo, UB40 — who grow increasingly tiresome as their creative rut lingers) but he changed with the times. Getting his start in gospel, he first hit it big as a member of R&B group The Famous Flames before going solo with one of the few non-in house bands in sixties soul. His high-powered records such as "I Got You (I Feel Good)" and "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" would eventually aid his evolution towards funk in the seventies. Toning it down by the end of the decade meant moving closer to disco.
"It's Too Funky in Here" was the maiden single from The Original Disco Man and is his one truly successful shot at the current dance craze. With many of his old stalwarts from the original J.B.'s — the likes of Bootsy Collins and Maceo Parker having departed to play with George Clinton — Brown was at something of a loss and had to make do with studio musicians for the first time in close to a quarter century and did so in very non-disco hot spots Muscle Shoals and Nashville. He was also short of material and had to rely on composition from collaborators and some iffy covers (his version of "Love Me Tender" is well-meaning but vile).
Already at a disadvantage, it's little wonder Brown and disco conservatism didn't quite fit. The material is way too safe for both his voice and his image, without a trace of anger, sex and/or politics for him to grasp. He still puts everything he has into it — he's easily the best thing about this record — but his passion is for almost naught. Cliff White is obviously an admirer and even has good things to say about the "forceful funk with a modern disco beat" played with a "demonic energy and aggressive determination" but these wouldn't even be worthy of mention if the recording was being fronted by a smooth disco lothario. Having Brown's customary grunts pushes things on and makes it seem weightier than it is.
Picturing James Brown as a punk may be on the surface ludicrous but he still had the respect of his peers while remaining persona non grata with the "establishment". He hadn't become an institution — and, indeed, never would be — and no one would have needed to build up how punk he used to be way back when. He was also, it would seem, disco well before anyone else. He gave showstopping performances, crowds got down to his vast repertoire and listeners found themselves growing confident and reassured by his work. How about that? I always knew the two genres shared a lot more in common than you'd otherwise assume, I just didn't know that Mr. Dynamite would be the one pointing the way. Everyone else would still have some catching up to do.
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
B.A. Robertson: "Bang Bang"
Just the "silly-season" summer hit that White predicts, "Bang Bang" made B.A. Robertson a name few, fan and detractor alike, could forget. I've heard people slag him off a lot lately so I wasn't expecting much from "Bang Bang". It's not terribly impressive but I can imagine not being so put off with it that I'd hurl a slipper at the telly every time he'd be on. Not a glowing recommendation but sometimes the little things can make all the difference, such as those cheery-looking girls in the promo who are sporting some very non-revealing white shirts which sits much better than had they tried to knowingly sex things up. He doesn't pull off being the musical hall wit half as well as he fancies but his biggest hit is catchy and, yes, plenty silly.
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