James Brown - The Payback

Limited Edition import-only vinyl LP repressing of this album. Universal. 2007. Album Description

Still Thinking...

James Brown is a legend. For that he gets mad respect. I really liked some cuts on this album and some i didnt. I never really was a huge JBrown fan, and to be honest i thought he was a little off and i never really liked his slave/work mentality approach that he brought to his music and to the people that worked for him...

But the album is cool to add to your collection. I wont be bumping this in the whip though! September 5, 2008

The Payback

James Brown-The Payback *****

The Payback might just be James Brown's best studio album of the 1970's, it certainly is one of the funkiest! The musicianship is among the best of all his albums from this period, and for his entire career for that matter. That is one thing you have to give the Godfather is that the man knew how to put together a band, and he knew what to arrange for them. The man was a genius, and The Payback is a testament to that.

From the ultra funky title track, 'The Payback' through the almost tender ballad of 'Forever Suffering' this is the most accessible album in James cannon. The Wah-wah heavy 'Shoot Your Shot' is among Brown's best of his career, and the saxophone on 'Time Is Running Out Fast' is just beautiful. Even 'Stone To The Bone' which loosely seems like a 'Get On The Good Foot' rewrite both musically and lyrically is wonderful. The only gripe is on the albums closer, 'Mind Power' which has a load of spoken word which just doesn't flow with the song most of the way, but the music is excellent. Though what he is saying is great it just seems awkward with the music.

The Payback is it man. This is essential to any James fan. It's easy to see why artists such as Prince, Michael Jackson, Sly Stone, and P-funk all hold James as a high influence, even if this albums was way into his career after most of those acts had already started. April 15, 2008

WHAT IT IS ! IS WHAT IT IS........ MIND POWER!

THE FUNK ON THIS CD IS DEEP...WHILE THE PAYBACK IS THE CLASSIC, MINDPOWER IS A STANDOUT TRACK TO ME, THE WAH GUITAR AND THE HORN SECTION GOES BALLISTIC,SHOOT YOUR BEST SHOT IS ANOTHER BEAST ON THIS CD....SUPERB FUNK FROM THE MASTER.........TIMELESS October 16, 2007

Funky stuff

I like this double-album (now one one CD), though it's not as good as Hot Pants. Still, I've got a couple minor gripes: while the classic title song is pretty cool, it seems like he's trying to reinvent it on several cuts, bringing the wah-wah and orchestral ending back. Running times hurt the otherwise-good Take Some... Leave Some; Time Is Running Out Fast and Shoot Your Shot (the shortest song is 5:52, and the longest is 12:54 or so); and the ballad Doing the Best that I Can has JB doing a failed Curtis Mayfield impression, complete with falsetto and strings. But there are some great songs on this album: certainly the title song, plus the funky, tightly-wound jams that close the set: Stone to the Bone and Mind Power. Both run over ten minutes (the latter over twelve), but neither seem to drag: if anything, they're both too short. December 23, 2006

Incredible.

In my opinion, "The Payback" was recorded while The Godfather of Soul was in Supreme Musical Genius mode. James Brown's musical composition of 'Time is Running Out Fast' is incredible, not to mention the equally as incredible horn playing of Fred Wesley & Maceo Parker. 'Mind Power' is superbly conducted by The Godfather himself, demonstrating his musically infallible ear. The best James Brown Experience. A must own... What it is is what it is... February 16, 2006

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