Sex Machine (album)

Last updated
Sex Machine
Sex Machine album cover.jpg
Studio album and live album by
ReleasedSeptember 1970
Recorded
Genre Funk, soul [1]
Length64:29
Label King
Producer James Brown
James Brown chronology
It's a New Day – Let a Man Come In
(1970)
Sex Machine
(1970)
Hey America
(1970)
James Brown live albums chronology
Live at the Apollo, Volume II
(1968)
Sex Machine
(1970)
Revolution of the Mind: Recorded Live at the Apollo, Vol. III
(1971)
Side one (studio tracks produced to sound live)
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Get Up I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine"James Brown, Bobby Byrd, Ron Lenhoff10:48
2."Brother Rapp (Part I & Part II)"Brown5:06
Total length:15:54
Side two (studio tracks produced to sound live)
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Bewildered" Teddy Powell, Leonard Whitcup6:09
2."I Got the Feelin'"Brown1:07
3."Give It Up or Turnit a Loose"Charles Bobbit6:26
Total length:13:42
Side three
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."I Don't Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing (Open Up the Door I'll Get It Myself)"Brown4:31
2."Licking Stick - Licking Stick"Brown, Byrd, Pee Wee Ellis 1:19
3."Lowdown Popcorn" (studio recording)Brown3:25
4."Spinning Wheel" David Clayton-Thomas 4:02
5."If I Ruled the World" Leslie Bricusse, Cyril Ornadel 4:03
Total length:17:20
Side four
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."There Was a Time"Brown, Bud Hobgood4:04
2."It's a Man's Man's Man's World"Brown, Betty Jean Newsome3:42
3."Please, Please, Please"Brown, Johnny Terry2:26
4."I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)"Brown1:28
5."Mother Popcorn"Brown, Ellis5:50
Total length:17:30

Personnel

Brown on the TV show The Music Scene in September 1969 James Brown Music Scene 1969.jpg
Brown on the TV show The Music Scene in September 1969

Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine, Medley

Bell Auditorium, Augusta, GA

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Funky Drummer</span> 1970 single by James Brown

"Funky Drummer" is a single released by James Brown in 1970. Its drum break, improvised by Clyde Stubblefield, is one of the most frequently sampled music recordings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clyde Stubblefield</span> American drummer

Clyde Austin Stubblefield was an American drummer best known for his work with James Brown, with whom he recorded and toured for six years (1965-70). His syncopated drum patterns on Brown's recordings are considered funk standards. Samples of his drum performances were heavily used in hip hop music beginning in the 1980s, although Stubblefield frequently received no credit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The J.B.'s</span> Band

The J.B.'s was James Brown's band from 1970 through the early 1980s. On records the band was sometimes billed under alternate names such as Fred Wesley and the JBs, The James Brown Soul Train, Maceo and the Macks, A.A.B.B., Fred Wesley and the New JBs, The First Family, and The Last Word. In addition to backing Brown, the J.B.'s played behind Bobby Byrd, Lyn Collins, and other singers associated with the James Brown Revue, and performed and recorded as a self-contained group. In 2015, they were nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but failed to be inducted and can be considered for Musical Excellence in the future. They have been eligible since 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jabo Starks</span> American drummer (1938–2018)

John Henry "Jabo" Starks, sometimes spelled Jab'o, was an American funk and blues drummer best known for playing with James Brown as well as other notable musicians including Bobby Bland and B.B. King. A self-taught musician, he was known for his effective and clean drum patterns. He was one of the originators of funk drumming, and is one of the most sampled drummers.

"Soul Power" is a song by James Brown. Brown recorded it with the original J.B.'s and it was released as a three-part single in 1971. Like "Get Up Sex Machine" and other hits from this period it features backing vocals by Bobby Byrd. It charted #3 R&B and #29 Pop.

Jimmy Nolen was an American guitarist, known for his distinctive "chicken scratch" lead guitar playing in James Brown's bands. In its survey of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time," the English magazine Mojo ranks Nolen number twelve. Rolling Stone named Nolen the 12th greatest guitarist of all time in 2023.

"Cold Sweat" is a song performed by James Brown and written with his bandleader Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis. Brown recorded it in May 1967. An edited version of "Cold Sweat" released as a two-part single on King Records was a No. 1 R&B hit, and reached number seven on the Pop Singles chart. The complete recording, more than seven minutes long, was included on an album of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine</span> 1970 single by James Brown

"Get Up Sex Machine" is a song recorded by James Brown with Bobby Byrd on backing vocals. Released as a two-part single in 1970, it was a no. 2 R&B hit and reached no. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mother Popcorn</span> 1969 single by James Brown

"Mother Popcorn (You Got to Have a Mother for Me)" is a song recorded by James Brown and released as a two-part single in 1969. A #1 R&B and #11 Pop hit, it was the highest-charting of a series of recordings inspired by the popular dance the Popcorn which Brown made that year, including "The Popcorn", "Lowdown Popcorn", and "Let a Man Come In and Do the Popcorn". The "mother" of the song's title was, in the words of biographer RJ Smith, "[Brown's] honorific for a big butt".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Super Bad (song)</span> 1970 single by James Brown

"Super Bad", originally titled Call Me Super Bad, is a 1970 song by James Brown. Originally released as a three-part single, it went to #1 on the R&B chart and number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song's lyrics include the refrain "I've got soul and I'm super bad." The positive use of the word "bad" is an example of linguistic reappropriation, which Brown had done before in "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Grunt</span> 1970 single by The J.B.s

"The Grunt" is a funk instrumental recorded in 1970 by James Brown's band The J.B.'s. It was released as a two-part single on King. It was one of only two instrumental singles recorded by the original J.B.'s lineup with Bootsy and Catfish Collins. Large parts of "The Grunt"'s melody and arrangement are borrowed, uncredited, from The Isley Brothers' song "Keep on Doin'", which was released earlier in the same year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Get on the Good Foot</span> 1972 single by James Brown

"Get on the Good Foot" is a funk song performed by James Brown. It was released in 1972 as a two-part single that charted #1 R&B and #18 Pop. It also appeared on an album of the same name released that year. Partly due to the unwillingness of Brown's record labels to certify sales of his previous hits, "Get on the Good Foot" was his first gold record. Billboard ranked it as the No. 99 song for 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Give It Up or Turnit a Loose</span> 1969 single by James Brown

"Give It Up or Turnit a Loose" is a funk song recorded by James Brown. Released as a single in 1969, the song was a #1 R&B hit and also made the top 20 pop singles chart. "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose" appeared as an instrumental on the Ain't It Funky (1970) album, removing Brown's vocals and adding guitar overdubs, while the vocal version was released on It's a New Day – Let a Man Come In (1970).

<i>Love, Power, Peace: Live at the Olympia, Paris, 1971</i> 1992 live album by James Brown

Love, Power, Peace: Live at the Olympia, Paris, 1971 is a live album by James Brown. It is the only recording that documents one of his live performances with the original J.B.'s lineup featuring Bootsy and Catfish Collins. Love, Power, Peace was originally intended for a 1972 release as a vinyl triple album, but was cancelled after the key members of the original J.B.'s left Brown to join Parliament-Funkadelic. The album was finally released for the first time in 1992, edited down for a single compact disc; the full show, using Brown's original mixdown was later released in July 2014 on Sundazed Records.

"Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing" is a funk song written by James Brown and Bobby Byrd. Recorded in 1970 by Brown and the original J.B.'s with Byrd on backing vocals and updated with a new melody, it was twice released as a two-part single in 1972. It also appeared on the album There It Is.

<i>There It Is</i> (James Brown album) 1972 studio album by James Brown

There It Is is the 33rd studio album by American musician James Brown. His second release for Polydor Records, it contained five of his early-1970s hits. The album was released on June 9, 1972. It reached #10 on the Billboard R&B charts and #60 on the Billboard 200.

<i>Say It Live and Loud: Live in Dallas 08.26.68</i> 1998 live album by James Brown

Say It Live and Loud: Live in Dallas 08.26.68 is a live album by James Brown released in 1998. Taped at Dallas Memorial Auditorium soon after "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud" had been released to the airwaves, it includes one of the only live recordings of the song, with the arena crowd shouting the call and response portions. Village Voice critic Robert Christgau deemed it the second best live recording from Brown's "crucial" 1967–71 period, behind 1970's Sex Machine. Following the 50th anniversary of the recording, the entire performance, including never before released live performances of "That's Life" and "The Popcorn", was released on vinyl by Republic Records on October 12, 2018.

"Lowdown Popcorn" is a funk instrumental recorded by James Brown. It was the third hit single Brown recorded in 1969 that was inspired by the popular dance the Popcorn, preceded by the instrumental "The Popcorn" and the song "Mother Popcorn". It charted #16 R&B and #41 Pop.

<i>Motherlode</i> (James Brown album) 1988 compilation album by James Brown

Motherlode is a 1988 James Brown compilation album. Created as a follow-up to the successful 1986 compilation In the Jungle Groove, it similarly focuses on Brown's funk recordings of the late 1960s and early 1970s. It includes live performances and remixes as well as studio recordings, most of them previously unissued. Writing in 2007, critic Robert Christgau called it "the finest of the classic [James Brown] comps". Highlights include a live "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud", the first album release of "I Got Ants in My Pants ", the latter-day UK chart hit "She's the One", and a nine-minute-long remix of "People Get Up and Drive Your Funky Soul" from the Slaughter's Big Rip-Off soundtrack.

<i>Super Bad</i> (James Brown album) 1971 live album by James Brown

Super Bad is an album, that purports to be a live album, by American musician James Brown. The album was released in 1971 by King Records.

References

  1. 1 2 Huey, Steve. "James Brown: Sex Machine" at AllMusic. Retrieved September 22, 2011.
  2. "Billboard Album Reviews". Billboard . September 19, 1970. p. 59. Retrieved September 22, 2011.
  3. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: B". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies . Ticknor & Fields. ISBN   089919026X . Retrieved February 22, 2019 via robertchristgau.com.
  4. "Sex Machine: James Brown". Rhapsody . Retrieved September 22, 2011.
  5. Hoard, Christian (2004). The new Rolling Stone album guide . New York: Simon & Schuster. pp.  109–113. ISBN   978-0-7432-0169-8. Alt URL
  6. "The 25 Greatest Albums of All Time". Spin . Vol. Five, no. One. April 1989. ISSN   0886-3032 . Retrieved September 22, 2011.
  7. "Sex Machine by James Brown". Yahoo! Music . Retrieved September 22, 2011.
  8. Movies & music pack 2004 : top films & albums of all time . New York: Zagat Survey. 2003. ISBN   978-1-57006-543-9 . Retrieved September 22, 2011.
  9. g, manos (August 1, 2013). "Review: CD James Brown – Sex Machine Album". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 2013-11-08.
  10. "James Brown". warr.org. Sex Machine. Retrieved January 30, 2007.
  11. "The 100 Greatest Albums". BBC Four. Archived from the original on April 19, 2005. Retrieved January 30, 2007.
  12. "James Brown – Sex Machine".
  13. "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 2020-09-22. Retrieved 2020-10-27.