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Hand picked records important to the history of Soul Strut.

The J.B.'s - Food For Thought

  • The J.B.'s

    Food For Thought LP (1972)

    People

Ranked #61 in the Soul Strut 200

Essential funk instrumental debut from James Brown's backup band.  Upon initial investigation, there is not much information surrounding this recording.  It's been rumored that many songs on this album aren't even the J.B.'s, but Fred Wesley solo session efforts (prime examples are "Blessed Blackness", "King Heroin", "To my brother" and 'Wine Spot". etc.) with very little or zero James Brown input. In fact, they were recorded with session musicians hired by Wesley in NY, among them prominent jazz artists like the Brecker Brothers. The songs on this album were recorded at a time when Brown wasn't very interested in recording. The only true original J.B.'s group session tunes are the radio hit "Pass The Peas", the often sampled "The Grunt", and the James Brown live staple "Escape-ism."  With that being said, the aforementioned tunes were the framework for a gazillion independently released funk 45s in the early 70s than ultimately hip hop production and the new funk movement of the 2000s (Desco, Daptone, etc.).  James Brown would go on to be much more involved with the recording of their next album, Doing it to Death, which would go on to be a colossal hit.


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