James Brown - Hell

Introducing the funky heavy weight champion, the godfather of soul, and the star of the show, Mr. James Brown! Owww! And just like that the album Hell knocks you the hell out. This album came at a crucial period in 1974 for two reasons: the first being the nation was in upheaval with the Watergate scandal along with a crippling recession and high gas prices hitting the country and most importantly James Brown was in his prime of earth shattering funk which would later be sampled by the nex geration of hip hop to come. Hell is the nexus of all of the James Brown personalities and where he stood wisth the issues. You have biting socio-political commentary on “Coldblooded” & “Hell”. You have the ladies man player on “My Thang”. We also hear some interesting covers: the first being a salsa rendition of his old song “Please,Please,Please” and an amped up funky rendition of the classic standard “When the Saints Go Marching In”. We also hear the introspective Brown on the songs “A Man has To Go Back To The Crossroad Before he finds Himself” and the song about his youth “Papa Don’t Take No Mess”. My favorite song on the album would have to be the ultra funky, poly-rhythmic spiritual “Stormy Monday”. The artwork on the album is also top notch, the cover being a montage of a beaten down society on the brink. But the drawing tells it all. In this picture we see James Brown fearlessly pumping his fist while a demon in back of him says “He’s too strong, we can’t stop him.” Then another demon says “That’s because he’s the Godfather.”