For completists only
Fritz Langlois | Second star to the right | 04/06/2007
(1 out of 5 stars)
"As a huge James Brown fan I initially welcomed the appearance of those tracks, although most of them had already been issued on various albums and singles. But it must be said that most of the material here is demo-like quality, with unfinished tracks, some recordings very lo-fi, and the unreleased songs were so for good reason. The only three tracks I didn't know of, and the reason I bought this hastily and cheaply-produced disc are: God is Good (an uninspired and overlong gospel song produced by the ever ill-advised Derrick Monk), All-Weather Girl (a useless take on Chaka Khan's I'm Every Woman), and I Wanna Be Loved on the "1", a fascinating failure that could and should have been a great track. This track alone is worth checking out, with a typically insistant guitar lick straight out of the J.B.'s, and it grooves like hell, but unfortunately the synth tries to imitate the horns, and the break is completely failed (none of the musicians are together, it's obvious they're at a loss what to play).
So the way this is released is dubious to say the least (JB obviously didn't intend releasing such a collection), and the material on offer is very, very poor (Say It Again is a sorry-sounding demo for School is In). Time for Polydor to make a move and re-issue the 70's albums that are still waiting, and collections of singles from JB's People label. Also, JB's final recording session in 2005 with Fred Wesley has produced 8 finished new tracks (among which only "Gut Bucket" has surfaced) of apparently good quality, so please someone puts it out in the world!"
Track Listings (13) - Disc #1
