James Brown's Funky Christmas (1995)

A mid-'90s compilation of the best songs from James Brown's three earlier Christmas albums: James Brown Sings Christmas Songs (1966), A Soulful Christmas (1968), and Hey America It's Christmas (1970).

I purchased this disc for two reasons: 1) it's the freakin' Godfather of Soul, and 2) the album's appearance at #3 on Rolling Stone's The 25 Greatest Christmas Albums of All Time:

It's a welcome change-of-pace from the usual strings and sleigh bells.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: Here are the funky grooves that made it on my Xmas playlist: Go Power At Christmas Time, Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto, Soulful Christmas, and Merry Christmas I Love You. I dig Tit For Tat (Ain't No Taking Back) but it's not very Christmas-y. However, the album is well-sequenced and has a good mix of funk and soulful ballads, so it's an pleasant listen from top-to-bottom.

The final track - the title song from the Hey America It's Christmas - was named one of the "Weirdest, Darkest Christmas Songs" by Spin Magazine in 2012. I wouldn't go so far as to place the song on such a list, but I don't really see the point in creating such a list in the first place.

Oddly, my CD only included 16 tracks instead of the 17 listed on the cover. The missing track? Track 4, Merry Christmas Baby. With cover art that bad, I shouldn't be surprised at an incomplete package. Looks like my full-retail-price CD is nothing more than a CD-R produced 'on demand' and someone at Chronicles didn't check all the boxes before burning:

Tsk tsk. For shame, Polydor. Shame on you too, Amazon, for not listing the fact that it's a CD-R. Ok, ok - rant over. Merry Christmas, everybody. And please, please, please 2021 - don't let me down.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
The CD of JB: Sex Machine & Other Soul Classics (1985)

James Brown - The CD of JB: Sex Machine & Other Soul Classics (1985)

Mr. Dynamite. Soul Brother No. 1. The Godfather of Soul. The only James Brown disc in my collection and the only one I need (with the possible exception of the CD of JB II). In 1985, CDs were just being commercially released; this was one of Polydor's first efforts in the emerging market. The result is a poorly mixed, poorly sequenced CD, but even those flaws can't hurt this collection of songs. 18 tracks clocking in at about 55 minutes, covering the years 1956-1974. Hearing the earlier '50s ballads among the grittier, funkier '60s stuff is an interesting mix; chronological might have been a better way to go. Brown holds the record as the artist to have charted the most singles on the Billboard Hot 100 without ever hitting the top spot on that chart. That's just not right. Brown has been honored by many institutions including inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame. Brown is ranked 7th on Rolling Stone's list of its 100 greatest artists of all time.

Brown certainly had performing talents but his real gifts were to find material that suited him and to surround himself with excellent musicians that could flat out groove. His funky riffs are probably the most sampled ever. Brown's songs were so heavily sampled, that by 1991, a Dutch group released the classic techno single, James Brown Is Dead, meaning that he'd been sampled enough, let him rest. Alive for another 15 years, Brown passed into immortality in 2006.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:

Song	Year	R&B	Hot 100
Doing It To Death	1974	1	22
Super Bad (Mono)	1970	1	13
Soul Power (Mono)	1971	3	29
Think	1973	15	77
It's A Man's World (Mono)	1964	1	8
Try Me (I Need You) (Mono)	1958	1	48
Bewildered (Mono)	1960	8	40
Out Of Sight	1964	24	-
I Got You	1964	*	*
Prisoner Of Love	1963	6	18
I Got The Feeling (Mono)	1968	1	6
Maybe The Last Time	1964	-	-
Licking Stick - Licking Stick	1970	2	14
Mother Popcorn	1969	1	11
Papa's Got A Brand New Bag (Mono)	1965	1	8
Sex Machine	1970	2	15
The Payback	1974	1	26
Please, Please, Please (Mono)	1956	6	-

They're all good. My favorite today is Sex Machine. Can we hit it and quit?

*Interestingly, I Got You included here is an early version of I Got You (I Feel Good) culled from the withdrawn 1964 album, Out of Sight.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  I believe this disc was a gift from my friend Jim.

I have another friend who spent several years teaching 5th grade math in a very culturally and ethnically diverse school. He would often play music in his classroom. According to him, the only music he could play that ALL students were already familiar with was James Brown.

One of my favorite toys is my "Dancin' Shoutin' James Brown" doll that sings and dances to I Got You.