New/Sealed
SOUL/R & B
UPC: 664425406917
Release Date: 9/23/2014
 
In 1974 one of James Brown’s most important band-leaders and sidemen – trombonist Fred Wesley would release not one but two albums as a leader including Damn Right, I Am Somebody. Starting with an evocative cover it was clear to fans that this album wasn’t all about a party. Deep messages abound in the songs here, such as the nearly 10-minute workout “I’m Paying Taxes, But What Am I Buying.”

Social messages aside, Fred and his assembled JBs were a party-moving funk machine at heart, as heard on “If You Don’t Get It The First Time, Back Up And Try It Again Paarty” and the laid-back groove of “Same Beat” (with prototypical sampling of Jesse Jackson exhorting an audience to chant “I am / Somebody”). Nestled among these raise-your-fist classics is one of the most experimental funk cut ever made: “Blow Your Head,” known to relatively modern listeners as the backbone of Public Enemy’s “Public Enemy #1” (from 1987). Other tracks have been sampled by EPMD, Run-DMC, De La Soul, Digable Planets, and Ice-T among others. 

Get On Down pays reverent tribute to the reissue of this classic housed in a 1970s style Stoughton jacket.
 
Track     
 
Title
 
1
Damn Right I’m Somebody
2
Blow Your Head
3
I’m Payin’ Taxes, What Am I Buyin’?
4
Same Beat (Part 1)
5
If You Don’t Get It The First Time, Back Up & Try It Again, Party
6
Make Me What You Want Me To Be
7
Going To Get A Thrill
8
You Sure Love To Ball