James Brown - Hey America - Mini-LP Papersleeve CD Replica

Mini-LP Papersleeve CD Replica

Elemental Music and Universal Music Spain proudly presents, for the first time on CD, a reissue of Hey America, a rare and long unavailable 1972 album by The Godfather of Soul, Mr. Dynamite, Soul Brother Nº. 1, Mr. James Brown. Released in Italy only, this album has become one of the most sought after by JB’s collectors and is now available due to the joint efforts of Elemental and Universal Music. Hey America includes a dozen of single sides recorded between 1970 and 1972, plus a live track cut at New York City’s Apollo Theatre in 1967. This fantastic album showcases the gospel-impassioned fury of Brown’s vocals and the complex olyrhythms of his beats, for which James Brown became the single most important figure in the transformation of  rhythm & blues into SOUL music. Hey America also serves as a perfect example of the transition of the James Brown backing band, from the Bobby Byrd’s Famous Flames to the new JB’s led by Fred Wesley, which would back him throughout the 70’s. Bootsy Collins, Fred Thomas, Pee Wee Ellis, St. Clair Pinckney, Maceo Parker, Jabo Starks, Johnny Griggs, Ron Selico, Martha Harvin, and Vicki Anderson are among the wonderful sidemen heard here.

Tracklist:

1. HEY AMERICA Part 1 (Vocal) (3:39)
2. HEY AMERICA Part 2 (Sing Along) (3:45)
3. I’M A GREEDY MAN Part 1 (2:49)
4. I’M A GREEDY MAN Part 2 (4:30)
5. SOUL POWER (3:21)
6. I CRIED (3:33)
7. MAKE IT FUNKY Part 1 (Single Version) (3:17)
8. MAKE IT FUNKY Part 2 (4:06) /
9. MY PART / MAKE IT FUNKY Part 3 (2:42)
10. MY PART / MAKE IT FUNKY Part 4 (2:50)
11. LET IT BE ME (3:24)
12. BY THE TIME I GET TO PHOENIX (3:07)
13. KANSAS CITY (Live at the Apollo) (3:52)

Personnel:

JAMES BROWN, lead vocals & organ, plus: Collective personnel: -Bobby Byrd (vocals & organ) -Fred Wesley (trombone & backing vocals) -Nat Jones (organ & conductor) -Kenny Poole, Bobby Roach, Phelps Collins, Alfonzo Kellum, Jimmy Nolen (guitar) -Hearlon “Cheese” Martin, Robert Coleman (guitar & backing vocals) -Williams “Bootsy” Collins, Bernard Odum (bass) -Fred Thomas (bass & backing vocals) -Dave Matthews (piano & bass trombone) -Pee Wee Ellis (alto saxophone & organ) -Jerone Sanford, Russell Crimes, Clayton “Chicken” Gunnels, Darryl “Hasaan” Jamison, Frank Brown, Jerry Conrad, Marie Speziale, Joe Dupars, Waymon Reed (trumpet & backing vocals) - Jimmy Parker (alto & tenor saxophone, backing vocals) -St. Clair Pinckney (tenor & baritone saxophone, backing vocals) -Eldee Williams, Maceo Parker (tenor saxophone) -Millard Dusenbury, Paul Piller (trombone) -James McGary, Gordon Brisker (flute & tenor saxophone) -Mike Andress (flute & alto saxophone) -William “Beau Dollar” Bowman, John “Jabo” Starks, Clyde Stubblefield (drums) -Johnnyb Griggs (congas) -Ron Selico (bongos) -Roberta DuBois & The Sisters of Righteous, Martha Harvin, Vicki Anderson, Danny Ray, Bobby Bennett (backing vocals) -Levi Rasbury (MC).

Credits:

Produced by James Brown & Bud Hobgood. Arranged & conducted by James Brown, Fred Wesley, Dave Matthews & Nat Jones. Recorded at King Studios (Cincinnati, Ohio), Starday Studios (Nashville, Tennessee), Rodel Studios (Washington, D.C.), and the Apollo Theater (New York), between June 1967 and July 1971.

All selections written and produced by Norman Whitfield Recorded in Hitsville U.S.A. Studio A, Detroit, Michigan, between September 1972 and January 1973.