James Brown & His Famous Flames: Cold Sweat (1967)
When is an album deserving of that rather vague definition of thematic coherence and when is it a simple collection of songs thrown together into the same cardboard sleeve?
And a sleeve that looks like a gaudy poster, at that, pushing other albums like magical elixirs at a medicine show and promising "All New Great Songs Never in an Album."
That question is far too thorny to answer here but I bring it up because Cold Sweat -- the album -- barely reflects the 1967 single that gave it its name; and yet it's a perfectly worthy collection pairing one of James Brown's most important compositions with a slew of covers showcasing his talents as an interpreter.
Not that this mix-and-match practice was uncommon in Brown's discography of the period, nor that of countless artists in any number of genres, as they navigated the '60s transition from 7-inch to 12-inch formats, but it does mean I'll have to split this blog into two very distinct sections.
First, I'll tackle all those covers, which, on side one, range from R&B (Little Willie John's "Fever"), to rock 'n' roll (an excellent take on Lieber & Stoller's "Kansas City"), to jump blues (ditto Roy Brown's "Good Rockin' Tonight"), to a soulful spin on the classic murder ballad "Stagger Lee."
But things get really interesting on side two, as Brown, alternately backed by his own band or a hired studio orchestra, extends his range to easy listening and Great American Songbook standards like "Mona Lisa," "I Want to Be Around," "Nature Boy," "Come Rain or Come Shine," and "I Loves You Porgy."
And at the very end there's even an organ-laced soul instrumental -- that's right, a J.B. song with no singing -- called "Back Stabbin'" written in conjunction with former doo-wop singer and future Kool & The Gang manager and producer Gene Redd Jr.
But the end brings us back to the beginning (just flip the record, yo!) and the album's historic, two-part, seven-minute title track, which music history buffs have frequently cited as the first true funk song.
A radical departure even from recent Brown efforts like "Out of Sight" and "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," "Cold Sweat" tears down the classic twelve-bar blues chord progression and replaces it with just one chord change as every instrument is used percussively with and an emphasis on the first beat of each measure -- a.k.a. "The One."
Co-written with Famous Flames musical director and saxophonist Alfred 'Pee Wee' Ellis, "Cold Sweat" featured his fellow sax player Maceo Parker (famously name-checked by James when it was his turn to shine) and introduced another Brown hallmark that later became the stuff of legend -- and the butt of a few good-natured parodies ...
I'm talking about the first recorded instance of the 'Godfather of Soul' shouting "Let's give the drummer some," soon followed by "You wanna give the drummer some?" to which the band heartily responds in the affirmative:
"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!"
In this case, said drummer was Clyde Stubblefield, who, midway through a live recording session at Cincinnati's King Studios, coolly unleashed some tasty fills over the song's syncopated two-bar pattern, as his fellow Famous Flames dropped out for his impromptu solo spot.
A No. 1 Billboard R&B hit, "Cold Sweat" (issued, as was customary, at the time, in two parts split onto a 7-inch) also climbed to No. 7 on the Hot 100 and helped point the way to James Brown's groundbreaking funk innovations of the late '60s and '70s.
But that famous sound is obviously the exception, not the rule, on this LP so I suggest you steer clear if that's all you're looking for, but definitely recommend it if you'd like to hear some of the different facets that made Brown one of the most talented and versatile performers who ever lived.
More James Brown: Live at the Apollo, It’s a Mother, Sex Machine, There it Is, The Payback, Hell.
