CD Reviews

Various Artists | Jump Back

LSD

By GUSTAVO TURNER | September 10, 2008

3.0 Stars

This compilation — subtitled “Imitations, Interpolations & the Inspiration of James Brown” — illustrates a remarkable paradox about Soul Brother #1: his music was inimitable and yet endlessly influential. Those game-changing records reached many sympathetic ears around the globe to create a worldwide Brotherhood of Brown. Jump Back is a celebration of that universal fellowship of soul and funk, gathering under one roof Italian lounge lizards, an instrumental “Super Bad” by a hot-pants-tight combo from Texas trading under the unlikely name of Kashmere Stage Band, Victor Olaiya leading his Nigerian musicians with the authority of the Godfather himself through “There Was a Time” and “Cold Sweat,” and Esquires Now (from Trinidad, I think — the set could use more-informative liner notes) turning “Think About It” into sleazoid Eurofunk fit for a Vampyros going way Lesbos. Two tracks by Mexican funketeers Rabbits and Carrots seal the deal on this motherlode of mixtape party scorchers that’s crammed with tracks guaranteed to make your chit-chatting friends go quiet for a few seconds and ask, “Isn’t that ‘Sex Machine’ in Spanish?”

Topics: CD Reviews , James Brown

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