James Brown Payback CD

Personnel: James Brown (vocals, electric piano); Jimmy Nolen, Hearlon Martin (guitar); Maceo Parker (flute, alto saxophone); St. Clair Pinckney (tenor saxophone); Darryl "Hasaan" Jamison, Isiah "Ike" Oakley, Jerone "Jasaan" Sanford (trumpet); Fred Wesley (trombone); Fred Thomas, Charles Sherrell (bass); John "Jabo" Starks (drums); Johnny Griggs, John Morgan (percussion).
Recorded at International Recording, Augusta, Georgia. Includes recent and original release liner notes by Alan Leeds.

All tracks have been digitally remastered.
THE PAYBACK was originally released in 1974 as a 2-LP set. For this reissue, the album was digitally remastered from the original master tapes, including a recently discovered longer version of "Mind Power", which is included here for the first time.
Personnel: James Brown (vocals, electric piano); Hearlon "Cheese" Martin, Jimmy Nolen (guitar); Maceo Parker, St. Clair Pinckney (flute); Isiah "Ike" Oakley, Jerone "Jasaan Sanford" Melson, Darryl "Hasaan" Jamison (trumpet); Fred Wesley (trombone); John Starks (drums); John Morgan (percussion).
Liner Note Author: Alan Leeds.
Recording information: Advantage Sound, New York, NY; International Studios, Augusta, GA.
Originally released in 1973 as a sprawling two-LP set, The Payback was one of James Brown's most ambitious albums of the 1970's, and also one of his best, with Brown and his band (which in 1974 still included Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, St. Clair Pinckney, Jimmy Nolen and Jabo Starks) relentlessly exploring the outer possibilities of the James Brown groove. Stretching eight cuts out over the space of nearly 73 minutes, The Payback is long on extended rhythmic jamming, and by this time Brown and his band had become such a potent and nearly telepathic combination that the musicians were able pull out lengthy solos while still maintaining some of the most hypnotic funk to be found anywhere, and on the album's best songs -- the jazzy "Time Is Running Out Fast", the relentless "Shoot Your Shot", the tight-wound "Mind Power", and the bitter revenge fantasy of the title cut -- the tough, sinuous rhythms and the precise interplay between the players is nothing short of a wonder to behold. And even the album's lower-key cuts (such as the lovelorn "Doing The Best That I Can" and "Forever Suffering") sink their hooks into the listener and pull you in; quite simply, this is remarkable stuff, and even Brown's attempts at lyrical relevance (which were frankly getting a bit shaky at this point in his career) are firmly rooted enough to sound convincing. The Payback turned out to be one of James Brown's last inarguably great albums before he hit a long fallow streak in the mid-to-late 70's, but no one listening to this set would ever imagine that this was the work of an artist (or a band) about to run out of gas. ~ Mark Deming
In 1973, Brown was hospitalized for exhaustion. Mere days after his release from the hospital, his oldest son was killed in a car accident. A few months later, he'd completed the sessions for THE PAYBACK. There are echoes of Brown's anger and suffering throughout the album. The title song, with its drop-dead funky bassline, is full of vitriol, as Brown cries out for revenge and compensation. "Doing the Best I Can" is an attractive soul ballad in which Brown sings of maintaining one's balance against adverse circumstances, despite "wondering which way to turn."
Though the grooves are propulsive, this is a relatively low-key effort for Brown, filled with a subtly masked darkness. On the harrowing, bluesy "Forever Suffering," Brown sings of separation and loneliness, asking how long the suffering will continue. As the tune progresses, he sings with unsettling detail of the lengths to which his pain drives him. After repeated vows to beat his head against the wall, it becomes clear that the emotions being expressed here, and on the rest of THE PAYBACK, are very real. Fortunately, an artist of Brown's caliber isEntertainment Weekly (4/30/93, p.55) - "...A fascinating, complex record--just don't expect to dance..." - Rating: B