Bobby Byrd (August 15, 1934 – September 12, 2007) – The Way To Get Down (1974)
This superb how-to-funk guide from the legend who gave James Brown and Bootsy Collins their career breaks was co-written and produced by Clarence Reid.
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Bobby Byrd founded the Flames (later known as the Famous Flames), the group James Brown joined in 1955 then rode to stardom as its lead singer. He wrote most of Brown’s early hits, and claimed to have co-written the breakthrough R&B hit “Please, Please, Please” which put the group on the map.
Byrd continued working with Brown for the next two decades, although he quit for two years beginning in 1968 along with Bobby Bennett, the only other original member of the Famous Flames. When Byrd returned, he was responsible for hiring Bootsy Collins and his brother Catfish in 1970 to join Brown’s new backing band the J.B.’s.
Brown wrote and produced a powerful message song for Byrd that same year, “Hang Ups We Don't Need (The Hungry We Got To Feed)” (1970), released on King Records.
In 1971, Brown signed with Polydor and he and Byrd co-founded People Records, which went on to release a slew of classic funk records by Brown-affiliated artists over the next several years. Byrd had his biggest solo hit that year with “I Know You Got Soul,” originally released on King Records. Produced and arranged by Brown, it was co-written by Byrd, Brown, and songwriter Charles Bobbit.
Byrd left James Brown’s band for good in 1973. The following year, Byrd released the upbeat funk jam “Back From The Dead” (1974) on International Brothers Records, a label set up in ‘71 as a joint venture between Brown and TK Records founder Henry Stone.
“Like a vampire in a horror movie… you gave me somethin’ groovy!”
Its B-side was the phenomenally funky anthem “The Way To Get Down.” Both tracks were co-written by Clarence Reid (aka Blowfly) and Willie Clarke, and produced by Reid.
In 1993, Byrd re-recorded “The Way To Get Down” for his On The Move (I Can’t Get Enough) LP on the small German label Soulciety Records, who unfortunately lacked the reach for it to make much of an impact.
They did shoot an incredible promo video featuring Byrd and his wife Vicki Anderson, who was herself an artist on Brown’s associated labels in the late sixties and early seventies. She and Brown co-wrote the superb jam “I Want To Be In The Land Of Milk And Honey” (1969). Sadly, last month Anderson passed away at age 83, on July 3, 2023.
#soul #funk #JamesBrown #BobbyByrd