James Brown – Coldblooded (1974) (recorded March 24, 1974)
This stone cold funk jam featuring Jabo Starks, Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker was the opening cut on Brown’s phenomenal double LP Hell.
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On March 24, 1974, James Brown and his band were at International Studios in Augusta, GA recording his stone cold funk jam “Coldblooded.” Brown wrote, arranged and produced the track.
After additional recording the next month at Sound Ideas Studios in New York City, it was released later that year as the B-side to Brown’s classic Watergate-era anthem “Funky President.”
The record peaked at #44 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the final week of December, 1974. On the single’s label, the world was reminded that Brown might not be President, but he was still the “Minister of New New Super Heavy Funk.”
The track was then included as the opening cut on Brown’s phenomenal double LP Hell, released on June 28, 1974. Hell was his 38th album. It also featured the funk masterpiece “My Thang” which went to #1 R&B, and the nearly 14 minute long epic jam “Papa Don’t Take No Mess.”
Its title track had a simple but powerful lyrical message (“It’s Hell down here, and we’ve got to make a change!”). Brown memorably performed “Hell” live on Soul Train alongside his then eight year-old daughter Deanna Brown, who danced up a storm in a funky outfit that matched her Dad’s.
“Coldblooded” featured a stellar backing lineup. It included Fred Wesley on trombone and tambourine, Maceo Parker and Jimmy Parker playing alto saxes, Isiah “Ike” Oakley on trumpet, St. Clair Pinckney on tenor sax, Jimmy Noen and Hearlon “Cheese” Martin on guitars, Fred Thomas on bass, Johnny Griggs on congas and percussion, Bob Both on tambourine, John Morgan on percussion, and John “Jabo” Starks on drums.
#funk #FredWesley #MaceoParker #JaboStarks #JamesBrown