Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Tuesday 12-inch Flashback: ‘Cross the Track’

One of my favorite James Brown spinoff joints right here, y’all. Credited to Maceo & the Macks.

They cut-’n’-pasted 3 minutes’ worth of funk to twice the length for this disco version. (And nobody dared tell Mr. Brown to back-da-fuck away from the Moog. But that’s all right.)

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8 comments:

  1. UnknownMarch 3, 2009 at 3:38 PM

    Yo give me a shout. Phil Dixon has some questions for you. CH
    BTW, as usual great R&B finds. CH

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  2. AnonymousMarch 4, 2009 at 8:13 AM

    Yeah, Bootsy and Fred Wesley mentioned that the couldn't stand to hear JB "get down" on the keys.
    (ie: Check Your Head, sampled by Public Enemy)
    There's the video of the crew in Paris in 1970(?) and Bootsy is smiling, while looking at James bang on the Hammond, knowing he's about to do some damage.

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  3. motown01March 4, 2009 at 1:29 PM

    thats some good stuff right there. love it.
    you guys should take a look at this i just found out
    for motowns 50th anniversary they're giving away a vacation to Chicago or Memphis. the birthplace of Chess & Stax. you just have to go on amazon and enter...

    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/1262438011

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  4. Undercover Black ManMarch 4, 2009 at 6:25 PM

    Yeah, Bootsy and Fred Wesley mentioned that the couldn't stand to hear JB "get down" on the keys.

    Hee hee... I'm not surprised.

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  5. Eurasian SensationMarch 5, 2009 at 6:22 PM

    JB couldn't have been worse than Fela Kuti on the keys though. For all Fela's great talents, playing keyboards is waaay down on the list. I think he figured that since he was the African James Brown, then why not play crappy keyboards too?

    But I digress. Cross the Tracks is my alltime fave JB spinoff track. I just love how one of Maceo's "solos" consists of him blowing one note several times, and it still sounds funky!

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  6. bklyn6March 5, 2009 at 7:51 PM

    I can't remember who sampled this, but that's what I heard when I listened to this. I can hardly remember this track. :-(

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  7. Undercover Black ManMarch 6, 2009 at 6:38 AM

    ^ Guy Ritchie also spotlighted it in the movie "Snatch."

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  8. Undercover Black ManMarch 6, 2009 at 6:44 AM

    I just love how one of Maceo's "solos" consists of him blowing one note several times, and it still sounds funky!

    Oh shnap! That's funny...

    Fela's keyboard excursions never really bothered me. Matter fact, I kinda like his his noodling on "Power Show."

    And heck, I groove to JB's extended keyboard solo in "Papa Don't Take No Mess"... though I can't justify it on any rational basis.

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