Fred Wesley & The JB’s – Damn Right I Am Somebody (LP)

In 1974 one of James Brown’s most important bandleaders and sidemen – trombonist Fred Wesley – would release not one but two albums as a leader including Damn Right, I Am Somebody. Starting with an evocative cover, it was clear to fans that this album wasn’t all about a party. Deep messages abound in the songs here, such as the nearly 10-minute workout I’m Paying Taxes, But What Am I Buying.

Social messages aside, Fred and his assembled JBs were a party-moving funk machine at heart, as heard on If You Don’t Get It The First Time, Back Up And Try It Again Party and the laid-back groove of Same Beat (with prototypical sampling of Jesse Jackson exhorting an audience to chant “I am / Somebody”). Nestled among these raise-your-fist classics is one of the most experimental funk cuts ever made: Blow Your Head, known to relatively modern listeners as the backbone of Public Enemy’s Public Enemy #1 (from 1987). Other tracks have been sampled by EPMD, Run-D.M.C., De La Soul, Digable Planets, and Ice-T, among others.

Tracklist:

A1 Damn Right, I Am Somebody
A2 Blow Your Head
A3 I’m Payin’ Taxes, What Am I Buyin’?

B1 Same Beat
B2 If You Don’t Get It The First Time, Back Up & Try It Again, Parrty
B3 Make Me What You Want Me To Be
B4 Going To Get A Thrill
B5 You Sure Love To Ball