James Brown - Get Up Offa That Thing (1976)

"Get Up Offa That Thing" is Brown’s call to the audience, but it’s also him encouraging himself to rise above the slide and deliver one more great album. This sounds like the natural follower to Hell, as if those average albums inbetween had never happened…everything is full steam ahead on most of this disc.

The title track is an all-time classic, a stupidly danceable groove that has all the attitude and energy of Brown in his heyday. And of course, there’s the break…still my favourite of all time, it’s not fair how effortless it sounds, how much funk there is in one instrument for that break. A joy to hear.

Suprisingly, there are actually a couple of cuts here than can stand right up to the killer groove of “Get Up Offa That Thing”: “I Refuse to Lose” got itself a great horn line and addictive guitar, and a bassline that is near-perfect, whilst “Can’t Take It With You” has superb drumming and the same kind of catchy guitaring that propelled the previous tune and some soulful organ to boot.

It’s doubtful that many fans rank this album among the Godfather Of  Soul’s greatest, but four out of its six tracks are certified bangers. Arriving as disco was gaining substantial marketshare in America, Get Up Offa That Thing reasserted James Brown’s dominance in the funk realm while also nodding to disco bandwagon-jumpers. 

Get Up is part of his last really strong phase in the last half of the ’70s, which includes Mutha’s Nature. If you’re a DJ who needs to fill dance floors, you could do a lot worse than to drop the needle on this somewhat overlooked opus. Vinylrecord collection

The “Get Up Offa That Thing/Release The Pressure” medley begins with one of JB’s most outrageous EEEOOOWWWs before lunging into an unstoppable megaton funk groove laced with Charles Sherrell’s infectiously twitchy clavinet, blaring horns, and Melvin Parker’s clap-happy beats. 

James exhorts listeners to rise from their damn seats and “dance till you feel better” and, if all goes according to plan, “try to release that pressure.” This sound advice still resonates 50 years later.

The bubbly/silky, string-laden funk ballad “You Took My Heart” is decent for what it is, but generally speaking, ballads by funk artists are momentum-killers with negligible appeal. 

Too often, a saccharine sentimentality prevails, lyrically and sonically. I’m all for variety, but there has to be a better way. Thankfully, Brown gets back on the good foot with the next two songs. The speedy disco funk of “I Refuse To Lose” is tailor-made for sports anthemhood, and the “sock it in the pocket/let the good times roll” breakdown is a breakdancer’s paradise. (Shout out to Will Lee’s incredible bass line.)

My fave cut is “Can’t Take It With You”, whose coiled funk packs a low-slung, Bohannon-like wallop, enhanced by chicken-squawk guitar à la the Meters’ Leo Nocentelli. The song’s nine debauched and mesmerizing minutes somehow aren’t enough.

“Home Again”—a bluesy ballad that harks back to Brown’s ’50s and early-’60s material—hinders the fun, but “This Feeling”, a more stripped-down companion piece to “Can’t Take It With You,” hits hard with a lean, low-key lethalness. Brown rarely does understatement, but “This Feeling” proved he could excel in that mode, too.

While the title track reached #45 in the Billboard Hot 100 chartt, it’s the deep cuts that make Get Up Offa That Thing a candidate for the ultimate James Brown sleeper LP.

Tracklist

A1.  Medley: Get Up Offa That Thing / Release The Pressure - 6:16

A2.  You Took My Heart - 3:23

A3.  I Refuse To Lose - 7:33

B1.  Can’t Take It With You - 9:05

B2.  Home Again - 4:39

B3.  This Feeling - 8:22

Credits

• James Brown – lead vocals, arrangement
• various bandmembers – backing vocals
• Hollie Farris, Russell Crimes – trumpet
• Joe Poff – alto saxophone
• St. Clair Pinckney, Peyton "P.J." Johnson – tenor saxophone
• Mike Lawler – clavinet, electric organ, piano
• Jimmy Nolen, Robert Coleman – electric guitar
• "Sweet" Charles Sherrell – bass guitar
• Melvin Parker – drums

Companies, etc.

• Manufactured By – Polydor Incorporated
• Distributed By – Polydor Incorporated
• Copyright © – Polydor Incorporated
• Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Polydor Incorporated
• Lacquer Cut At – Frankford/Wayne Mastering Labs
• Pressed By – PRC Recording Company, Richmond, IN

Credits

• Arranged By, Producer – James Brown
• Illustration – Patricia Dryden
• Lacquer Cut By – SJR
• Performer – James Brown, The Minister Of New New Super Heavy Funk
• Sleeve Notes – JB, The Godfather
• Written-By – B. Brown (tracks: A1), D. Brown (tracks: A2 to B3), Deidra Brown, St. Clair Pinckney (tracks: A2), Y. Brown

Notes

Released:  July 1976

Recorded:  April 19 – June 18, 1976

Studios:  Criteria Studios (Miami, Florida), International Studios (Augusta, Georgia)

Genre:  Funk 

Length:  42:20 

Producer:  James Brown 

Labels:  Polydor

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