James Brown - Dynamite X (2007)

James Brown was the personification of the American Dream. Born into bitter poverty in 1933 in Georgia, beginning in 1956 Mr. Dynamite had over 74 hits in the US alone. Only Elvis did better. James Brown represented what may well be the greatest and yet most contradictory career in the history of pop. His most enduring invention was undoubtedly the music we now know as funk. In the mid-sixties, James Brown ignited a pop music revolution with the release of Papa s Got A Brand New Bag. He followed through with classics such as I Got You, Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose, Sex Machine, Super Bad and many more, effectively bringing the whole thing home. Music shaped by melody gave way to music dominated by rhythm; as dry as it may sound, this in fact marked the birth of modern dance music and would decisively influence generations of music lovers. In 2006, a select group of international producers, musicians and DJs set out to pay tribute to Soul Brother Number One. For once The Hardest Working Man In Show Business was able to kick back and let others do the work. The result of this project is a collection of fascinating remixes of James Brown's classic hits. The variety of approaches in these reworkings is outstanding; each artist explores his own personal James Brown cosmos and leaves behind an exceptional musical fingerprint. It s got to be funky!For James Brown Dynamite X, producers, musicians and DJs like dZihan & Kamien, ex-UFO founder Toshio Matsuura and many others have each created their own very personal homage to James Brown and his music.