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(We liked it and you will too!)

· Axis Of Justice
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· Two Lone Swordsmen
· The Winston Giles Orchestra

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· ASO: Alfresco In The Gardens
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· The Beautiful Girls
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James Brown
Soul On Top
Verve/UMG

November 1969, in the same month as he records the archetypal Funky Drummer The Godfather Of Soul takes time out from his touring group to hit a Hollywood studio out front of a big jazz band. Having long harboured the dream of recording a jazz album in the mould of Nat King Cole, Brown predicted 'Soul On Top' would inject a fresh interest in jazz into the music scene. Instead this disc became an anomalous footnote along the way to JB becoming The Minister Of New New Super Heavy Funk.

Finally appearing on CD, 'Soul On Top' proves to be much more than a freak musical occurance. One listen to It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World proves it to be a classic example of Brown's penchant for constant reinvention. Here the desperate austerity of the original is trumped by a wall of horns racing from dread to panic. For a rhythmic singer pairing up with an orchestra lead by a drummer (Louie Bellson) proves a natural meeting of minds. Arranger/Conductor Oliver Nelson eschews cocktail bar politeness to go for a post-Sinatra bombast that swings with the drama of an orchestra charged up to cut loose, unabashedly matching a singer's passion for the song through hypnotic lulls and blistering screams. While Brown turns in smoothly conventional readings of standards such as What Kind Of Fool Am I ? and It's Magic the quality in his voice which allows him to go from velvet to razor blade in one slick second is ever present on the rest of 'Soul On Top'. The can't-sit-still quality to Papa's Got A Brand New Bag is entirely irresistible and Hank Williams' Your Cheatin' Heart getting a total funk-over proves sheer genius.

In most pop singers' hands a big band jazz album would sound like little more than an audition for retirement on the supper club circuit. For James Brown, though, it's an opportunity to prove his mettle in a whole new arena. 'Soul On Top' proves once again that 'The Hardest Working Man In Show Business' was never an honorary title.

Brett Buttfield

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