20 All Time Greatest Hits

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Total Tracks: 20   Total Length: 70:18

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Douglas Wolk

eMusic Contributor

Douglas Wolk writes about pop music and comic books for Time, the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Wired and elsewhere. He's the author of Reading Comics: How Gra...more »

11.16.10
A one-stop trip through JB's biggest hits
1991 | Label: Universal Motown Records Group

It's totally non-chronological, it skips over everything after 1976, and its only example of the extended jams that were his specialty in his glory years is the full-length version of "The Payback." But if you've only got 70 minutes, this is as strong an argument as you're going to get for why James Brown was the most important American musician of the 20th century, and why he dominated black radio for the second half of the two decades documented here. This is the version of Brown that knew he had three seconds to state his case and three minutes to seal the deal. Every song here hurls itself out of the speakers — the bass-cymbal-horns-scream sequence that kicks "Mother Popcorn" into orbit, the ascending blasts and downward-spiraling strings of "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" (the only full-on ballad here), and most of all "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," which is already exploding the moment it begins.

Some of these songs were revolutionary no matter how you look at them: "Papa," "Say It Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud)," "Think," "Sex Machine." Some of them showcase Brown's blood-raw voice, and some his mastery as a bandleader. Some are the kind… read more »

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...masterpiece...

phillysongster

,,,my favorite - Papa's Gotta Brand New Bag"! Love the horns.....Thank you for all the years of pure soul!!!! RIP, Godfather.....

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The Best.!

reyes4188

This Was A Good Oldie Album. I Love James Brown.!.. This Is One On The Best Albums I Heard.

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They Say All Music Guide

While Brown’s 30-track, 40-track, and even 50-track collections are excellent choices as well, this fine hits package is the best one for Brown neophytes looking for a way in. Covering his prime stretch from the late ’50s through the early ’70s, 20 All-Time Greatest Hits! includes early R&B milestones (“Please, Please, Please”), epochal ’60s sides (“Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag, Pt. 1″), and latter-day funk classics (“Papa Don’t Take No Mess, Pt. 1″). And that’s not to mention such perennials as “Mother Popcorn,” “Hot Pants,” “Cold Sweat,” and “Think.” Start your Brown obsession here. – Stephen Cook