In 1974, James Brown achieved a career best when he scored three consecutive Stateside No 1 records in Billboard’s R&B chart (The Payback, My Thang and Papa Don’t Take No Mess). Things, then, might have seemed rosy for the Godfather Of Soul but he would never top the charts again and suffered poor attendances at his live shows.
More significantly, Brown’s creative powers were perceptibly beginning to wane and there’s plenty of evidence of an impending decline on this ninth instalment of Brown’s 45s. Short of original ideas, Brown revamped old songs such as Think and Sex Machine (the latter given a limp, discoinflected makeover) and even filched ideas from other musicians: Title-wise, Hustle!!! Dead On It was a blatant attempt to capitalise on Van McCoy’s Hustle but, stylistically, actually ripped off an African record from 1973 called Hot Koki (by André-Marie Tala). The Godfather also does a smashand- grab raid on Sly Stone with Thank You For Lettin’ Me Be Myself, And You Be Yours. But when Mr Dynamite got it right – as on his three ’74 chart-toppers, along with Stoned To The Bone and Funky President (People It’s Bad) – he was explosive.
