James Brown — Get Up Sex Machine
Sex Machine · 1970
Label: King Records · Genre: Funk / Funk · Country: USA · From: Augusta, GA, North America
Sex Machine captured the moment James Brown hired Bootsy Collins and his brother Catfish as the new JB's rhythm section. Bootsy was 18. The nearly eleven-minute Get Up I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine rides a single bass riff that Bootsy had come up with hours earlier, defining funk's relationship with the bass forever. The album was billed as live but some tracks were studio recordings with crowd mixed in afterward. Brown would later fire Bootsy for wanting too much creative control — but not before they had made the blueprint.
Did you know: Sex Machine was recorded live in the studio with an audience of friends and family brought in to create atmosphere. James Brown had just fired his entire band — the Famous Flames — in a dispute over wages. The musicians on Sex Machine were the brand new JBs, assembled in days. Bootsy Collins, who plays bass on the record, was 18 years old.
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