LaRM day 55 (Broken Social Scene-James Brown)

The third Broken Social Scene was eponymous and was released in 2005. It's a much more coherent record than You Forgot It In People but it's not as inventively unpredictable. It's a more strident record, very sure of itself as a rock album. It's still fairly quirky but these are big songs played with serious intent, and although there's nothing along the lines of 'Anthem for a Seventeen Year Old Girl', it is full of blistering songs that you can't help but be dragged along by. It was initially released with a bonus EP called To Be You and Me, and although an interesting addendum to the album it isn't particularly essential, being composed largely of low key ambient workouts, with a couple of more solid tunes that clearly didn't make the cut of the album. The various members of the band spent the next few years concentrating on their other projects, but reconvened for 2010's Forgiveness Rock Record. This is an even bigger and more ambitious album than Broken Social Scene, but in some ways it sounds as if they've gone beyond their ambitions and ended up sounding like they want to be U2. And as we all know that is so not a good thing to want to do. There are some fantastic tracks on Forgiveness Rock Record, but it's mainly the lighter, more moderate songs that work best, while the stadium reaching rockers are the less successful.

It's time once again to get funky people, because here is the almighty "Godfather of Soul" (is that a registered trademark? Is it intellectual property? Could I call myself the Godfather of Soul without fear of legal reprisal?) James Brown. I've got disappointingly little by the Godfather so we're starting with 1968's Live at the Apollo, Volume 2. Now Live at the Apollo from 1963 is rightly legendary, but not so Volume 2. I'm not sure why not though because this is powerhouse stuff. Every note is, of course, perfect, but there's not a wasted moment either. Even a 13 minute 'It's a Man's Man's Man's World' is spectacular. It's an inspired mix of the downright funky and the brain meltingly smooth. The one-two of 'I Feel Alright' and 'Cold Sweat' gets a particularly powerful outing and there's some beautifully restrained playing on 'Try Me' and 'Prisoner of Love'. It's all great stuff. As is, but for different reasons, 1973's The Payback. The Payback is a massive album that relies on looping rhythms and improvisation around repeated motifs. It works fantastically well, despite being pretty light on the hard funk. It's a more soulful record despite having some seriously weighty themes being bandied about. The title track is an immense piece of restrained funk and there are some really successful soul numbers like 'Forever Suffering'. Because of the nature of their structure the tunes are all quite long but they never seem to ramble, and on the whole, the sheer power of the record makes it one of the great statement albums of the 1970's.

All unusually lengthy records today and been a bit tied up, so that's the lot for now.