New Music Releases: James Brown; Ego Ella May; Mass Production

James Brown - James Brown Live At Home With His Bad Self – The After Show (2019 Black Friday Release)

A great addendum to the famous Augusta, GA live set that was first issued as Sex Machine, then as Live At Home With His Bad Self – extra material from those recordings, brought together here in a special album of their own! The set features some great bits from in and around the sessions – including two takes on the James Brown funky remake of "Spinning Wheel", and Marva Whitney singing the Stax classic "Respect"! But the longer tracks are even better – and the set features the complete take of "Baby Here I Come" – well over ten minutes long – plus the long "A Talk With James Brown/You Got To Have A Job" – a long duet between Marva Whitney and James, which was originally trimmed down for Marva's Live & Lowdown At The Apollo album. There's also a short rehearsal snippet, and two short takes of "Fat Wood". ~ Dusty Groove

Ego Ella May - So Far

A British singer with a wonderfully fluid feel – a voice that slides right into a tune, wraps around the keyboards and other instrumentation, and picks up this special sort of glow along the way! The album's very heavy on Fender Rhodes, which are almost a second sort of voice on the record alongside Ego Ella's lead – this great grounding in organic modes that allows some of the spacier touches of the production to take off in a nice way, yet all without knocking the warmly soulful spirit of the music off course. On some numbers, May has this crispy charm that especially wins us over – and titles include "Come On", "Underwater", "Tea & Sympathy", "How Far", "Head", "Rush Hour Crush", and "Being Loved". CD features two bonus tracks – "Waiting" and "Pay My Bills". ~ Dusty Groove

Mass Production - Welcome To Our World Of Merry Music – The Definitive Collection (3CD set)

A fantastic collection of grooves from Mass Production – one of the best of the large funk ensembles to hit the mainstream at the end of the 70s – even though they didn't always get the success they deserved! That doesn't stop these guys from giving their all, though – super-sharp, super-tight instrumentation that comes down on the groove right from the get-go – and which moves with a fast funk energy that's a nice contrast to some of the stiffer, clunkier modes that were floating around at the time! These guys inherit the best impulses of Earth Wind & Fire and Kool & The Gang – and find a way to make their large lineup sound nice and lean, never too overcooked – with shifting vocals that really help keep things interesting throughout. The 3CD package features 45 tracks from their seven year stretch recording for Atlantic/Cotillion Records – and titles include "Sky High", "Groove Me", "Our Thought", "Bopp", "Turn Up The Music", "Diamond Chips", "Inner City", "Sun Dancer", "Victory 83", "Magic", "I Like To Dance", "Welcome To Our World", "Slow Bump", "Time Bomb", "Keep My Heart Together", "Cosmic Lust", "I Believe In Music", "Fun In The Sun", "Just Wanna Make A Dream Come True", "Firecracker", and "Eknuf (inst)". ~ Dusty Groove