Enjoy!

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WITHOUT JAMES BROWN…

…the Flames would never have been Famous

…we wouldn’t know the funky sound made by a Night Train

…I might still call myself a Negro, unwilling to Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud

…we would have never broken out in a Cold Sweat

…Mama might never have known that she could Feelgood

…Papa might never have gotten A Brand New Bag

…I might still be waiting for people to give me something, instead of opening up the door and getting it myself

…we might never have known what it felt like to be a Sex Machine

…we wouldn’t know how much fun it is to be Super Bad

…Santa Claus wouldn’t know to Go Straight To The Ghetto

…we might not know how to Make It Funky

…we wouldn’t know the importance of Soul Power

…we might not know what it was like to be Down And Out In New York City

…the President would never have been Funky

…we would never have gone to the bridge in the first place

…Rocky wouldn’t know how funky it could be Living In America

…we wouldn’t have given the drummer a goddamn thing

…there might never have been Parliament/Funkadelic

…Prince, Michael Jackson, Usher (and a host of others) would have had to pay for dance lessons

…there would be no Rap, Hip-Hip or Club; let me repeat that… there would be no Rap, Hip-Hip or Club

…the Blues Brothers would have never gotten “the band” back together

…nobody would ever Pass The Peas or Give Up Food For Funk

Without James Brown… the world would have been a lot less funky, a lot less soulful, and a lot more boring. We’ll miss you, Godfather of Soul, but your music and musical influences will be with us forever. For that we can be thankful.

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The Jacksons – Heartbreak Hotel

The Isley Brothers – Work To Do

The Main Ingredient – Work To Do

The Jackson 5 (later The Jacksons after they left Motown) are one of the foundation groups in “The Soundtrack”. I was in 5th grade when they were discovered and made their debut, and I have grown up with their music ever since.

The Isleys Brothers have such a long and rich musical history having first formed in the early 50’s. For me though, it’s their work throughout the 70’s that is most memorable to me. Their music makes up an essential part of the latter high school years and especially my first two years in college (oh baby, thank goodness that side 2 of the “Heat Is On” album ["For The Love Of You", "Sensuality", "Make Me Say It Again Girl"] can’t talk! {smile})

The Main Ingredient is one of those groups that has the “high school years” written all over it. Their cover of “Work To Do” was IMHO every bit as good as The Isley Brothers’ version. But the album that this song is from, “Afrodisiac”, wow! This is still my all time favorite Main Igredient disc, and in my opinion their best work ever. “Superwoman/Where Were You When I Needed You”, “Something ‘Bout Love”, “I Am Yours”, “Girl Blue”, “Goodbye My Love” man… this is the “sweet sound of sensuous Soul”.

“If you had to record the SOUNDTRACK OF YOUR LIFE, what would it sound like?”

This was one of those thoughts that popped into my head while sitting in traffic one Friday afternoon. Ever since then it keeps coming back to me every now and then. It’s a pretty intriguing question, but also a very expansive concept, so I decided to break it down into 3 distinct time periods and go from there:

1) High School Years
2) College Years
3) “Party Time” [post-college, pre-marriage ;-> ]

Here’s a quick list, in no paticular order, that I compiled for my “High School Years” soundtrack.

James Brown – Payback
Ohio Players – Pain, Skin Tight, Fire
Parliament - Chocolate City, P-Funk, Mothership Connection
Mandrill - Ape Is High, Git It All, Hang Loose, Fencewalk
WAR - Slippin’ Into Darkness, All Day Music
Kool & The Gang – Let The Music Take Your Mind, Funky Stuff, Hollywood Swinging, Jungle Boogie
Labelle – Lady Marmalade, Isn’t It a Shame
Rufus w/Chaka Khan – Once You Get Started, Rufusized
Marvin Gaye – What’s Goin’ On, Distant Lover, Got To Give It Up, Let’s Get It On, Sexual Healing
The O’Jays – Back Stabbers, For the Love of Money
The Staple Singers – Respect Yourself, I’ll Take You There
Blue Magic – Sideshow, Stop To Start, What’s Come Over Me, Look Me Up, Welcome to the Club
The Main Ingredient – Everybody Plays the Fool, Just Don’t Want To Be Lonely
The Spinners – Mighty Love, Then Came You, Love Don’t Love Nobody
Herbie Hancock – Chameleon
Gil Scott-Heron – The Bottle
MFSB - Love Is The Message
Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes – Bad Luck, Don’t Leave Me This Way, I Miss You
Earth, Wind & Fire – Evil, Keep Your Head To The Sky, Mighty Mighty, Devotion, Reasons
The Nite Liters/New Birth – Afro Strut, K-Jee, Got To Get A Knutt, I Can Understand It, It’s Been A Long Time
The Isley Brothers – That Lady, Summer Breeze, Fight the Power
Black Ivory – You and I
The Temprees – Dedicated To The One I Love
The Originals – Baby I’m For Real

Of course, there’s a lot more to be added to the list, and these are just songs from the high school years! This is a theme I will be returning to every so often until I can decide on a final set of selections for the playlist.

But I’m curious… What would *your* soundtrack sound like?