"Soul Power" is a song by James Brown. Brown recorded it with the original J.B.'s (plus

Fred Wesley Fred Wesley (born July 4, 1943) is an American trombonist who worked with James Brown in the 1960s and 1970s and Parliament-Funkadelic in the second half of the 1970s. Biography Wesley was born the son of a high school teacher and big band le ...

) and it was released as a three-part single in 1971. Like "

Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" is a song recorded by James Brown with Bobby Byrd on backing vocals. Released as a two-part single in 1970, it was a no. 2 R&B hit and reached no. 15 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In 2004, "Sex Mach ...

" and other hits from this period it features

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...

Bobby Byrd Bobby Howard Byrd (August 15, 1934 – September 12, 2007) was an American rhythm and blues, soul and funk singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, bandleader and talent scout, who played an integral and important part in the developme ...

. It charted #3 R&B and #29

Pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

. Part 1 of "Soul Power" appeared on the 1972

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

''Soul Classics''. Live versions of the song were included on ''

Revolution of the Mind ''Revolution of the Mind: Live at the Apollo, Volume III'' is a live double album by James Brown released in 1971. As its subtitle suggests, it is Brown's third album recorded at the Apollo Theater, following the original '' Live at the Apollo'' ( ...

'' (1971) and ''

Love Power Peace ''Love, Power, Peace: Live at the Olympia, Paris, 1971'' is a live album by James Brown. It is the only recording that documents one of his live performances with the original J.B.'s lineup featuring Bootsy and Catfish Collins. (The group's c ...

'' (1992; recorded 1971), but no longer version of the original studio recording received an album release until an eight-minute

re-edit In popular music, a re-edit is an altered version of a recorded song created by repeating, reordering, or removing sections of the original recording - for example, making a chorus repeat several times in a row, or extending the length of a brea ...

was issued on the 1986 compilation album ''

In the Jungle Groove ''In the Jungle Groove'' is a compilation album by American funk musician James Brown, released in August 1986 by Polydor Records.Grein, Paul.Hot Summer Releases on the Way. ''Billboard'': 77. August 2, 1986. Background Originally issued to ca ...

''. The complete studio recording, over 12 minutes long, appeared for the first time on the 1996 CD compilation '' Funk Power 1970: A Brand New Thang''.

Personnel

* James Brown - lead vocal ;with The J.B.'s *

- organ, vocals * Darryl "Hasaan" Jamison - trumpet * Clayton "Chicken" Gunnells - trumpet *

- trombone * St. Clair Pinckney - tenor saxophone *

Phelps "Catfish" Collins Phelps "Catfish" Collins (October 17, 1943 – August 6, 2010) was an American musician. A lead guitarist and rhythm guitarist, he is known mostly for his work in the P-Funk collective. Although frequently overshadowed by his younger brother, ...

- guitar * Bobby Roach - guitar *

William "Bootsy" Collins William Earl "Bootsy" Collins (born October 26, 1951) is an American bass guitarist and singer. Rising to prominence with James Brown in the early 1970s, and later with Parliament-Funkadelic, Collins established himself as one of the leading n ...

- bass *

John "Jabo" Starks John Henry "Jabo" Starks (; October 26, 1937Sources vary as to his year of birth. According to his obituary, published by Mobile Register, Starks was born on October 26, 1937; The New York Times gives 1938 – May 1, 2018), sometimes spelled Jab' ...

- drums * Johnny Griggs - congas

Soul Power 74

In 1974, Brown created an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instr ...

version of "Soul Power" by having

Maceo Parker Maceo Parker (; born February 14, 1943) is an American funk and soul jazz saxophonist, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1960s, Parliament-Funkadelic in the 1970s and Prince in the 2000s. Parker was a prominent soloist on many o ...

and Fred Wesley

overdub Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...

new horn parts onto the rhythm track of the original recording.

Sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

Bob Both added

sound effect A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. Traditi ...

s at several points to conceal where the original horn track had bled through into the rhythm parts. Titled "Soul Power 74" and credited to "Maceo and the Macks", the new version was released as a two-part single on People Records and charted #20 R&B and #109 Bubbling Under Pop. It also appeared on the album ''Us!''.

Cover versions and sampling

Alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

the Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins (also referred to as simply Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band from Chicago. Formed in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chambe ...

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of ...

"Soul Power" on their 2000 album ''

Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music ''Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music'' is the sixth studio album by the American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. It was released for free on the Internet on September 5, 2000. Plans for a standard physical release, bu ...

''. * Rapper

Chuck D Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (born August 1, 1960), known professionally as Chuck D, is an American rapper, best known as the leader and frontman of the hip hop group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav. Chuck D helped crea ...

performed it on his 2007

tribute album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

''Tribb to JB''. *

Soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '':wikt:soul, soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The ea ...

band

Tower of Power Tower of Power is an American R&B and funk based band and horn section, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing since 1968. There have been a number of lead vocalists, the best-known being Lenny Williams, who fronted the ...

has performed "Soul Power" as an extended ending/jam to their popular hit "What Is Hip?". Both the "Soul Power" and "Soul Power 74" have been extensively sampled in hip hop music and other genres. "Soul Power 74" was sampled on Redman's "Rated R",

MC Breed Eric Tyrone Breed (June 12, 1971 – November 22, 2008), better known as MC Breed, was an American rapper best known for his singles "Ain't No Future in Yo' Frontin'", which peaked at #66 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and "Gotta Get Mine" (featu ...

and

2Pac Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the b ...

's " Gotta Get Mine",

Spoonie Gee Gabriel Jackson (born May 27, 1963), better known by his stage name Spoonie Gee, is one of the earliest rap artists, and one of the few to have released rap records in the 1970s. He has been credited with originating the term hip hop and some o ...

's "The Godfather", Black Machine's "

How Gee How may refer to: * How (greeting), a word used in some misrepresentations of Native American/First Nations speech * How, an interrogative word in English grammar Art and entertainment Literature * ''How'' (book), a 2007 book by Dov Seidma ...

" and Usher's "Ride" (later re-made by Jennifer Lopez as "

Get Right Christopher Alesund (born 29 May 1990), better known as GeT_RiGhT, is a Swedish '' Counter-Strike'' player who is currently a streamer for Dignitas. During his time as a member of Ninjas in Pyjamas, he was considered one of the best ''Counter-S ...

"), among many others.

Appearances in other media

"Soul Power 74" is featured in the video game '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'' on the radio station

Master Sounds 98.3 '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'' is an open-world, action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. First released on 16 October 2004 for the PlayStation 2, ''San Andreas'' has an in-game radio that can tu ...

References

External links

Song Review A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetiti ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

List of songs that sample "Soul Power"
{{Authority control Songs about soul James Brown songs Songs written by James Brown The J.B.'s songs 1971 singles 1974 singles King Records (United States) singles 1971 songs