“The hardest thing about being James Brown is I have to live. I don’t have no down time.” – James Brown

He was 73 years old, but the news was still a huge shock. James Brown was a guy you almost expected to live forever, he was so much bigger than life you thought he would be bigger than death too. There’s no way I could even begin to capture the man in a crappy little blog post so I’ll just give you my favourite record of his as a tribute. “Cold Sweat” came out in 1967 but still sounds incredibly alive and vibrant today, 7.25 minutes of astonishing – no other word for it – genius.

Our normal programming will resume tomorrow.

Cold Sweat (Parts I & II) – James Brown (mp3)
Buy: “Foundations of Funk: A Brand New Bag 1964-1969″ (album)