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Dec 02, 2024 Web Exclusive By Frank Valish

When one thinks of James Brown, one probably doesn’t think Christmas. But the Godfather of Soul released three—yes THREE!—Christmas albums. Sure, some of that was likely cashing in on a craze, but also the three holiday albums the funk/soul giant released—in 1966, 1968, and 1970—are eminently satisfying slabs of holiday joy that fall right in line with the rest of Brown’s spectacular catalog.

This holiday season, the geniuses at Jackpot Records have packaged all three James Brown Christmas albums into one complete tri-folded LP package that also includes bonus tracks. The first album, 1966’s Christmas Songs features soulful, orchestrated holiday favorites, including the subtly horn-inflected laid back funk of “Sign of Christmas,” two jazzy instrumentals (“This Is My Lonely Christmas,” Parts 1 and 2), and the pièce de résistance, a brilliant reworking of the Mel Torme classic “The Christmas Song,” two versions of which are featured here.

The second album, 1968’s A Soulful Christmas, which memorably features a merry, robust Santa-suited JB on the cover, is more of the same. Brown begs Santa to help him and not let him suffer in “Santa Claus, Santa Claus.” The Godfather augments the horn-filled funk of “Soulful Christmas” with his signature “Good god, ugh!” refrain. And “Believers Shall Enjoy” is an engaging vibes-fueled instrumental. Brown is alone on Christmas again in “It’s Christmas Time,” Parts 1 and 2 which are bonus tracks. And he even manages to include “Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud),” which is not so much Christmas-related, though understandably it’s good to be proud about oneself at all times of the year, even the holidays.

Brown’s 1970 album, Hey America, was the least successful of his Christmas albums by industry standards, but it’s probably the best of the bunch. Approached by his musical director, Nat Jones, with a series of original Christmas-themed songs, Brown was so inspired that he decided to get together a band and record Jones’ tracks. Cuts such as “Hey America,” “Santa Claus Is Definitely Here to Stay,” and “Go Power at Christmas Time” are Brown sounding his most thematically-inspired. Excepting the rambling “My Rapp,” there is no filler on Hey America. The songs don’t sound Christmas-y per se but are soul and funk tracks imbued with Christmas ideas—love, giving, peace, justice, social consciousness, and of course jubilation. And we all could certainly use as much of that as we can around the holidays. (www.jackpotrecords.com)

Author rating: 8/10