Here's a great video where funk guitar virtuoso Nile Rogers talks about his style and his collaboration on the latest Daft Punk record Random Access Memories. Nile just oozes groove, which too many guitar players don't get, unfortunately.
Another thing to watch is how well this video is done, especially the editing. It's a good template to work from if you're editing your own videos.
Bootsy Collins is not only one of the best funk bass players on the planet, but his history in the business goes way back to playing with the legendary James Brown at the height of his powers. Bootsy's also a funny guy, as you'll see in this clip.
The first 30 seconds he lays down the funk, then tells the story about how Mr. Brown used to write songs. Priceless!
I like to post a lot of funk pieces here because there's not as much of it around these days despite the huge influence the genre had on music. If you have any interest in funk, you'll love this. It's a clinic with Clyde Stubblefield, one of the originators of funk and a mainstay with James Brown's band for many years.
In this video you'll see first hand how to play the "Funky Drummer" beat as well as hear how some of those great JB songs were written.
Here's a great clip from Herbie Hancock'sRock School series about how to play funk. It features some greats like Larry Graham, Bootsy Collins and Nile Rogers as they show in slow motion how to bring the funk. Rock School ran on PGS from 1985 through 1988.
Today's song analysis is a classic - James Brown's "Cold Sweat," which is considered by many to be the song that originated the modern funk genre. Although "Cold Sweat" was supposedly done in one take, I found a different version where you can hear the engineer slating "Take 2" that also had a different horn mix. For this analysis, we'll be looking at the first version that everyone knows.
An edited version of "Cold Sweat" was released as a single on King Records and immediately became a #1 R&B hit, and later reached number seven on the Billboard Pop chart. The complete 7 minute version was later included on the album Cold Sweat. Like all song analysis, we'll look at the song form, the arrangement, the sound and the production.
The Song
The song form is unique in two ways. First of all, it's based around a bass and horn riff (which became the signature of all of Brown's funk songs), and the form is somewhat random, as James shouts orders to the band when to change and when to hold the form. On the full 7:26 version of the song, the form looks like this:
Intro (4 bars), Verse (16 bars), B Section (10 bars), Chorus (4 bars), Intro, Verse, B Section, Chorus
That's where the single version ends. On the album version it really gets interesting as this is what follows:
Intro, sax solo, drum solo, drum and bass, Intro, Verse, B Section
This is where James directs traffic, calling for tenor sax player Maceo Parker to play a solo, letting him go for a random length, then asking the band to "Give the drummer some" which turns into a short drum solo (played by the great Clyde Stubblefield), then James calls the bass in. He then counts the band back into the verse, but tells them to hold on the B section, and that's where the song ends. Only James Brown could do this and have a hit, thanks to his legendary band discipline.
The Arrangement
The James Brown Orchestra was a gigging machine in those days (1967), so every arrangement was created to play live, which is why they could do the song with no overdubs (according to James' band leader and co-writer Pee-Wee Ellis), but I think that they probably only recorded on a mono or two track machine anyway. The arrangement elements look like this:
* The Foundation: Bass and drums, with an electric guitar doubling the bass
* The Rhythm: The 2nd guitar playing "funk chunks" along with a baritone sax answering the sax riff.
* The Pad: None
* The Lead: James Brown's vocal, Maceo Parker tenor solo
* The Fills: The horns playing the riff line in the verse, and again answering during the B section and chorus.
The Sound
"Cold Sweat" was recorded in May 1967 at King Studios in Cincinnati. Recording wasn't that sophisticated at that time, especially in a non-media center in the middle of the country. That said, a number of things stand out. First of all, the balance between all the instruments is great, especially the horn section. Second, there's a very long reverb on the vocal, and later on the sax solo (who was probably using the same mic, just like during their show). Everything else is dry. The you have the drums, which sound okay until the solo when he begins to play the toms. They sound separated from the rest of the kit, which makes me think they were miked separately. Finally, the song is very light in the low end, which was a trait of most music until about the late 70s.
The Production
The production of "Cold Sweat" is all in the arrangement and the direction of James Brown during the song. There are no overdubs, so there was no layering, and either the band got it or they didn't. It's obvious they captured something that still works 45 years later.
Anonymous suggested the following video of the song, which is the long album version that we know followed by the 2nd take. I also included this short clip from a concert James gave in Zaire in 1974, which shows him at his glorious peak. The arrangement is different from the original though, which is often the case with all James Brown songs. He changed them a lot the more the band played them.
I recently read Chic guitarist/producer extraordinaire Nile Rogers' book, Le Freak: An Upside Story Of Family, Disco, And Destiny, and came away plenty impressed with what Nile overcame to rise to become one of the the top hitmaker's in the world. I think I liked Keith Richards' Life a little better as far as the amount of juicy stories, but Nile's book really looks into an era of music that isn't talked about much (meaning the "Disco" era). Regardless whether you like the music of Chic (I personally do), there's no denying that Rogers had a huge impact on the world of popular music as a producer.
One area that Nile really knows is funk, and in the following video, he gives probably the best lessons I've ever seen on what is funky and what isn't in terms of playing. This should be a must see for every guitar player, regardless of if you play in the genre or not.
