THE J.B.'S - Funky Good Time : The Anthology (1995) 2CD / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The J.B.'s recorded under various billings in the early '70s, including the J.B.'s, Fred Wesley & the J.B.'s, Maceo & the Macks, the First Family, the Last Word, and others. This double CD gathers 30 of the prime tracks by all of the above configurations from the first half of the '70s, including all nine of their chart hits and quite a few rare singles and long versions. Often, James Brown himself chips in with incidental vocals (though this is mostly instrumental) and keyboards. The two-and-a-half-hour program can start to sound monotonous if taken all at once, but it's prime, often riveting funk, jammed with lockstep grooves that vary between basic R&B vamps and imaginative, almost jazzy improvisation. by Richie Unterberger

THE J.B.'S - Food for Thought (1972-1990) RM / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Tracklist:
1     Pass The Peas   
2     Gimme Some More   
3     To My Brother   
4     Wine Spot   
5     Hot Pants Road   
6     The Grunt   
7     Blessed Blackness 
8     Escape-Ism, Part 1, Part 2   
9     Theme From King Heroin   
10     These Are The JB's

FRED WESLEY AND THE J.B.'S - Damn Right I Am Somebody (1974-1995) RM / FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Damn Right I Am Somebody captures the J.B.'s at the apex of their extraordinary powers. This James Brown-produced set is both their most fiercely polemical and their most musically daring, incorporating otherworldly electronic elements, eccentric time and rhythm shifts, and idiosyncratic studio effects to brilliantly articulate the increasing turmoil and insanity of the times. It's quite possibly the most challenging record ever released under the Brown aegis, favoring open-ended grooves and epic solos rooted in avant-jazz. The rhythms remain surgically precise and hypnotically intense, however, and every cut here, from the funk juggernaut "I'm Payin' Taxes, What Am I Buyin'?" to the righteously mellow "Same Beat," is a marvel. This is funk at its heaviest -- musically, yes, but intellectually as well. by Jason Ankeny
Tracklist:
1 Damn Right I Am Somebody 6:00
Written-By – Fred Wesley, James Brown
2 Blow Your Head 5:05
Written-By – Fred Wesley, James Brown
3 I'm Payin' Taxes, What Am I Buyin' 9:47
Written-By – Fred Wesley, James Brown
4 Same Beat (Part 1) 3:19
Written-By – James Brown
5 If You Don't Get It The First Time, Back Up & Try It Again, Parrty 3:55
Written-By – James Brown
6 Make Me What You Want Me To Be 3:57
Written-By – Fred Wesley, James Brown
7 Going To Get A Thrill 6:21
Written-By – Hank Ballard, James Brown
8 You Sure Love To Ball 4:37
Written-By – Marvin Gaye