2024 reissue in a 1970s style Stoughton jacket - In 1974 one of James Brown’s most important band-leaders and sidemen – trombonist Fred Wesley would release not one but two albums as a leader including Damn Right, I Am Somebody. Starting with an evocative cover it was clear to fans that this album wasn’t all about a party. Deep messages abound in the songs here, such as the nearly 10-minute workout “I’m Paying Taxes, But What Am I Buying.”
Social messages aside, Fred and his assembled JBs were a party-moving funk machine at heart, as heard on “If You Don’t Get It The First Time, Back Up And Try It Again Paarty” and the laid-back groove of “Same Beat” (with prototypical sampling of Jesse Jackson exhorting an audience to chant “I am / Somebody”). Nestled among these raise-your-fist classics is one of the most experimental funk cut ever made: “Blow Your Head,” known to relatively modern listeners as the backbone of Public Enemy’s “Public Enemy #1” (from 1987). Other tracks have been sampled by EPMD, Run-DMC, De La Soul, Digable Planets, and Ice-T among others.
| A1 | Damn Right I'm Somebody |
| A2 | Blow Your Head |
| A3 | Im Payin' Taxes, What Am I Buyin'? |
| B1 | Same Beat (Part 1) |
| B2 | If You Don't Get It The First Time, Back Up & Try It Again, Parrty |
| B3 | Make Me What You Want Me To Be |
| B4 | Going To Get A Thrill |
| B5 | You Sure Love To Ball |
