"Call Me Superbad (Cornelius Rework)", by Mr James Brown. Cornelius is a clever guy. His "Ball In - Kick Off" is a favourite amongst the under-tens at our house (now a category of one, sigh). In today's song, he takes on the Godfather of Soul, Hardest Working [adjectival hyphen optional; works both ways - ed] Man In Show Business. And lives to tell the tale.
I would not normally endorse messing about with a stone classic. James Brown should be allowed to do his thang unadorned, unhampered, unhacked (and, preferably, unhinged). So this probably shouldn't work for me. Why it does I have no idea. I quite like the way he decontextualises Brown, making him come across, implausibly, a bit like Mark E Smith ranting over an irrelevant (but independently listenable) backing track. But then the horns creep back in, subtly and in fragments, tying the two strands at least slightly together. It's not going to set the world on fire, and JB would most likely have hated it, but I am finding it oddly compelling.
