New Audio: Previously Unreleased James Brown Track “We Got To Change”

Fittingly being released during Black History Month, Republic Records/UMe are releasing the We Got To Change EP, a three-song EP featuring a previously unreleased James Brown song “We Got To Change.”

Recorded on August 16, 1970 at Miami‘s Criteria Studios, “We Got To Change” was recorded during a pivotal period of Brown’s career and life: A few months earlier, the longtime members of his famed James Brown Orchestra had walked out. Brown quickly assembled a new backing band that he dubbed The J.B.’s anchored by two young brothers from Cincinnati, Phelps “Catfish” Collins (guitar) and William “Bootsy” Collins (bass). The Collins Brothers and company brought a harder edge and a fresh identity to Brown’s sound — with that band being backing band on beloved singles like “Get Up (I Feel Like Being) a Sex Machine,” “Super Bad” and Soul Power.”

The Criteria session featured reunions with two of Brown’s longtime sidemen — the legendary Clyde Stubblefield, “The Funky Drummer,” one of the most sampled drummers of the past 50 years, with his drumbeats appearing on countless hip-hop albums; and Brown’s longtime backing vocalist Bobby Byrd, whose inimitable voice is heard throughout.

“We Got To Change” seamlessly fits into a series of songs with powerful social and political messages and commentary, like “Don’t Be a Dropout,” “Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud),” “Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved” and “King Heroin” while sounding a bit like it could have been a track cut from Sex Machine or The Payback. And much like those much more famous songs we’ve all known and loved, “We Got To Change,” sees Brown describing a hardscrabble life of struggle and deprivation, and calling out for all of us to change and to seek out peace, love, happiness and understanding.