Kick! The Best Of Oscar Brown Jr.

Rating

Album: Kick! The Best Of Oscar Brown Jr.
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Mr Kicks	More Info...	0:02
2)	Work Song	More Info...	0:02
3)	The Snake	More Info...	0:02
4)	Straighten Up and Fly Right	More Info...	0:01
5)	Humdrum Blues	More Info...	0:02
6)	Signifying Monkey	More Info...	0:04
7)	It Ain't Necessarily So	More Info...	0:02
8)	Afro Blue	More Info...	0:02
9)	Dat Dere	More Info...	0:03
10)	Hazel's Hips	More Info...	0:02
11)	Watermelon Man	More Info...	0:02
12)	Jeannine	More Info...	0:03
13)	Tall Like Pine	More Info...	0:02
14)	Sixteen Tons	More Info...	0:02
15)	But I Was Cool	More Info...	0:03
16)	One for My Baby	More Info...	0:03
17)	Opportunity Please Knock	More Info...	0:02
18)	All Blues	More Info...	0:04
19)	Excuse Me For Living	More Info...	0:03
20)	Work Song (2nd Version)	More Info...	0:02
21)	When Malindy Sings	More Info...	0:02
22)	Elegy (Plain Black Boy)	More Info...	0:04
23)	The Tree And Me	More Info...	0:03

Album: Kick! The Best Of Oscar Brown Jr.
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Mr Kicks	More Info...	0:02
2)	Work Song	More Info...	0:02
3)	The Snake	More Info...	0:02
4)	Straighten Up and Fly Right	More Info...	0:01
5)	Humdrum Blues	More Info...	0:02
6)	Signifying Monkey	More Info...	0:04
7)	It Ain't Necessarily So	More Info...	0:02
8)	Afro Blue	More Info...	0:02
9)	Dat Dere	More Info...	0:03
10)	Hazel's Hips	More Info...	0:02
11)	Watermelon Man	More Info...	0:02
12)	Jeannine	More Info...	0:03
13)	Tall Like Pine	More Info...	0:02
14)	Sixteen Tons	More Info...	0:02
15)	But I Was Cool	More Info...	0:03
16)	One for My Baby	More Info...	0:03
17)	Opportunity Please Knock	More Info...	0:02
18)	All Blues	More Info...	0:04
19)	Excuse Me For Living	More Info...	0:03
20)	Work Song (2nd Version)	More Info...	0:02
21)	When Malindy Sings	More Info...	0:02
22)	Elegy (Plain Black Boy)	More Info...	0:04
23)	The Tree And Me	More Info...	0:03

Performer Notes

Contains 16 tracks.
Liner Note Author: Dean Rudland.
Photographer: Valerie Wilmer.
Arrangers: Floyd Morris; Quincy Jones; Ralph Burns.
With 23 tracks from all four of Brown's early-'60s albums for Columbia, this is the finest representation of the singer's work on record. It's true that it doesn't include some worthy post-Columbia material, particularly cuts from the 1964 live recording Mr. Oscar Brown Goes to Washington (such as "Brother Where Are You?"). It's also true that some fans might have minor quibbles with the songs selected for this best-of, which omits numbers like "Rags and Old Iron," "Brown Baby," and "Man, Ernest Boy" that could have made worthy inclusions. Yet it's hard to argue with what is here, including as it does standouts like the oft-covered "Work Song" (in two versions, actually); his vocal adaptations of Mongo Santamaria's "Afro Blue," Duke Pearson's "Jeanine," and Miles Davis' "All Blues"; "But I Was Cool," one of the most humorous jazz vocal pieces ever; and more serious numbers adapting the work of African-American poetry, "Elegy (Plain Black Boy)," and "When Malindy Sings." The four standards taken from In a New Mood are the least interesting numbers, but at least everything else on the CD is a Brown original, or an adaptation of a musical or literary work to which Brown added new words and/or music. Though he was perhaps a bit too theatrical in his singing and songwriting to get as hip a reputation as gutsier, moodier performers like Nina Simone (who covered several Brown songs in her early days), this remains some of the best music to fuse jazz, pop vocals, and African-American consciousness. ~ Richie Unterberger

Professional Reviews

Mojo (Publisher) (p.123) - 5 stars out of 5 - "KICKS! is a hip black history lesson - with buckets of soul."

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