Sex Machine

Only the second half of Sex Machine was recorded during a 1969 concert; the first consists of studio sessions with Brown’s crackling band, the J.B.’s. The Godfather of Soul is a live wire throughout, spontaneously testifying on “Bewildered,” riffing on the electrifying “Get Up I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine,” and punctuating all with his patented screams and shouts. The group ups the ante with swooping horn flourishes and stop-start rhythms, making for big-band funk unlike any other.