★ All Music Guide四顆半星超高評價，靈魂教父詹姆士布朗巔峰代表作
★ 伴奏樂手眾星雲集，演奏默契絕佳，技巧爐火純青，放克音樂最高水準演出
★ 2 LP收錄8首黑人音樂最高峰傑作，包括「Time Is Running Out Fast」「Shoot Your Shot」、「Mind Power」等經典名曲
「The Payback」是「靈魂之父」詹姆士布朗在1973年傾全力推出的鉅作，這張專輯以兩張LP的長度，收錄了8首詹姆士布朗的創作，堪稱是這位黑人音樂大師最具野心的作品。此時的伴奏樂手依然延續了J.B.樂隊時期的主要成員，歷經多年合作之後，這批樂手的合作默契越見純熟，在專輯中不但獨奏競飆火花四射，整體演奏更是鮮活緊湊、一氣呵成，即使慢板情歌如「Doing The Best That I Can」、「Forever Suffering」也同樣具有讓人難以抗拒的吸引力。毫無疑問，不論演唱、演奏或是音樂創作，「The Payback」都可謂詹姆士布朗的巔峰之作，自此以後，這位黑人音樂一級戰將的創作力即顯露疲態，風光不再。聆聽「The Payback」，等於是站在一個音樂世代最精彩的至高點上眺望，聆聽音樂的極致享受莫過於此，樂迷豈能輕易錯過！
Originally released in 1973 as a sprawling two-LP set, The Payback was one of James Brown's most ambitious albums of the 1970's, and also one of his best, with Brown and his band (which in 1974 still included Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, St. Clair Pinckney, Jimmy Nolen and Jabo Starks) relentlessly exploring the outer possibilities of the James Brown groove. Stretching eight cuts out over the space of nearly 73 minutes, The Payback is long on extended rhythmic jamming, and by this time Brown and his band had become such a potent and nearly telepathic combination that the musicians were able pull out lengthy solos while still maintaining some of the most hypnotic funk to be found anywhere, and on the album's best songs — the jazzy "Time Is Running Out Fast", the relentless "Shoot Your Shot", the tight-wound "Mind Power", and the bitter revenge fantasy of the title cut — the tough, sinuous rhythms and the precise interplay between the players is nothing short of a wonder to behold. And even the album's lower-key cuts (such as the lovelorn "Doing The Best That I Can" and "Forever Suffering") sink their hooks into the listener and pull you in; quite simply, this is remarkable stuff, and even Brown's attempts at lyrical relevance (which were frankly getting a bit shaky at this point in his career) are firmly rooted enough to sound convincing. The Payback turned out to be one of James Brown's last inarguably great albums before he hit a long fallow streak in the mid-to-late 70's, but no one listening to this set would ever imagine that this was the work of an artist (or a band) about to run out of gas.
Tracking list:
1. The Payback
2. Doing The Best I Can
3. Take Some...Leave Some
4. Shoot Your Shot
5. Forever Suffering
6. Time Is Running Out Fast
7. Stone To The Bone
8. Mind Power
