It's a Man's Man's Man's World

AMG Review of It's a Man's Man's Man's World

William Ruhlmann
All Music Guide

In the early '60s, James Brown tended to release two vocal albums a year, one in the summer and one in the winter. Each album was keyed to Brown's latest hit single, with the remainder of the record made up of previous Brown recordings; Brown did not record LPs as such. As late as mid-1966, this was still the case, and this album differed only in that it featured not only the title track, an R&B number one/pop Top Ten hit, and its B-side, "Is It Yes or Is It No?," but also an earlier 1966 single, "Ain't That a Groove (Part 1 and Part 2)," along with eight oldies, such as "Bewildered" and "I Don't Mind" (two 1961 singles). As such, there was slightly more contemporary material here than usual, but at the same time, Brown's evolution into his funk period was beginning to make the juxtapositions of new and old material more jarring.