Here’s one of my all-time favorite synthesizer solos, and it’s played by none other than the Godfather of Soul, James Brown. Yes, James Brown can play a badass Minimoog.

‘Blow Your Head” by Fred Wesley and the JB’s is an all-instrumental track that appeared on the 1974 album “Damn Right I Am Somebody”, and like the title suggest, it definitely will blow your mind. James Brown totally rips it up on a Minimoog, with squelching, gritty, wet, filter-laden sounds that fit the track so perfectly.

Among others, Public Enemy ended up sampling it on their 1987 song “Public Enemy No 1“.

Check it out, and tell me this isn’t one of the baddest synth solos going:

The Damn Right I am Somebody album is pretty rare, and getting really expensive. You can still find it on CD here for a fairly reasonable price (I’ve seen it over $100).

I’m really glad I got to see James Brown before he died, but would have really loved to catch him back in the 70′s when he was on fire with tracks like this.

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