Kicks! The Best of Oscar Brown Jr. (2004)

About this title: 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, ... read more

Tracks:

1. Mr. Kicks [Brown]
2. Work Song [Brown/Adderley]
3. The Snake [Mono Version] [Brown]
4. Straighten Up and Fly Right [Cole/Mills]
5. Hum Drum Blues [Brown]
6. Signifying Monkey [Brown]
7. It Ain't Necessarily So [Gershwin/Gershwin]
8. Afro Blue [Santamaria/Brown]
9. Dat Dere [Brown/Timmons]
10. Hazel's Hips [Brown]
11. Watermelon Man [Brown]
12. Jeannie [Mono Version] [Brown/Pearson]
13. Tall Like Pine [Mono Version] [Brown]
14. Sixteen Tons [Travis]
15. But I Was Cool [Brown]
16. One for My Baby [Mercer/Arlen]
17. Opportunity Please Knock [Brown]
18. All Blues [Mono Version] [Brown/Davis]
19. Excuse Me for Living [Brown]
20. Work Song [2nd Version] [Brown/Adderley]
21. When Malindy Sings [Brown/Dunbar]
22. Elegy (Plain Black Boy) [Brown/Brooks]
23. The Tree and Me [Mono Version] [Brown]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.