The Hardest Working Man In Show Business comes to life as an album artist with this album, the first to be recorded by James Brown since signing with Polydor records in 1971. The Hot Pants line-up reunited James with some of his long-time stalwarts such as Bobby Byrd, drummer John 'Jabo' Starks, sax-man St. Clair Pickney and trombonist Fred Wesley. The album begins with the swampy "Blues & Pants" with its incessant guitar riff and a great Fred Wesley horn arrangement. The big revelation of this album is the full-length cut of "Escape-ism," which times in at 19-plus minutes.