The Payback (studio album)
by James Brown

The Payback by James Brown
Year: 1973
Overall rank: 3,273rd   
Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 134 votes)
     
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1973 (63rd)
Award Top albums of the 1970s (577th)
Award Best albums of all time (3,273rd)

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Product Details
Availability

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Vtg 1973 James Brown The Payback 2LP First Pressing PD 2-3007 US *TESTED* NM VG+
Condition: Used


eBay
eBay
James Brown 2 LP gatefold The Payback Original 1973 double pd2-3007 funk soul !
Condition: Used


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James Brown – The Payback (Part 1&2) 7" Reissue 1992
Condition: Used


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James Brown bestography

The Payback is ranked 4th best out of 93 albums by James Brown on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by James Brown is James Brown Live At The Apollo which is ranked number 625 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 2,748.

James Brown album bestography « Higher ranked (3,157th)
In The Jungle Groove
This album (3,273rd)
The Payback
Lower ranked (3,541st) »
Sex Machine

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

Upcoming concerts

Dec
26
Fri
22:00
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Lil' Indies, Orlando, United States. United States
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The Payback track list

   The tracks on this album have an average rating of 80 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Track pick (860 - 44 votes)
Average Rating: 86 (44 votes)Comments: View 1
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2.
Average Rating: 79 (23 votes)Comments: View 0
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3.
Average Rating: 79 (22 votes)Comments: View 1
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4.
Average Rating: 80 (21 votes)Comments: View 0
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5.
Average Rating: 77 (19 votes)Comments: View 0
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6.
Average Rating: 78 (18 votes)Comments: View 1
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7.
Average Rating: 80 (21 votes)Comments: View 0
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8.
Average Rating: 81 (22 votes)Comments: View 1
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Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

The Payback rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 3,273rd | 1970s rank: 577th | 1973 rank: 63rd

The Payback collection

The Payback ratings

Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 134 votes)
   Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 134 ratings for this album.

Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
75/100
 !
12/06/2025 09:48 Exist-en-ciel   4,07570/100
 
70/100
 !
11/01/2025 12:57 Imaybeparanoid   7,31271/100
 
85/100
 !
10/08/2025 22:57 BorderFreeAndrew   14,49974/100
 
80/100
 !
09/08/2025 12:01 cicadelic   11,40573/100
 
10/100
 !
05/17/2025 05:27 Proto   3,79833/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album is rated in the top 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 77.8/100, a mean average of 77.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.2.

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The Payback favourites

Showing all 12 members who have added this album as a favourite

The Payback comments

Showing all 5 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:  
85/100
From 05/18/2023 17:13 | #297064
Very stylish, unaggressive, subtle funkyfunk, cool..D
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 02/21/2023 16:14 | #294287
Hell yeah, and hallelujah for the funk.

That is all.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 08/09/2019 19:38 | #241001
100/100

Sadly how this genre is "hated" by most of the BEA community
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 06/15/2019 22:40 | #237575
How this got rejected as a soundtrack for not being funky enough is beyond me
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (2 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From 10/18/2014 12:29 | #124728
Funky as hell...I challenge anyone not to fucking like this
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Your feedback for The Payback

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Best Albums of 1973
1. The Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd
2. Innervisions by Stevie Wonder
3. Houses Of The Holy by Led Zeppelin
4. Selling England By The Pound by Genesis
5. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road by Elton John
6. Quadrophenia by The Who
7. Band On The Run by Paul McCartney & Wings
8. Aladdin Sane by David Bowie
9. Raw Power by Iggy And The Stooges
10. Future Days by Can
11. (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'Nérd 'Skin-'Nérd) by Lynyrd Skynyrd
12. For Your Pleasure by Roxy Music
13. Head Hunters by Herbie Hancock
14. Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield
15. Closing Time by Tom Waits
16. Berlin by Lou Reed
17. The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle by Bruce Springsteen
18. Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye
19. Artaud by Pescado Rabioso
20. Larks' Tongues In Aspic by King Crimson
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