These 40 singles span the peak period of a remarkable, transformative career, starting with the simmering soul of 1956’s “Please, Please, Please” with The Famous Flames and ending with 1979’s lively disco crossover “It’s Too Funky In Here.” But in between, James Brown’s bands invented funk music with tracks like “Cold Sweat” and “Mother Popcorn,” which married his urgent, electrifying voice to tight, syncopated grooves that always landed hard on the downbeat. And civil rights anthems like “Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud” aimed the force of Brown’s sound at a higher purpose.