A couple of years after Brown's return to the pop Top Ten with "Living in America," he decided to take a further shot at updating his sound with the help of the production team of Full Force.

Despite the title's suggestion that Brown had regained his creative vitality, though, I'm Real is mostly a showcase for the writing and production of Full Force; Brown receives only one writing credit and one co-writing credit.

Of course, since it's James Brown, some of the material is still worth hearing, but it's also clear why his comeback fizzled so quickly.