Gravity is the 53rd studio album by American musician James Brown. The album was released on September 15, 1986, by Scotti Bros. Records. It was largely written and produced by Dan Hartman and Charlie Midnight, the authors of the album's previously released hit single "Living in America", which had reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was prominently featured in the film Rocky IV. It was Brown's first album for the Scotti Brothers record label.[3]
Gravity earned a lukewarm reception from critics. Robert Christgau went so far as to describe it as "[n]ot a James Brown album--a James Brown-influenced Dan Hartman record, with James Brown on vocals", and urged readers to seek out recent reissues of Brown's earlier work instead.[5] Ron Wynn of Allmusic.com described the album as "moderately interesting" but that, ultimately, Brown was trying to "catch up" with contemporary trends.[7] Brown himself stated that the album was "'about 10 percent of James Brown. This is about as real James Brown as we`re gonna put on (producer) Dan Hartman`s album.'' Nevertheless, Brown did praise Hartman and Midnight for capturing the essence of his style in "Living in America".[8]