James Brown

Of course, everything else is essential as well.

The Payback
Sex Machine
There it is
Hot Pants

And in time (like three weeks later): Hell, Reality, In The Jungle Groove,

and then, Slaughter's Big Rip Off, Revolution of the Mind,

Ballads and Duets are great if a bit mixed and I picked them up for 4 euros each recently - well worth it at that price. Appolo stuff is also pretty classic.

I personally would prob'ly recommend the Live at the Apollo albums first, as they have such a great tight rowdy vibe to 'em.

In the Jungle Groove does indeed get almost entirely duplicated by the other things on Matos's list, but it's VERY listenable as a thing-in-itself.

Star Time, Star Time, Star Time, people. Life is much too short to deny yourself that kind of pleasure.

My fave track is 'There Was a Time' ... incredible ... dunno which album it is on tho'

Yours
Jan

Ehm, the third...

One of these days I will actually listen to this all the way through again for the hell of it. But the third disc works far too well on its own. ;-)

I think that James Brown and Leroy Finkelstein are perhaps the two greatest influences on music today.

Weird Al...ok

perhaps, Kevin John Bozelka, perhaps

I think you're at least half correct.

i'm having a james brown monday. spotify has everything. i've got a 500 track playlist queued up. 9 of the singles comps, live at the apollo 1967, james brown's funky divas, funky good time, in the jungle groove, love power peace live at the olympia, make it funky/the big payback 1971-1975, say it live and loud dallas 1968, live at the apollo 2.

HIT ME

Love Power Peace is huge.

keep an eye out for any JBs records

yeah. i have 'food for thought.' just listened to 'funky good time' all the way through, it's sick.

jb live is something else though.

can i just

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PKpQwQ4ZGQ

^^THIS IS A BIG DEAL

lol at bored horn section

Abercrombie and Fitch | Hot Boy Shower Kiss | Give it up or turn it loose | James Brown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brdFtc4V4LI

hmm.
anyone read the new bio?
http://soul-sides.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/802775.jpg
words like "definitive" being thrown around.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/books/the-one-james-brown-biography-by-r-j-smith.html?_r=1

Just became aware of it this morning and downloaded the beginning, seems pretty good so far. That and the Wrecking Crew book.

Think I went to a party or two at RJ's place back in the late eighties, when he lived in Cobble Hill.

Here is Matos's review http://www.avclub.com/articles/rj-smith-the-one-the-life-and-music-of-james-brown,71231/

Read a few chapters last night and this morning. Lots of great detail, about how he met Bobby Byrd, about what he learned from Little Richard and his band, about Syd Nathan and King Records.

Oh yeah, read the Jonathan Franzen piece the day before that, which was amazing

OK, this is really great. Don't know what I'm going to do when it's over, read the recent Little Willie John bio I guess

Just got this, can't wait to dig into it.

Didn't RJ Smith do a presentation at EMP on this book? Did anyone see it? I used to love most of his writing in the Village Voice way back when

Maybe we can dig through the EMP
thread to see if it's mentioned

Just got up to the "Rumble in the Jungle"

In addition to its other virtues, this is a good book to read around the holidays, since if you have any control freaks in your life it will give you new insight

Finished this. On to the Little Willie John book. Just reading the list of people interviewed is making hairs stand up on back of neck.

got this from the library -- great so far!

Probably going to be nitpickers who will say he didn't mention so and so or that Franzen Lethem was more concise, but as far as trying to tell the whole story in a reasonable number of pages and hitting all the right notes it is kind of a model

I'm halfway through it on the Kindle. My favorite part so far is when James Brown is trying to lecture/scold Bootsy Collins, but Bootsy is just rolling on the floor giggling because he's out of his mind on acid. I wonder if he was thinking to himself, "I'm getting too old for this shit"!

Catfish and Bootsy weren't bothered about Brown's fines, and they'd scamper off before he could make them rehearse during time between gigs. It's a testament to their talent that Brown didn't fire them immediately!

I had always heard that that was the incident that got Bootsy fired, but apparently that is not the case.

I thought it was the "walking offstage in the middle of a show because he thought his bass guitar had turned into a snake" that got him fired

eager to read this, obvy

Yeah, exactly. That is what led to the reprimand But he didn't get fired, at the end JB finally said "Get this fool out of here" and that was that.

One of the points he makes is that Bootsy and Catfish were given a longer leash partly, I think, because they were young and didn't have any families to support and so didn't care as much.

Yep. But Bootsy was not fired for a while after the incident. It was something like the band giving him an ultimatum and everyone getting fired. I just read it yesterday and am already hazy. On the train I was reading about his actively campaigning for Nixon. So crazy, but the book gives greater insight into his thinking at the time than some of his closest colleagues at the time were privy to. A great read.

Bootsy and the Cincinnati crew lasted almost exactly a year. They finally quit when they were supposed to play the Copa in New York, either because they didn't like that the gig and therefore the pay was cut in half or because Bootsy didn't want to wear a tie.

One great story is that young Bootsy had been playing a cheap green guitar strung as a bass but right before the first tour JB told him "Son, I love what you're doing with that bass but- You can't come in here with that" and bought him a new instrument.

The Night James Brown Played The Opry.

haha! was hoping there would be a video.

Me too! Or at least audio. Would love to hear Wagoner's band tackle "Brand New Bag."

i kind of love james' forays into the country music songbook -- his "your cheating heart" is killer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPspFzyb_dE

http://moviepilot.com/stories/1097384-james-brown-the-godfather-of-soul-gets-his-own-biopic?stamp=39036&subscribe_to=697742&utm_campaign=james-brown-the-godfather-of-soul-gets-his-own-biopic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=fb-stream-post

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vptGSENcXeI

I'm not wowed by this trailer. I don't feel like he captures James Brown's forceful personality.

It looks like a typical, by-the-numbers biopic, but I'm a total sucker for that kind of thing, and I can't wait to see it.

I don't think the trailer gives enough of a sense of how much Boseman inhabits James (or doesn't); he seems ok based on the clips, but not overwhelming.

I'm really tired of that hazy look that always gets used for films about Respectable Black Folk In The 40s/50s

One thing I think they missed by using Boseman is that James Brown is grizzled and a little bit ugly. He's way too pretty and clean looking.

biopics are uniformly horrible

I heard this recently. First few seconds is basically drum'n'bass. Damn, the drummers he had.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6l5_FxjlaQ

only thing missing from that biopic trailer is the memory of a dead brother haunting him from the past

I would be okay if every copy of every musical biopic ever was erased and replaced with Walk Hard

is that Craig Robinson as St. Clair lol

He's Maceo!

I'm really tired of that hazy look that always gets used for films about Respectable Black Folk In The 40s/50s

― 'arry Goldman (Hurting 2), Wednesday, June 25, 2014 11:58 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yea seems hollywood refuses to make films w/ primarily african-american casts that are both 1) in a contemporary setting and 2) marketed not just to black folk

He's Maceo!

haha sorry I couldn't tell what era that particular bit was supposed to be from

I've never understood why "I've Got Money" never makes into the "James Brown invents funk" mythos

That track might be the single rawest thing he did. Not just the supercharged drums, but those ugly blues chords just hanging there.

It is noted as such in "The One" iirc

everyone should read The One, it is a great bio.

^ this.

Love the part where he's on a plane making a shaky emergency landing. An associate next to him is shaking, sweating, praying, crying, and James says to them, "Hey, don't worry; as long as I'm on this plane, it can't crash."

everything post-80s is such a major bummer

James Brown in Frankie Avalaon movie Ski Party
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_xBT_xavzM

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/movies/james-brown-is-celebrated-in-get-on-up.html?hpw&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpHedThumbWell&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well

Nelson George re new James Brown movie, upcoming James Brown doc, and James himself

x-post--That's James in 1965...Awesome

everything post-80s is such a major bummer

"Too Funky in Here" was great though

Search and Destroy: James Brown

If you wanna jump back and forth between most recently updated James Brown threads

Let Robert Christgau come in and do the popcorn.

Wait, curmudgeon is Syd Nathan?

Ha, Christgau thinks so but I am not acknowledging it

Mick Jagger is responsible for a lot of horrible shit but I gotta hand it to him, he really did this HBO JB doc right

+1

That thing is a treasure trove of footage and insights.

yeah I am so so so glad to see something like this where the emphasis is all on actual footage/interviews w the musicians and people involved plus detailed breakdowns of the music itself (as opposed to generic "I remember the first time I heard Sex Machine, I fell out of my chair" reminiscences)

was a little bummed that it basically stopped in 1970, but so many great stories - Melvin pulling a gun on JB, Clyde talking about how he hates Funky Drummer

i didn't even know this was a thing! looking forward to seeing it.

interesting that he helped bankroll both the biopic (which was balls) and a documentary

also, surely mick jagger is responsible for at least as much awesome shit as horrible shit

i mean, when he gets to the pearly gates who knows how it'll all tally up but...

he was always the worst thing about the Rolling Stones and has been incomprehensibly awful for 30 years

but, y'know, take it to the Mick Jagger thread

i'll agree to disagree about the 1st part

re the 2nd part: "incomprehensibly"?

fwiw there's that documentary about their early 80s era and jagger has some actually insightful observations about the stones's music--like, thoughts on how they wrote songs vs. how they arranged them in different eras--but about 60 seconds into it you can see this look flash across his face, it's a combination of "i'm sure this is boring to everyone else" and "i'm using too many brain cells explaining this when i could just smile and say stupid shit" and then sure enough he smiles and says stupid shit.

in other words there is a really intelligent person somewhere in there that just doesn't have to show himself very often.

xpost

ok, sry

I really want to see this, and I was hoping it was available through an avenue other than HBO at the moment, but it doesn't appear to be.

what is the title?

"incomprehensibly"?

as in "I cannot even wrap my brain around how bad it is, it is so bad"

it's called MR. DYNAMITE

oh, they got alex gibney to direct. i wish i could see this. :(

that "night james brown saved boston" doc is incredible, i recommend that to everybody

^^^ that one is tremendous.

one of the clips from that night that shows up in the doc is so perfect - JB talking about how he used to shine shoes outside a radio station, first for a nickel, then for 6 cents, then for a dime, and then "now I own that radio station. THAT'S black power". It's like you can trace all of hip hop's aspirational wealth obsession to that one moment.

doesn't he say that in that "soul power" doc? maybe he just liked to repeat that tale.

I don't recall seeing that in the Soul Power doc but JB did have a penchant for repetition

the bit at Boston where he gets the kids off the stage is also 0_0

it's a good story, it bears repeating

"soul power" is so fucking great, i oughta get the blu-ray of that

fave moment is when bill withers quietly eats his breakfast as muhammad ali and don king have some argument over the meaning of black power

'The One' by RJ Smith was a really good read, one of the better music bios I've read in a while.

last few chapters are such a bummer

Would be interested to know exactly how Brown went from leader in the black community to being a PCP-addicted wife beater. Seems like something happened in the 70s but I've never really heard the story.

Don't some folks trace his abusive qualities back to incidents in his childhood?

Seems like something happened in the 70s

Hit became fewer and further between, his band was no longer the standard-bearer it had been (many having defected to P-Funk), and the IRS came down hard on him in a way they wouldn't have for a similarly business-minded white entertainer.

*Hits

Figured that must have played a part – his records in that decade suggest not only creative bankruptcy but financial as well.

Even so, it's still a bit hard to reconcile how this successful, often pious anti-drug crusader that was the paragon of black power and independence could become such a pathetic, addled character inside of, like, 7 or 8 years. Not a certainty but you have to wonder if there's a catalytic event or two in there somewhere.

There was: his son Teddy was killed in a car crash in 1973.

He had nowhere to but down, basically. So he went there.

Nowhere to go

Also, he had such an intense and near-religious devotion to the idea of The American Dream that when the US Government took the money he'd worked so hard to earn -- he played by the rules, and he encouraged others to do so -- it must have thrown his entire belief system into a tailspin.

Cf i'm payin taxes (what am i buyin)

He grew that terrible mustache.

I forget how disgustingly funky "The Payback" is

must be that five alarm chili

I dunno karate... but I know KA-RAZAY

news to me: The song and the album of the same name were originally recorded by Brown as the accompanying soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Hell Up in Harlem (1973), but was rejected by the movie's producers as "the same old James Brown stuff.

talk about ka-razay

there's a great anecdote in Fred Wesley's memoir about that. He was in the studio playing back the tracks for Larry Cohen, who produced the movie. Cohen was unimpressed and said it wasn't funky enough, to which Wesley replied, "but Mr. Cohen, this is EXTREMELY funky music."

Wesley's book is great

love that book

This is atypical, but my favourite JB jam nonetheless
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYxROl4p8HE

why?

that's an odd one. Seems to think he's singing "What's Going On" at the beginning.

8 years after it came out, I finally read RJ Smith’s bio The One . Last few chapters while he’s on pcp both before and after a jail stint are depressing. The various musical peaks throughout are much more inspiring of course, from his childhood years and on through the Flames and the time with Bootsy Collins.

https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/how-james-browns-star-time-revolutionized-the-box-set-game-and-cemented-his-legacy/

Probably the greatest box set ever, and the rare box set that's the definitive album for the artist it's covering. (Maybe the only box set...not counting comprehensive all-album collections, what other box set is like that?)

Pearl?

by which I meant Janis, of course.

https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/how-james-browns-star-time-revolutionized-the-box-set-game-and-cemented-his-legacy🕸/

i almost sold my copy of star time when selling my records last year but thank god i didnt. i couldnt part with it in the end. it really is a brilliant box set. that p4k piece is very good too, though it needs to be longer. the comment that JB, live albums aside, doesnt have a good album is a bit harsh i thought but prob fair.

Get On Up is on Netflix right now. That's a weird fuckin' movie. Sometimes it gets a little Walk Hard-ish, but Chadwick Bozeman as Brown talking directly to the camera never feels wrong, just unexpected. And if you're gonna pick only 2-3 concerts to recreate, 1962 at the Apollo, 1968 in Boston the night of King's assassination, and Paris 1971 are absolutely the ones to pick.

i started to watch that once on tv, but dont think i can take anyone acting as JB seriously.

That's my favorite Boseman performance. Robert Christgau really dug it, and that convinced me to check it out. It's fun, but with any performance of someone this iconic, it can only be so great when you have plenty footage of the real thing.

Here’s James at the Grand Ole Opry: https://digi.countrymusichalloffame.org/digital/collection/musicaudio/id/7384/rec/38

drummer on I've Got Money is out of this world
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLUmCV6I-HA

Hell yeah. I'm not familiar enough of his pre-Clyde recordings, aside from the big ones.

Wiki says re “I’ve Got Money”

Biographer R.J. Smith describes "I've Got Money" as "one of the less-known great records of Brown's career":

It's a song whose time has yet to arrive, and it's barely a song. It's like a blueprint of some uncanny object. It's an assemblage of parts: a scimitar guitar chord coming down on the One, a show band horn chorus quoting Judy Garland's "The Trolley Song," and [Clayton Fillyau's] stampeding drums. The parts are arranged in a line, one beside the next - an incomprehensible rebus.[2]
Both Smith and Allmusic's Richie Unterberger point to the song as a stylistic precursor to Brown's later funk recordings.[3]

Great song . Need to read up on drummer Clayton Fillyau

I hear an HBO doc is in the making

hope it features lots of live footage, this is blowing my mind:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRubq5D-3kM
The Payback - James Brown - Live - Zaire 1974

An A & E doc debuts tonight Monday with 2 episodes and 2 more episodes on Tuesday. Nelson George wrote about it on his Substack, and I saw the below also

https://www.wjbf.com/news/an-ae-documentary-on-james-brown-tells-of-a-black-man-and-musician-in-america/

Episodes 1 & 2 were interesting. They addressed Brown’s issues as well as his musical genius. Alan Leeds, various professors, musicians, Brown’s children all interviewed.

I would very much like to see this, although it looks like it will be tricky without a cable/tv provider

Some friends of mine made the same complaint. Crazy me is throwing away money at my cable provider so I am lucky enough to be able to watch it .

The first episode is streaming on the A&E website; maybe they'll put the second one up soon.

That’s good. I have watched first 2 , and dvr’d 3rd and 4.th

https://www.aetv.com/shows/james-brown-say-it-loud

I watched first ep last night on my phone through cable provider. Hopefully will watch rest soon. Ads are slightly annoying though.

Yeah they said they're only unlocking ep1, I'll check it out though. Tbh I'm only really interested in watching through the '70s peak.

Some of the live music clips feel a bit short.

I'm sure it will just frustrate me that the full footage presumably exists but is not available :(

And I am a fan of LL Cool J, and I get having he and Chuck D represent for rap, but sometimes he just offers enthusiasm in his interview clips in this more than knowledge. Sometimes this works as a counterpoint to more staid professors who are interviewed, but sometimes it does not.

I wonder if Brown's family who are involved in the making of this, didn't like RJ Smith's book. He is not in the portions of doc I have watched. Alan Leeds and an older white reporter from Georgia whose name I don't recall are interviewed in this a fair amount. Mick Jagger a bit . Christian Mcbride seems to be the current jazz rep in this.

Questlove is in it too

Isn't Questlove one of the producers? I thought I remember him mentioning on his podcast that he & Black Thought were some of the main movers behind this.

Christian McBride makes sense as he's Questlove's school days buddy and a certified JB obsessive.

Executive Producers Mick Jagger and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson iirc.

McBride was actually in Brown's band at one point (or at least backed him at a single concert; I forget the story).

I think it was one concert, he tells the story of being in Brown's orbit here (1:11):

https://app.podscribe.ai/episode/83381179

Just because I recently re-discovered it and can't see it in the thread...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ4ztL7dBKE

(James Brown, Live in Rome March 1971)

always fascinating

I thought I had watched all the '71 Euro tour footage out there but don't remember seeing this before. It purports to be the actual Love Power Peace show, but it's not. Still incredible of course, it's cool to see how different the shows were.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FkVyVByk8w

This one too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIvrfWGGSwU

Seeing the Live in Rome reference has me thinking about the James Brown with Pavarotti collaboration in Rome excerpt that is in that recent James Brown doc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8EcY3aXd54

what a day at the market

Mama come here quick...

yeah great find Budo. The man still brought it even when it was a free concert in a flea market parking lot at the nadir of his career.

co-sign, this rules, thank you

wow, amazing to feel so up close to the action there.

There's some backstory in the comments: This concert was a tie-in to the Grand Opening of the market, and the venue had not cleared filming the show with JB's people, so the cameraman was forced off the stage after he went offstage for a costume change--explaining the incompleteness of the uploaded tape.

do you think this was Jaki Liebezeit's favorite record?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP1wtIfs8lg
James Brown - I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me) (Parts 1&2)

Yes, probably

yes!! the second half of that is a really good reason why everyone who has Star TIme also needs Foundations of Funk

Holy shit, why did it take me so long to hear the live album from Paris in 1971, Love Power Peace. An absolute powerhouse. Maybe controversial, but this is probably better than the Apollo set.

It's one of the best albums of all time, and certainly one of the very best live albums ever.

Absolutely rearranged my brain when I first heard it, I’ve listened to it way more often than Apollo

Getting a cheap CD of it was one of my major WOOHOO purchases last year.

It is so good. I understand the accolades for Apollo for sure, but like... this one is just sitting there quietly, waiting to be discovered and it is front to back amazing!

Oh. My. Goodness. Was not aware of this. Whoah nelly Mr. Brown is not messing around here.

I read two books about Brown recently (RJ Smith's and James McBride's) and wrote about them, and him.

I really enjoyed the 1969 Augusta show released as Live At Home With His Bad Self, which was the basis for some of the quasi-live album Sex Machine, but I'd say the original live recording is a more satisfying listen.

Tbh I was never that into Apollo, it's just a bit too early for me. The early 70s is when his modern funk style really hits for me, and this just happens to be the best document out of countless (I'm sure) incendiary shows. The Collins bros are on board, there's extra horns, the recording is incredible. The only possible flaw is that it's in a non-Clyde period of the band.

If you search around on youtube there's some footage from this tour, mostly Italian shows (sometimes short tv sets, but at least one full show with less than great sound).

Thanks for the tip, I'll definitely seek these out.

I bought Live At Home With His Bad Self a while ago but I don't know if I've ever listened to it front to back. I should fix that.

some tape noise but wonderful document
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utiGh3HHG4c

Shout out to Say It Live and Loud: Live in Dallas 08.26.68, but I've driven so many miles to Love Power Peace. When you absolutely, positively need to get somewhere

Ha, 100%.

The only equivalent to the sheer juice I get from this album is NOLA brass band records/videos.