He's Maceo!
haha sorry I couldn't tell what era that particular bit was supposed to be from
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 25 June 2014 18:25 (nine years ago) link
I've never understood why "I've Got Money" never makes into the "James Brown invents funk" mythos
― The Reverend, Thursday, 26 June 2014 09:38 (nine years ago) link
That track might be the single rawest thing he did. Not just the supercharged drums, but those ugly blues chords just hanging there.
― The Reverend, Thursday, 26 June 2014 09:39 (nine years ago) link
It is noted as such in "The One" iirc
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 26 June 2014 15:53 (nine years ago) link
everyone should read The One, it is a great bio.
― tylerw, Thursday, 26 June 2014 15:55 (nine years ago) link
^ 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."
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 26 June 2014 16:01 (nine years ago) link
everything post-80s is such a major bummer
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 26 June 2014 16:07 (nine years ago) link
James Brown in Frankie Avalaon movie Ski Partyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_xBT_xavzM
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 27 July 2014 14:19 (nine years ago) link
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
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 27 July 2014 14:21 (nine years ago) link
x-post--That's James in 1965...Awesome
― curmudgeon, Monday, 28 July 2014 13:29 (nine years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol, Monday, 28 July 2014 16:41 (nine years ago) link
"Too Funky in Here" was great though
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 2 August 2014 16:48 (nine years ago) link
Search and Destroy: James Brown
If you wanna jump back and forth between most recently updated James Brown threads
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 2 August 2014 16:50 (nine years ago) link
Let Robert Christgau come in and do the popcorn.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 2 September 2014 16:49 (nine years ago) link
Wait, curmudgeon is Syd Nathan?
― The Wu-Tang Declan (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 2 September 2014 16:57 (nine years ago) link
Ha, Christgau thinks so but I am not acknowledging it
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 2 September 2014 20:34 (nine years ago) link
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
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 28 October 2014 20:02 (nine years ago) link
+1
That thing is a treasure trove of footage and insights.
― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 28 October 2014 21:54 (nine years ago) link
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)
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 28 October 2014 22:03 (nine years ago) link
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
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 29 October 2014 20:20 (nine years ago) link
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
― I dunno. (amateurist), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 20:27 (nine years ago) link
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...
― I dunno. (amateurist), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 20:28 (nine years ago) link
he was always the worst thing about the Rolling Stones and has been incomprehensibly awful for 30 years
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 29 October 2014 20:29 (nine years ago) link
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.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 20:31 (nine years ago) link
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.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 20:33 (nine years ago) link
what is the title?
― I dunno. (amateurist), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 20:35 (nine years ago) link
"incomprehensibly"?
as in "I cannot even wrap my brain around how bad it is, it is so bad"
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 29 October 2014 20:37 (nine years ago) link
it's called MR. DYNAMITE
oh, they got alex gibney to direct. i wish i could see this. :(
― I dunno. (amateurist), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 20:39 (nine years ago) link
that "night james brown saved boston" doc is incredible, i recommend that to everybody
― I dunno. (amateurist), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 20:43 (nine years ago) link
^^^ that one is tremendous.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 20:46 (nine years ago) link
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.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 29 October 2014 20:47 (nine years ago) link
doesn't he say that in that "soul power" doc? maybe he just liked to repeat that tale.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 20:48 (nine years ago) link
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
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 29 October 2014 20:50 (nine years ago) link
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
― I dunno. (amateurist), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 20:53 (nine years ago) link
'The One' by RJ Smith was a really good read, one of the better music bios I've read in a while.
― totally unachievable goals and no incentive to compromise (Sparkle Motion), Friday, 13 February 2015 21:48 (nine years ago) link
last few chapters are such a bummer
― Οὖτις, Friday, 13 February 2015 23:47 (nine years ago) link
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.
― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 14 February 2015 13:58 (nine years ago) link
Don't some folks trace his abusive qualities back to incidents in his childhood?
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 14 February 2015 14:41 (nine years ago) link
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.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 14 February 2015 14:50 (nine years ago) link
*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.
― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 14 February 2015 16:10 (nine years ago) link
There was: his son Teddy was killed in a car crash in 1973.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 14 February 2015 16:28 (nine years ago) link
He had nowhere to but down, basically. So he went there.
― Οὖτις, Saturday, 14 February 2015 16:29 (nine years ago) link
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.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 14 February 2015 16:34 (nine years ago) link
Cf i'm payin taxes (what am i buyin)
― Οὖτις, Saturday, 14 February 2015 22:34 (nine years ago) link