― man, Monday, 25 November 2002 22:22 (twenty-one years ago) link
― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 25 November 2002 22:28 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Leo Lonergan (Leo), Tuesday, 26 November 2002 11:13 (twenty-one years ago) link
Of course, everything else is essential as well.
― James Ball (James Ball), Tuesday, 26 November 2002 12:35 (twenty-one years ago) link
The PaybackSex MachineThere 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.
― tigerclawskank, Tuesday, 26 November 2002 14:43 (twenty-one years ago) link
I personally would prob'ly recommend the Live at the Apollo albums first, as they have such a great tight rowdy vibe to 'em.
― nickalicious, Tuesday, 26 November 2002 14:46 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 30 November 2002 00:49 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Jordan (Jordan), Saturday, 30 November 2002 01:53 (twenty-one years ago) link
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.
― Douglas, Saturday, 30 November 2002 05:46 (twenty-one years ago) link
― James Blount (James Blount), Saturday, 30 November 2002 05:50 (twenty-one years ago) link
My fave track is 'There Was a Time' ... incredible ... dunno which album it is on tho'
YoursJan
― Jan Geerinck, Saturday, 30 November 2002 10:41 (twenty-one years ago) link
Ehm, the third...
― JoB (JoB), Saturday, 30 November 2002 13:20 (twenty-one years ago) link
― J0hn Darn13ll3 (J0hn Darn13ll3), Saturday, 30 November 2002 13:58 (twenty-one years ago) link
― James Blount (James Blount), Sunday, 1 December 2002 09:31 (twenty-one years ago) link
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. ;-)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 1 December 2002 19:10 (twenty-one years ago) link
I think that James Brown and Leroy Finkelstein are perhaps the two greatest influences on music today.
― Kevin John Bozelka, Thursday, 14 July 2011 19:13 (twelve years ago) link
Weird Al...ok
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 14 July 2011 19:48 (twelve years ago) link
perhaps, Kevin John Bozelka, perhaps
― relentlessly googling hipster (Hurting 2), Thursday, 14 July 2011 19:51 (twelve years ago) link
I think you're at least half correct.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 14 July 2011 23:42 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― runaway (Matt P), Monday, 12 September 2011 21:02 (twelve years ago) link
HIT ME
Love Power Peace is huge.
― runaway (Matt P), Monday, 12 September 2011 23:37 (twelve years ago) link
keep an eye out for any JBs records
― you will always be wrong (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 12 September 2011 23:43 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― runaway (Matt P), Monday, 12 September 2011 23:47 (twelve years ago) link
can i just
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PKpQwQ4ZGQ
― runaway (Matt P), Wednesday, 14 September 2011 20:39 (twelve years ago) link
^^THIS IS A BIG DEAL
― runaway (Matt P), Wednesday, 14 September 2011 20:43 (twelve years ago) link
lol at bored horn section
― you will always be wrong (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 14 September 2011 20:46 (twelve years ago) link
Abercrombie and Fitch | Hot Boy Shower Kiss | Give it up or turn it loose | James Brown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brdFtc4V4LI
― Kevin John Bozelka, Wednesday, 28 March 2012 22:06 (twelve years ago) link
hmm. anyone read the new bio? http://soul-sides.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/802775.jpgwords 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
― tylerw, Wednesday, 28 March 2012 22:08 (twelve years ago) link
Just became aware of it this morning and downloaded the beginning, seems pretty good so far. That and the Wrecking Crew book.
― Singularities Going Steady (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 29 March 2012 01:07 (twelve years ago) link
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/
― Singularities Going Steady (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 29 March 2012 01:52 (twelve years ago) link
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
― MIke Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 6 April 2012 15:43 (twelve years ago) link
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
― MIke Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 7 April 2012 03:46 (twelve years ago) link
Just got this, can't wait to dig into it.
― Dancing with Mr. T (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 7 April 2012 04:46 (twelve years ago) link
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
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 7 April 2012 15:42 (twelve years ago) link
Maybe we can dig through the EMPthread to see if it's mentioned
― MIke Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 7 April 2012 15:50 (twelve years ago) link
Just got up to the "Rumble in the Jungle"
― MIke Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 8 April 2012 01:12 (twelve years ago) link
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
― MIke Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 8 April 2012 18:41 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― zing left unguarded, the j/k palace in flames (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 11 April 2012 02:35 (twelve years ago) link
got this from the library -- great so far!
― tylerw, Wednesday, 11 April 2012 02:47 (twelve years ago) link
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
― zing left unguarded, the j/k palace in flames (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 11 April 2012 03:05 (twelve years ago) link
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!
― Fastnbulbous, Wednesday, 11 April 2012 21:49 (twelve years ago) link
I had always heard that that was the incident that got Bootsy fired, but apparently that is not the case.
― zing left unguarded, the j/k palace in flames (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 11 April 2012 21:51 (twelve years ago) link
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
― Jilly Boel and the Eltones (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 11 April 2012 21:52 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― zing left unguarded, the j/k palace in flames (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 11 April 2012 22:01 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― zing left unguarded, the j/k palace in flames (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 11 April 2012 22:03 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― Fastnbulbous, Thursday, 12 April 2012 05:22 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― zing left unguarded, the j/k palace in flames (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 12 April 2012 09:50 (twelve years ago) link
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
He grew that terrible mustache.
― aybaybayfan (The Reverend), Sunday, 15 February 2015 04:30 (nine years ago) link
I forget how disgustingly funky "The Payback" is
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Thursday, 16 January 2020 21:26 (four years ago) link
must be that five alarm chili
― Disco Cladistic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 January 2020 21:52 (four years ago) link
I dunno karate... but I know KA-RAZAY
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 January 2020 21:55 (four years ago) link
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
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Thursday, 16 January 2020 22:15 (four years ago) link
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."
― the public eating of beans (Sparkle Motion), Thursday, 16 January 2020 23:51 (four years ago) link
Wesley's book is great
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 January 2020 23:56 (four years ago) link
love that book
― Disco Cladistic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 January 2020 23:57 (four years ago) link
This is atypical, but my favourite JB jam nonetheless https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYxROl4p8HE
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Tuesday, 21 January 2020 16:41 (four years ago) link
why?
that's an odd one. Seems to think he's singing "What's Going On" at the beginning.
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 21 January 2020 16:47 (four years ago) link
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.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 9 July 2020 01:04 (three years ago) link
https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/how-james-browns-star-time-revolutionized-the-box-set-game-and-cemented-his-legacy/
― candyman, Monday, 10 May 2021 15:06 (three years ago) link
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?)
― birdistheword, Monday, 10 May 2021 15:12 (three years ago) link
Pearl?
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 10 May 2021 15:14 (three years ago) link
by which I meant Janis, of course.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 10 May 2021 15:15 (three years ago) link
https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/how-james-browns-star-time-revolutionized-the-box-set-game-and-cemented-his-legacy🕸/
― Van Halen dot Senate dot flashlight (Boring, Maryland), Monday, 10 May 2021 15:17 (three years ago) link
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.
― candyman, Monday, 10 May 2021 15:19 (three years ago) link
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.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Monday, 10 May 2021 15:22 (three years ago) link
i started to watch that once on tv, but dont think i can take anyone acting as JB seriously.
― candyman, Monday, 10 May 2021 15:26 (three years ago) link
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.
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 11 May 2021 03:22 (three years ago) link
Here’s James at the Grand Ole Opry: https://digi.countrymusichalloffame.org/digital/collection/musicaudio/id/7384/rec/38
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 12 March 2022 22:32 (two years ago) link
drummer on I've Got Money is out of this worldhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLUmCV6I-HA
― corrs unplugged, Saturday, 26 November 2022 10:23 (one year ago) link
Hell yeah. I'm not familiar enough of his pre-Clyde recordings, aside from the big ones.
― change display name (Jordan), Monday, 28 November 2022 17:24 (one year ago) link
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]
― curmudgeon, Monday, 28 November 2022 22:24 (one year ago) link
Great song . Need to read up on drummer Clayton Fillyau
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 29 November 2022 20:27 (one year ago) link
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-3kMThe Payback - James Brown - Live - Zaire 1974
― corrs unplugged, Saturday, 14 January 2023 12:32 (one year ago) link
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/
― curmudgeon, Monday, 19 February 2024 18:34 (three months ago) link
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.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 20 February 2024 17:01 (three months ago) link
I would very much like to see this, although it looks like it will be tricky without a cable/tv provider
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Tuesday, 20 February 2024 17:17 (three months ago) link
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 .
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 20 February 2024 23:01 (three months ago) link
The first episode is streaming on the A&E website; maybe they'll put the second one up soon.
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Tuesday, 20 February 2024 23:16 (three months ago) link
That’s good. I have watched first 2 , and dvr’d 3rd and 4.th
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 21 February 2024 23:12 (three months ago) link
https://www.aetv.com/shows/james-brown-say-it-loud
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 22 February 2024 17:05 (three months ago) link
I watched first ep last night on my phone through cable provider. Hopefully will watch rest soon. Ads are slightly annoying though.
― The Ginger Bakersfield Sound (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 22 February 2024 18:03 (three months ago) link
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.
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Thursday, 22 February 2024 18:05 (three months ago) link
Some of the live music clips feel a bit short.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 22 February 2024 18:19 (three months ago) link
I'm sure it will just frustrate me that the full footage presumably exists but is not available :(
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Thursday, 22 February 2024 18:23 (three months ago) link
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.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 22 February 2024 19:15 (three months ago) link
Questlove is in it too
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 22 February 2024 19:16 (three months ago) link
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.
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Thursday, 22 February 2024 19:28 (three months ago) link
Executive Producers Mick Jagger and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson iirc.
― The Ginger Bakersfield Sound (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 22 February 2024 19:40 (three months ago) link
McBride was actually in Brown's band at one point (or at least backed him at a single concert; I forget the story).
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Thursday, 22 February 2024 19:43 (three months ago) link
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
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Thursday, 22 February 2024 19:49 (three months ago) link
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)
― I would prefer not to. (Chinaski), Saturday, 1 June 2024 12:28 (one week ago) link
always fascinating
― corrs unplugged, Monday, 3 June 2024 12:25 (one week ago) link
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
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Monday, 3 June 2024 15:07 (one week ago) link
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
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 4 June 2024 21:14 (six days ago) link