Looking for the best single disc James Brown comp, any suggestions?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Jason Pumphrey, Jul 24, 2017.

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  1. HappyFingers

    HappyFingers Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, England
    Astoundingly good. Wish it was on vinyl. Most of those mixes never made it to wax.
    The Give It Up Or Turn It A Loose mix is way better than the In The Jungle Groove one.
     
    Rfreeman likes this.
  2. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    Yep, have 'em both. Love Peace Power is of course the essential live companion piece.
     
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  3. kevin5brown

    kevin5brown Analog or bust.

    Ahem, err, yeah. That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid.

    :D

    So you'd still take Star Time over the individual Polydor compilations, cool.
     
    SOONERFAN likes this.
  4. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    If you want to make a purchase that will be a waste once you get all the other stuff. That's why I suggested a 1 disc comp that is wall to wall greatness from his funkiest band and isn't going to be redundant. :)
     
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  5. SOONERFAN

    SOONERFAN Forum Resident

    Location:
    Norman, Oklahoma
    Star Time has the best mastering IMHO and is a more concise set than those Polydor comps. Those Polydor sets are great for the extended versions and other stuff not on Star Time. Again, its that whole rabbit hole thing. Given you are trying to avoid that, Star Time is clearly the best option if you ask me.
     
  6. I have The Best of James Brown on Polydor, PD-1-6340. It was the only way I could find a clean copy of "There Was A Time." (A personal favorite of mine, along with James' version of "How Do You Stop", on Gravity.)

    Single LP, 11 of his best. Amazon is featuring a seller advertising an LP in new sealed condition for an astounding amount of money- $270, for a greatest hits compilation from the 1980s. For that price, it had better be in new condition. fwiw, Discogs has copies advertised as M- for around 1/10 the money. CD copies are considerably more reasonably priced.

    The JBs instrumental records are well worth hunting up, too.
     
    Last edited: May 17, 2018
  7. kevin5brown

    kevin5brown Analog or bust.

    Great, thank you. :)

    I suppose a topic of another thread could be, what other great James Brown tracks are here, typically not on any compilation. I checked those Polydor releases, and The Boss isn't there either!
     
  8. tubesandvinyl

    tubesandvinyl Forum Resident

    Do you know if the LP version was mastered newly for vinyl by Seth Foster, or did it use the CD mastering from '91?

    Vinyl was cut by RJ at Sterling. Some of the songs are a bit bright and steely. Not sure if it's the recordings, though Sterling tends to be a bit of a bright house sound.
     
    Last edited: Dec 29, 2019
  9. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    Get one or the other. I like the mastering on The CD of JB.
     
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  10. Autumn Aarilyn

    Autumn Aarilyn New Member

    Location:
    Middletown NY
    Those two disc Polydor comps are really good especially if you like his funkier middle period side. Star Time 4 cd box does go back to the 50's and that's great if that's your cup of tea.

    Almost all of the cds mentioned here are going to go up in value to a point where purchasing them is going to be prohibitive with waiting periods. So look at it as an investment. Unless you really are on a budget or have other more pressing titles on the wants list, I'd budget around $300-500 and get what you desire after previewing the songs on youtube or allmusic. Almost all Hippo-select boxes and multi-disc comps are out of reach and James had 11 of them featuring all his singles in their hit versions. I wouldn't recommend acquiring his albums on cd until his very late 60's period as most Lps consisted of songs from other albums, inferior live versions, flips, and prior hits. I got lucky and never had to pay up for any of his cds but the window is closing much like it did on his vinyl records in the early 90's.
     
  11. Jason Pumphrey

    Jason Pumphrey Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I now own both CD of JB's, found them at my local thrift shop for .33 a piece (they sell Cds 3 for a buck), good stuff indeed!
     
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  12. Roland Stone

    Roland Stone Offending Member

    For the uninitiated unwilling to buy STAR TIME -- despite my recommendation that it's the greatest single-artist box set ever! -- I'd recommend those two CD OF JB comps, or for the extremely miserly, 20 ALL-TIME GREATEST HITS.
     
    Jason Pumphrey likes this.
  13. Jason Pumphrey

    Jason Pumphrey Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I will be getting Star Time in the near future!
     
  14. Andreas

    Andreas Senior Member

    Location:
    Frankfurt, Germany
    The two CD of JB compilations have different mixes than 20 All Time Greatest Hits for several songs. I believe the latter uses single mixes.
     
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