James Brown Appreciation Thread!

Fantastic link. Thank you.
Led me to this clip:

 

Brown demanded extreme discipline, perfection and precision from his musicians and dancers — performers in his Revue showed up for rehearsals and members wore the right "uniform" or "costume" for concert performances. During an interview conducted by Terri Gross during the NPR segment "Fresh Air" with Maceo Parker, a former saxophonist in Brown's band for most of the 1960s and part of the 1970s and 1980s, Parker offered his experience with the discipline that Brown demanded of the band:

"You gotta be on time. You gotta have your uniform. Your stuff's got to be intact. You gotta have the bow tie. You got to have it. You can't come up without the bow tie. You cannot come up without a cummerbund ... [The] patent leather shoes we were wearing at the time gotta be greased. You just gotta have this stuff. This is what [Brown expected] ... [Brown] bought the costumes. He bought the shoes. And if for some reason [the band member decided] to leave the group, [Brown told the person to] please leave my uniforms ...." —Maceo Parker

Brown also had a practice of directing, correcting and assessing fines on members of his band who broke his rules, such as wearing unshined shoes, dancing out of sync or showing up late on stage. During some of his concert performances, Brown danced in front of his band with his back to the audience as he slid across the floor, flashing hand signals and splaying his pulsating fingers to the beat of the music. Although audiences thought Brown's dance routine was part of his act, this practice was actually his way of pointing to the offending member of his troupe who played or sang the wrong note or committed some other infraction. Brown used his splayed fingers and hand signals to alert the offending person of the fine that person must pay to him for breaking his rules.

Brown's demands of his support acts were, however, quite the reverse. As Fred Wesley recalled of his time as MD of the JBs, if Brown felt intimidated by a support act he would try "To undermine their performances by shortening their sets without notice, demanding that they not do certain showstopping songs, and even insisting on doing the unthinkable, playing drums on some of their songs. A sure set killer."

 

GIMME SOME FUNKY HORNS !!

 

Great list! I have about 18 of the albums on there (plus a bunch of other JB stuff that's not in the link), but it's too bad that so many titles from that list are tough to find on CD, or not available on CD at all....

 

I was at that concert -- incredible night. I also saw JB live 13 other times

One night my wife and I were at his show at Studio 54 -- we were standing -- well, dancing actually -- right at the stage. What a night. Another time at The Lone Star Cafe -- he and the band were absolutely smokin'. Before his set, I was heading into the head and the door swung open -- it was JB holding the door -- I stammered something about how great he is and he smiled that JB smile and literally grunted -- I kid you not -- heh, yeah, heh heh...

JB was a great artist. Think about how different his music is from what his influences were -- i.e. r&b, gospel, etc. That syncopated funky thing is all his. And, the dancing! Who comes close? Also, I think he's underrated as a singer -- a lot of emotion, great range and phrasing when he actually sang.

 

Absolutely great post.

 

Just learned "I'll Go Crazy" on guitar....now can't get that outa my head....

You! Got ta live! For yourself! Yourself and nobody else....

Saw James about 10 times...first, with Bootsy and Catfish in 69 or 70, and then several times over next 3 years with Wesley, Maceo, St. Clair and the gang...interviewed him in 1976 (what a truly strange man...) and then saw him another 6 or 7 times between then and 1984, when he stopped doing splits and the Camel Walk....

 

Awww, please give us details on interviewing him!

 

I like that song also, I first heard it on the "Say It Loud" LP in 1971 -one of the first LPs I ever bought, by the way. It's one of his
best albums...to me James was frequently more of a singles artist. Another song on that LP I'm crazy about is "Goodbye My Love" which is sort of an orchestrated funk number.

 

Thanks. I'll seek that album out.

 

Pretty hazy on the blow-by-blow, but it was in Baltimore, actually in 1977, where the Godfather was facing a lawsuit over control and debts of his last radio station, WEBB. He had already lost the others and was due to testify in court over his long-range stewardship from Atlanta or wherever he lived then. I approached him during a lunch break and by 77, he didn't have much of a coterie of hangers on because he was so deeply in debt. We sat down and first thing I noticed that he had no eyebrows--there were black streaks of some sort of eyeliner. He didn't notice my shock and immediately began ranting about how the leeches of the world were trying to bring him down. He said he had singlehandedly saved America from race riots in '68 and was going to sue disco music composers for stealing his riffs (this was long before rap artists began doing it). Then he babbled on about how friendly he was with presidents, from Nixon to Carter, who had won the year before. He kept on with the paranoia about his enemies kept trying to bring him down, so eventually I thanked him and left. Apparently his enemies won. He lost the station and was later arrested by federal marshals in Harlem just before a show at the Apollo and flown back to Baltimore in cuffs and jailed there in contempt of court charges.

 

Anyone else see that Sundazed is releasing a three LP live set of a 1971 show in Paris that was never released? I'm looking forward to that!

 

Thanks for that. The Godfather was a very complicated man who only seemed to get more out there the older he got.

 

Anyone JB funk fan hasn't heard the version of "Give It Up or Turn It Loose" on the Funk Power compilation owes it to him/herself to check it out. It's the studio take that had fake applause slathered over it on the Sex Machine album, later released on In The Jungle Groove in a more processed, slightly shorter mix. It grooves incredibly hard.

 

I love James Brown. All respect to the Godfather of Soul.

 

About 20 years ago I had a "James Brown"-phase and although I don't listen to his music very often, every now and then some tracks of 'Star Time' will be played. The man was a considerable force and talent from (for me) '63 to '75. It must have been a hard job to be a band member; long working days (some tracks were recorded after or before concerts) and getting fined for missed beats and faulty clothing....but the sound was hard-hitting and perfect and the man himself was a Mr. Dynamite!

 

His biopic that came out recently was extremely disappointing. C'mon Mick! How did you even give that the green light?!

 

Great thread!
Also, here are some excellent sources of information on this message board and a few other gems:
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/james-browns-funky-people.9188/
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/feelin-funky-james-brown-fans.32171/
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/james-brown-on-cd.47985/
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...essential-albums-i-shouldnt-be-without.90551/
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/what-are-the-essential-james-brown-albums.120539/
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...-are-the-essential-james-brown-albums.194620/
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/james-brown-longest-versions.269407/
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/james-brown-remasters.382917/
http://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/artist/james-brown
http://sound.jp/oresama/jbhistory.htm
http://www.bsnpubs.com/polydor/people.pdf
http://www.soulfulkindamusic.net/people.htm
http://jb-escape.sakura.ne.jp/jbdisco/jbdisco-e.html
http://jb-escape.sakura.ne.jp/jbfamily/familydisco-e.html

 

Haven't seen it yet. What didn't you like about it?

 

The Sun'll Come-ouuTah!.....Tommmoruh!

 

Star Time is still a great box set with a great track selection.
And the live At The Apollo albums are great to have.
You have to still get Rocky 4's soundtrack if you want Living In America.

 

The scenes were very sporadic. It focused more on his performances rather than the music itself. (We already know he's the master on stage but please can we see the making of his greatest hits?)
They portrayed him as a self indulged alcoholic cokehead. Also in the movie Bobby Byrd was only a yes man. C'mon now wtf...
Anyone that knows James Brown's music knows how prominent Bobby Byrd was to the creation of that sound. (Funk)

 

Why would anyone want that?

 

Very disappointing, but I expected it to be that way. A lot of inaccuracies. A film on James Brown being rated PG-13 immediately has to be met with skepticism.