James Brown Appreciation Thread!

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by JohnnyQuest, Oct 17, 2014.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. JohnnyQuest

    JohnnyQuest Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Paradise
    James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American recording artist and musician. One of the founding fathers of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century popular music and dance, he is often referred to as "The Godfather of Soul". In a career that spanned six decades, Brown influenced the development of several music genres.

    Brown began his career as a gospel singer in Toccoa, Georgia. Joining an R&B vocal group called the Avons that later evolved to become The Famous Flames, Brown served as the group's lead singer. First coming to national public attention in the late 1950s as a member of The Flames with the ballads "Please, Please, Please" and "Try Me", Brown built a reputation as a tireless live performer with the singing group The Famous Flames and his backing band, sometimes known as the James Brown Band or the James Brown Orchestra. Brown's success peaked in the 1960s with the live album Live at the Apollo and hit singles such as "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag", "I Got You" and "It's a Man's Man's Man's World". During the late 1960s, Brown moved from a continuum of blues and gospel-based forms and styles to a profoundly "Africanized" approach to music-making that influenced the development of funk music. By the early 1970s, Brown had fully established the funk sound after the formation of The J.B.'s with records such as "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" and "The Payback". Brown also became notable for songs of social commentary, including the 1968 hit "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud". Brown continued to perform and record for the duration of his life until his death in 2006 from congestive heart failure.

    Brown recorded 16 number-one singles on the Billboard R&B charts. Brown also holds the record as the artist to have charted the most singles on the Billboard Hot 100 which did not reach number one on that chart. Brown was honored by many institutions including inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame. In Joel Whitburn's analysis of the Billboard R&B charts from 1942 to 2010, Hot R&B Songs, James Brown is ranked as number one in The Top 500 Artists. Brown is ranked seventh on the music magazine Rolling Stone's list of its 100 greatest artists of all time.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

     
  2. analog74

    analog74 Forum Resident

    I am so grateful to having been able to catch him live twice in the early/mid 90's. Though, my time travel intinerary includes seeing him in the late 60's with the Famous Flames, he still threw down 25 years later!
     
    Man at C&A, Hep Alien and BwanaBob like this.
  3. trebori

    trebori Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rochester, NY
    James Brown is one of my paragons of music. Hell, he made high art out of a track called "Hot Pants"!

    I never saw him live but have been listening to him since around 1963. One of the first records I ever bought was the single to Prisoner Of Love. I remember my mother exclaiming "Who's ruining that beautiful song?" Perry Como it wasn't. It may be one of those tracks that doesn't translate well to today (w/strings and chorus) but back in the day, it was really something for a 11 year old kid growing up in small town upstate NY....especially the rideout at the end.

    Unfortunately never had the chance to see him live in his prime. Did have the opportunity in the late 80s-90s but didn't particularly care to by that point.

    For me, he really petered out around 1974. The last single I ever really enjoyed of his was "Funky President", his ode to Gerald Ford. Rather silly but still a great track. I'm a big fan of his later albums: Payback and Hell. He lost the best people of his band after that time and (IMHO) he never regained his supremacy after that. But that was a pretty long run. He's one of those people the likes of which I don't think we'll ever see again, much like Coltrane, Miles Davis and Duke Ellington.

    Thankfully he's been well-represented by reissues. Any LP that had been curated by Cliff White is probably worth buying, particularly In The Jungle Groove.
    Loved the singles reissues series by HipO.

    To the OP: you're a younger person, aren't you. What does he mean to you? What do you like? What don't you like?
     
  4. mooseman

    mooseman Forum Resident

    Love James Brown since I saw him on TV when I was a kid in the 60's. I was digging all the British bands but when I saw James, he just blew me away. I grew up Newark NJ and I was lucky to have a mix bag of friends in a urban setting.
    I'm rocker but I love my Funk and R&B, mostly 70's bands. I still have many of his original JB albums and a few reissues and a nice collection of Funk records.
     
  5. analog74

    analog74 Forum Resident

    Some good points and I agree, the singles series is essential. I'll add that in my opinion, he started to peter out a little earlier. Around 69/70, when he started becoming more aggressive and a even little bit of a caricature of himself. I'm probably in the minority preferring the Flames over the JB's. Anyhow, this has always been one of my favorite songs of his. The performance blew me away the first time and still does. It's incredibly fast but works! Clyde is working overtime!!

     
    Man at C&A, beatsurrender and Beech like this.
  6. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    I respect but don't love his early stuff in the first Apollo album era, but his output starting with Maceo's debut around the time of I Got You rocks my world, and he remained on fire through the mid 70s at least. After that I prefer the work done by his proteges Maceo, Fred, Pee Wee, Bootsy and Catfish in other contexts. Did have the joy of seeing him twice later in his career. Once at Central Park Summerstage (introduced by Rev Al S.) and once at Bergen County PAC. He was clearly in oldies act territory by this time, but still full of infectious joy that ensured a fine time was had by all.
     
    Man at C&A and Hep Alien like this.
  7. maccafan

    maccafan Senior Member

    The hardest working man in show business, the absolute Godfather of soul, the inventor of funk, what else can be said except there will never ever be another!

    Teddy Pendergrass said that he was the funkiest man in the world and I totally agree, you had to hit the dancefloor when a JB record came on!

    One of my absolute faves is the song Body Heat, to this day when I play this song at a party, the dancefloor just fills up!

    Listen to the early material, the man could really sing, much more than just the funky grunts and screams!

    JB forever!!
     
  8. npc145

    npc145 music junkie

    One of my all time favorite artists. I probably play James Brown more than any other artist.
    Saw him with the full revue at Radio City Music Hall in 1986 on the Living In America Tour.
     
  9. jjhunsecker

    jjhunsecker Senior Member

    Location:
    New York city
    One of the all-time greats- equal to the Beatles, the Stones, Bob Dylan, Elvis P in terms of quality and influence. I was lucky to see him in a pretty small auditorium at New York University in 1981
     
    Man at C&A likes this.
  10. leshafunk

    leshafunk Forum Resident

    Location:
    Moscow, Russia
    Having 5 of his albums on the way from Japan to my home right now, I gladly join this thread.
    He is The Man!!!

    And yes, I was lucky to see him live in Moscow in 2002.
    [​IMG]
     
    JohnnyQuest and Dan Steely like this.
  11. The Deacon

    The Deacon Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Canada
  12. BwanaBob

    BwanaBob Forum Resident

    Location:
    Maryland, USA
    Saw JB in 1986 and 2004. Both shows were incredible. My heart was broken that Christmas day, learning of his passing.
     
    Hep Alien likes this.
  13. michael landes

    michael landes Forum Resident

    Saw him live three times in the late sixties/early seventies and NEVER GOT OVER IT. The TAMI show performance give you NO IDEA! In fact, as I recollect there was a
    parallel performance he gave, almost identical, on some Brit tv show about the same time that smokes the TAMI show performance. as if the TAMI
    show were a half hearted run through for this other. Does any body out there know the Brit t.v. performance I'm thinking of. It must have been
    Ready, Steady, Go or Top of the Pops or something like that. but his performance took up the entire half hour and smoked.
     
    CliffL likes this.
  14. Preston

    Preston Forum Resident

    Location:
    KCMO Metro USA
    I saw James Brown in the late 80s at a terrible venue (Worlds of Fun - an amusement park in the Kansas City metro) and he was dynamite! Just blew me away (and I go to a lot of concerts, so I'm not easily impressed). The professionalism of he and his band was outstanding. I wish I had a time machine, so that I could see him in his prime.

    Now, when are we getting remastered versions of all of his albums on LP and high resolution digital! It's ridiculous that someone of his stature hasn't had a big re-issue campaign yet.
     
  15. Well, owning approximately 70 CDs by James Brown (and even more including artists he produced), I think you could say I quite like Mr. Brown's music. :edthumbs:
     
    CliffL likes this.
  16. The Deacon

    The Deacon Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Canada
  17. blutiga

    blutiga Forum Resident

    James Brown!!! And so versatile too.
     
  18. CliffL

    CliffL Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sacramento CA USA
    It was James Brown who more than any other artist who got me into music. I started buying records in 1970 and the very first record I wanted to buy was "Sex Machine" which I heard at school when somebody played it on the jukebox. I was floored by how cool it was, especially that hypnotic guitar line played by Catfish Collins. But it was no longer in stores, having fallen off the charts, so I didn't get it until six months later at a store in Watts, LA.

    The first record by James I did buy was "Super Bad" in December 1970...also bought "Immigrant Song/Hey, Hey What Can I Do" by Led Zeppelin the same day. Both records are terrific, but I gave James the nod as being the better of the two!
     
  19. zebop

    zebop Well Known Stranger

    Isn't that the truth about James and around 1974. I always wondered what it was, the death of his son Teddy, the band member exodus, something. I like Payback, love Hell and even like Reality. After that, he started making atrocious albums.

    Jam/1980's is an ok one though---it just wasn't strong enough to make anyone forget those albums from 75-77, a mess and right in the middle of the disco era at that...
     
    CliffL likes this.
  20. PHILLYQ

    PHILLYQ Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn NY
    He and Nick Nolte, maybe best mug shots ever!:)
     
    EasterEverywhere likes this.
  21. JohnnyQuest

    JohnnyQuest Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Paradise
    Love this mugshot. Long live the Godfather!!
     
  22. JohnnyQuest

    JohnnyQuest Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Paradise
    Yes. Well I've heard at least 75 of his songs sampled in Hip-Hop songs that I know very well. So I was quite familiar with his music just by hearing it looped by other artists.
    His influence on Rap and Funk is major in every sense of the word. He's the originator of those genres.
    The first song I ever heard by him was called "Living in America". I remember singing and dancing to that song when I was a child watching Rocky. At the time I didn't know who he was I just knew the music was good enough to catch my attention and make me want to dance. If it wasn't for him who knows what two of my favorite artists would've been like. (Prince & MJ) MJ covered a James Brown song and imitated his performance style in his Motown audition. Prince channels James Brown in every performance he does. You can sense that by his moves and just the energy. Same goes with Mick Jagger. You can tell after seeing JB control that stage it changed their lives forever and ours as well.
    What he was doing around his golden years were nothing like anyone else was doing around that time. He's in his own league so it's imposible to compare him to anyone else. Going over his catalog today is quite impressive and I enjoy everything from his early hits like Please,Please,Please,Try Me,I Want You So Bad to his later funk grooves like Popcorn,Get on the Good Foot,Superbad,Superslick,etc. It doesn't matter if you don't listen to that genre or unfamiliar with his work if those grooves don't move you there's something wrong. I'm glad that I was about to going through his robust body of work and pick out which singles I needed for my playlist. I wasted half a week's paycheck on it and it was worth every dollar.
    He's a wonderful artist,singer and performer. Many speak on his showmanship and forget how great of a singer he was. When he sang I Want You So Bad it was like he was pouring his heart out at that mic and really declaring his love for that woman.
    The intensity through his vocal performance was so powerful there were moments where I had to pause the music and take a breather myself. Now that's saying something.
     
    Milkweed and CliffL like this.
  23. CliffL

    CliffL Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sacramento CA USA
    I mentioned above about starting my music buying career with James Brown records, and it's been informative reading the posts on this thread! It's hard to convey how prolific James Brown was in his prime in the very early 70s...it seemed like every
    month he would come out with a brilliant, mind-blowing new 45. I remember getting in rapid succession records like "Sex Machine", Super Bad", Get Up Get Into It Get Involved", "Soul Power". Some of the local record stores (in Victorville CA where I lived) had many 45s from his back catalogue in stock and I bought every one I could get my hands on like "Cold Sweat", Licking
    Stick" Say It loud I'm Black and I'm Proud" and "Brother Rapp". I remember thinking Brother Rapp was one of the most demented sounding records I had ever heard...but it was totally awesome! All these tunes are favorites of mine today.
     
    trebori and JohnnyQuest like this.
  24. trebori

    trebori Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rochester, NY
    Yes yes yes! It was amazing, especially today considering people have to wait 3 years for a new release by a major artist. It's ridiculous. I remember reading an interview with Prince where he said he'd ride his bike down to the local record store every week and it seemed like there was a new James Brown single. And in his 80s heyday Prince was releasing records at a (comparatively) furious pace. In his autobiography, Miles Davis said that when he signed to Warner Bros, some of the higher ups wanted him to talk Prince into slowing down, to not record and release so much. Miles refused saying something like, why would he do that? Why would anyone want to stop a creative person from doing what he does best? (Don't have the exact quote handy so I'm paraphrasing.) JB clearly had a major influence on Prince in many ways.
     
    CliffL and JohnnyQuest like this.
  25. JohnnyQuest

    JohnnyQuest Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Paradise
    Release so much? Wasn't it one album per year? I wasn't around that time so I have no idea how frequent his music releases were.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine