James Brown - Live At Home With His Bad Self (Oct. 25, 2019)

James Brown ‘Live At Home with His Bad Self’ For 50th Anniversary Release

James Brown’s celebrated homecoming concert in Augusta, Georgia will have its 50th anniversary marked by Republic/UMe’s first-ever release of the complete show on 25 October. Live At Home with His Bad Self will be available on CD, 2LP vinyl, and digital audio as a full memento of the Godfather of Soul’s concert at the Bell Auditorium in Augusta on 1 October 1969.

The concert audio has been newly mixed for the release, which includes seven performances that have never been released. ‘Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose’ is now available to stream and download.

The show was recorded with the intention of making a live album, which was then scheduled as a holiday release late that year, and would commemorate his move back to Mr. Brown’s southern roots. It featured a stellar band with his esteemed saxophone player Maceo Parker and no fewer than three drummers, Parker’s brother Melvin, Jabo Starks and Clyde Stubblefield. But the line-up disbanded soon after the concert and the soul legend assembled a new group including the emerging young bassist William ‘Bootsy’ Collins.

That team soon recorded the anthemic ‘Sex Machine,’ and as that funk landmark climbed the charts without an album behind it, Brown shelved the Live At Home release and instead created the double album Sex Machine. Released in September 1970, it included a near-11-minute version of the title hit and excerpts of the Augusta show.

Fifty years on, Live at Home with His Bad Self emerges as the Godfather first planned it. It’s been newly mixed from the original analog multi-tracks by Peter A. Barker, who has mixed records by Jeff Beck, Bonnie Raitt, Babyface and others. Among the newly-available material are the instrumentals ‘Lowdown Popcorn’ and ‘Spinning Wheel,’ which were re-cut with pre-recorded applause for the Sex Machine album.

Also on Live at Home… is Brown’s hit of the time, ‘World,’ which he performed at the concert as a live vocal over the studio recording’s instrumental arrangement. Far from keeping this a secret, he explains this unusual move to the audience. ‘There Was A Time’ and ‘Mother Popcorn,’ which were heavily edited on Sex Machine, appear at twice the length. There’s also a live rendition of his 1968 hit ‘Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose,’ which appeared on Sex Machine, but as a studio re-record.


1. Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud
2. James Brown Thanks and Introduction to “World”*
3. World*
4. Stage Dialogue*
5. Lowdown Popcorn*
6. Spinning Wheel*
7. If I Ruled The World
8. Kansas City*
9. Introduction to Startime
10. I Don’t Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing (Open Up the Door I’ll Get It Myself)
11. I Got The Feelin’*/Licking Stick-Licking Stick
12. Try Me*
13. There Was A Time **
14. Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose*
15. It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World
16. Please, Please, Please
17. I Can’t Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)
18. Mother Popcorn **

* Previously Unreleased / All other performances, though previously issued in some form, are presented in new mixes, including: ** Extended from track’s original release

 

FANTASTIC! Been too long since we had an archival JB release.

 

I miss Hip-O.

 

Yep. What a glorious run of JB reissues they did! We were spoiled back then.

 

Between the JB reissues and Marvin Gaye deluxe releases...and I'm sure some stuff I'm forgetting.

 

Awesome. The "Mother Popcorn" from this show is the 9-minute monster that sounds like 1980s King Crimson. Also found on the Foundations Of Funk comp. Gotta get this CD, it's a mother!

 

This looks like a must buy to me. I’ve got James coming out of my ears but he rarely disappoints. This is the swan song of that killer classic line up. They were like a well oiled machine and had been touring relentlessly honing their sound. And ultimately the core players ended up having a lifetime of orbiting in the gravitational pull of James Brown’s music and bands. It made them stars in their own right.

No disrespect to the great Sex Machine, but it took Bootsy and those kids from Cleveland a minute to catch up with James.

 

Here's the full "Mother Popcorn" from the Augusta show, as released (and mixed) for the Foundations Of Funk compilation. It's a 9-minute machine, sounds better than the version on Sex Machine.

Will be interesting to see how they mix this new one. That bass sounded pretty fat on the sample.

 

Amazing, out of all the stuff coming out in the next couple of months, this is the one I'm looking forward to most.

Shades of Miles Davis' mid 70s live stuff towards the end there.

 

I probably won't get any support for this, but Mother Popcorn always reminds me of Discipline-era King Crimson! I could imagine a seated Robert Fripp playing a guitar pattern behind this.

 

I hear you & I'm a huge KC fan too.

 

I don't know if I could stretch that connection, but I love KC and James Brown, so you're not alone there at least.

 

This is total madness! Brutal!

 

Ouch. I love James Brown and should be excited about this release but...I can't get past out how out of tune the bass is on that live version.

 

Damn, I need this too. Is it available to pre-order?

 

It's certainly up on Amazon UK.

 

JB with J&B!

 

RSDBF '19 Special Release: James Brown - Live at Home: The After Show



A complement to the 50th anniversary release of Live at Home With His Bad Self (which itself is an expansion of a 1969 live show that was heavily edited into the LP 'Sex Machine'), this RSD Black Friday exclusive is the after-show set, featuring extended versions of rare (released) cuts, new mixes, a duet with Marva Whitney, some revealing stage patter and an onstage interview conducted by James Brown's school principal.

Side 1: 1. “Baby Here I Come (false start & complete take)” 2. “Spinning Wheel (take 1)” 3. “Spinning Wheel (take 2)”

Side 2: 1. “Rehearsal” 2. “Respect” 3. “A Talk With James Brown/You Got To Have A Job” 4. “Fat Wood (rehearsal)” 5. “Fat Wood”

 

I hate having to learn about this release for BLACK Friday RSD list but still an archival James Brown live album? Please, please, please (please please take me my money).

 

The recent Motherlode LP sounds fantastic! So I hope Ume does this record well too.

 

I'm very, very excited about this album.

Keep going back to the YouTube clip for a listen & currently reading Kill 'Em & Leave.

 

Has anyone picked this up? How's it sound?

 

I've just listened to it.

Sounds great for a 50 year old live recording. The performance itself really kicks into gear after the 'Star time introduction'.

The band are absolutely on fire here, some incendiary stuff.

 

This LP is phenomenal.

The bass does go out of tune a wee bit after the first verse of Give it Up & Turn it Loose but it almost adds to the madness.

I remember once working with a woman who loved her Northern Soul & she always said James Brown couldn't really sing, I would love to play her this album because he sounds like he's from a different planet here, unbelievable.