Home > Music > R&B > Soul > Live At The Apollo 1962 [Remaster]

Performer: James Brown
Artist: Bobby Byrd; St. Clair Pinckney
Engineer: Tom Nola
Producer: James Brown
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: The James Brown Band: James Brown (vocals); Lucas "Fats" Gonder (spoken vocals, organ); Les Buie (guitar); Al "Brisco" Clark (tenor & baritone saxophones); St. Clair Pinckney, Clifford "Ace King" MacMillan (tenor saxophone); Louis Hamblin, Teddy Washington, Mack Johnson (trumpet); Dickie Wells (trombone); Hubert Perry (bass); Clayton Fillyau, Sam Lathan (drums). The Famous Flames: Bobby Byrd (organ, background vocals); Bobby Bennett, "Baby" Lloyd Stallworth (background vocals). Recorded live at the Apollo Theater, New York, New York on October 24, 1962. Includes liner notes by Harry Weinger, Alan Leeds, and original release liner notes by Hal Neely. Many albums are hyped as legendary; few deserve the accolade. LIVE AT THE APOLLO 1962 is one of those rare albums that lives up to the hype. Released despite label misgivings, LIVE AT THE APOLLO cemented James Brown's reputation as the unchallenged master of soul music. Deejays played the entire album at one stretch--this in an era when radio programmers rejected four-minute singles because they were too long--and the record reached number two on the Billboard pop chart, a previously unheard-of achievement for a gritty R&B album. LIVE AT THE APOLLO is more than a pop phenomenon, however; it is a document of one of America's greatest performers at the peak of his artistic powers. Brown's singing is orgasmic--just listen to the opening squeal on "I Go Crazy"--and the intensity never lets up. Brown drives his crack band through breakneck versions of early hits before dragging them through the 11-minute bump-and-grind of "Lost Someone," the high point of a show that is nothing but high points. Decades later, this is still one of the greatest live albums of all-time.

Entertainment Weekly (4/2/04, p.66) - "[B]rown's iconic 1962 concert sounds brighter [on the 2004 remaster] than on the 1990 disc." - Rating: A- Q (5/00, p.134) - Included in Q Magazine's "Best Soul Albums Of All Time" Q - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...remains Brown's finest recorded document..." Down Beat (9/90) - 5 Stars - Excellent - "...without James Brown's brilliant insight into how to foreground rhythms, music from funk to reggae to rap to Afro-pop would be totally different, if it existed at all..." NME (Magazine) (10/2/93, p.29) - Ranked #30 in NME's list of the `Greatest Albums Of All Time.'

The unrelenting intensity of James Brown's music has made him one of the most recognizable and influential performers since the 1950s. Starting out as a gospel singer, Brown soon switched to R&B and started scoring hits. As the '60s progressed, the self-proclaimed Godfather of Soul transformed the sounds of R&B into a tight, driving style that helped lay the foundations of funk. Personal troubles over the following decades threatened to sideline the ever-impassioned Brown, but he repeatedly bounced back. Countless JB samples--credited and uncredited--found on rap and hip-hop records testify to his enduring influence. The Godfather of Soul passed away on Christmas Day in 2006.

Click Here for Shipping Options and Policies

Shipping or Dimension weight in pounds: 0.25