Bobby Byrd; St. Clair Pinckney; Fats Gonder; Opening Fanfares
Label
Polydor / Umgd
Dimensions
32.5 x 0.4 x 32 centimeters (0.32 kg)
Performer 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.
An astonishing record of James and the Flames tearing the roof off the sucker at the mecca of R&B theatres, New York's Apollo. When King Records owner Syd Nathan refused to fund the recording, thinking it commercial folly, Brown single-mindedly proceeded anyway, paying for it out of his own pocket. He had been out on the road night after night for a while, and he knew that the magic that was part and parcel of a James Brown show was something no record had ever caught. Hit follows hit without a pause -- "I'll Go Crazy," "Try Me," "Think," "Please Please Please," "I Don't Mind," "Night Train," and more. The affirmative screams and cries of the audience are something you've never experienced unless you've seen the Brown Revue in a Black theater. If you have, I need not say more; if you haven't, suffice to say that this should be one of the very first records you ever own. ~ Rob Bowman
Professional Reviews
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-
Entertainment Weekly - "...a scorching live performance..." - Rating: A+
Q (5/00, p.134) - Included in Q Magazine's "Best Soul Albums Of All Time"
Q (p.132) - 5 stars out of 5 - "A serious candidate for greatest live album ever, this was the first and best document of Mr. Dynamite's numerous appearances at the Harlem hotspot."
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..."
Goldmine - Highly Recommended - "...Yowww! The greatest live album ever recorded..."
NME (Magazine) (10/2/93, p.29) - Ranked #30 in NME's list of the `Greatest Albums Of All Time.'
