Reviews (page 10 of 14)
cool!
This album really surprised me! I knew James Brown was a historic songwriter and performer, but just did not know how much I would enjoy this album. It had soul, had some great songs, and was an awesome example of a live album.
Lightning in a bottle !
Live album loses a point
What a great live record! This captures the spirit of James Brown and is just breath taking.
Another classic artist who stands in front of a towering support band. They are *tight*. Props to them. This is fantastic music. James Brown? He's aight.
My man
Fantastic album, James Brown was an incredible musician and this really made me feel like I was seeing this live performance. If anything I found it too short.
Forgot to write earlier. Good live jazz, albeit a bit short. One song is worth 1/3 of the run time, and it was just okay. Wasn’t the most creative jazz performance I’ve listened to. Standouts: Try Me, I Don’t Mind, and Medley: Please Please Please/You’ve Got The Power/I Found Someone.
I enjoyed it but not as much as I expected I would.
The intro was super unique, and lived up to the James Brown superstardom character. I didn't recognize any of the songs, but they were solid. The old production made the crowd sound lame and the instrumentation feel muffled, but not in a terrible way.. just aged. Loved the horn sections as they were the brightest spots on the record. The ending of Lost Someone into the Medley was the highlight.
I've mentioned previously that I'm not generally a fan of live albums, but I think this will be a good one. James Brown is a ton of fun. This album was decent but not a favorite of mine. 3/5
Fun album. Quick and had a handful of memorable moments.
The beginning of Night Train made me think of the Eddie Murphy impersonation from Raw.
I'm surprised not a single song on the album had more than 1M Spotify Streams.
As much as I wanted yo like it, I just couldn’t. It’s not terrible, just not into it.
Vet live album, wel veel van hetzelfde
It's probably better at the gig, like a lot of live albums. Listening to it each song just merges into the other one.
Funky, energetic, yeah
Good, would have been better if I was there
You just know he got laid after that
I thought I would like this more than I did. It's a good album, and the live aspect is really fun because of how he interacts with the fans. But I didn't really know any of the songs, and I felt like there were a few too many slower-tempo songs. I wanted party James Brown, and I didn't get enough of that here. That said, the man sings his absolute face off, the backing band is great, and he goes full on gospel preacher on "Lost Someone" — all really fun. I enjoyed the album, but I'm not sure I'd listen to it on repeat all that much. 4/5 (but probably closer to a 3.5)
Don’t really like most live albums cause of the sound of the crowd
I imagine if one could go back in time and re-record this album utilizing modern technology it would be absolutely amazing. That being said, James Brown's showmanship shined through in live shows and this concert was his ultimate performance.
Imagine seeing James Brown in ‘63.
Very good live album - great music, too!
The album that made James Brown a star. I mean, really; this right here is "star time." Front-to-back, it's nonstop excitement. And if you think the music's energetic, you gotta imagine what moves James is pullin' on stage. I mean, that's probably the only thing I'd really ding this album for—that, and the album ends a bit too abruptly after "Night Train"—but of course that's just a general fault of audio recordings; not just this album. Otherwise, more than just his hit songs or the sample clips, this is absolutely the album to understand why Brown was, indeed, the Hardest Working Man In Show Business.
The Hardest Working Man in Show Business can put on one hell of a show.
It’s a pretty decent 4. James Brown has incredible crowd control on this album, which works well live, but occasionally hits some lull points when you’re dealing with nothing but the music – I thought Lost Someone really started to drag by the end, but the medley afterward started red hot. That’s the sort of thing where I imagine it was way cooler live than how it feels on this album. I also think Night Train was… sort of the “wrong” closer for this set? It seems like it was either recorded separately or recorded in a way where the crowd’s energy was drained. Speaking of the crowd, they’re basically their own instrument on this album with the way James Brown and his excellent band basically hit every transition in a way to let them realize what’s up next without much of a pause (again, except for the extended dragout section on Lost Someone). Those little lulls are what get this a 4; honestly, it’s probably closer to a 3.5 than it is a 4, but I know it deserves higher than a 3. It’s just a really strong listen that didn’t quite click with me the way some of the other live albums we’ve gotten have, but it's enjoyable regardless.
Fun little listen. Can't see me putting into the regular rotation, but enjoyable all the same.
This record is a time capsule. As a live recording in the early 1960s, it captures James Brown before he was the incredible funk legend, and while he was still doing a bit of classic 1950s duo wop similar to Smokey Robinson, the Penguins, or Little Anthony. Still plenty of funk in here, but I was surprised that it wasn’t a full on funk record. Fun to listen to, though.
One of the iconic live albums of all time, it is a bit amazing that this was recorded in 1962 (released in 1963). A year and half before the Beatles would appear on the Ed Sullivan show. At a time when the biggest hits on the Billboard charts were “Big Girls Don’t Cry” (Frankie Vali and 4 Seasons) and “He’s So Fine” (Chiffons). Into this safe and comfortable world burst James Brown, in a live setting, saturated with a primal energy that had to frighten the grown-ups. Listen in the context of its time and it is even more impressive. His energy, reflected back by the crown…. Well, it is impressive. I was too young to have caught this when it was fresh, but it’s an album I knew by reputation long before I ever heard it. And I’ve owned this for a long time. This is why Jame Brown is known as the Godfather Of Soul, and The-Hardest-Working-Man-In-Show-Business. The sound quality is better than one should expect for a live album in 1963, but you need to recognize that it isn’t known for its crystal sound quality. This is a testament to a moment. This absolutely belongs on this “must hear” list, a wonderful time capsule of music from an earlier era. It is notable that this album was recorded before the Civil Rights Act, before the Beatles, before JFK’s assassination. A dramatic recording from a dynamic time. 5/5
Only thing would that make this better is a better recording. Live recordings of this period were not the best.
I don't normally like live albums but this is something special. The way the crowd screams is almost incorporated into the songs. It sounds like it's own instrument that James Brown uses. I like how this feels like I am a fly at the wall of a very special performance. I love the horn section. I love Brown's vocals that always feel as though they are reaching directly out the listener. The Instrumental Bridges are really cool with how they attempt to go from one song to another and each feels like they stick the landing
Honestly, a really awful recording of a great artist. the live sections really took away from what was happening in this.
This recordig/mix leaves mich to be desired. And the tracking/timing/arrangement was weird. But it's James Browns so...
Its good. I feel like theres not much more i can say about this. But i really enjoyed it.
Great live album, enjoyed this a lot
Great album but the crowd audio was a little distracting and a bit too loud at times
Man this one was fun. Listening to all the people loosing their mind in the audience is also very fun. A good vocal performance, nice accompaniment and if you enjoy classing 60s rock hes definitely a good choice.
What a band! What an energy! Awe inspiring
You can feel the power of the live performer in this, and that's pretty exciting, especially early on (I very nearly plumped for the intro as the standout track, as it got me pretty giddy). The songs don't really match the excitement of the performance, which is a shame. It's all quite basic and same-y unfortunately.
James Brown is one of those artists that has been more of an outlandish pop culture caricature to me than an actual tangible performer. He's been quantified to me more through countless "I feel good na na na na na na na" references rather than his actual body of of work. This is the first time it ever even occurred to me to listen to one of his albums, and I don't think a live one is the right starting point. But either way, I can understand why he's been crowned the Godfather of Soul; he has undeniable emotive vocal talent and his music is rife with soul. I like the raspy, gritty quality in his voice, it scratches a specific sonic itch I didn't know was there when I'm listening. I can feel what he's feeling when he sings, I dig that. He sweats authenticity from the very core of his being and I can hear that he left it all out there on stage that night in '63. I may not become a regular, routine listener, but he has my utmost respect.
His band isn't as good as others from that era. Mid lineup tbh.
"All aboard?!?! All aboard?! THE NIGHT TRAIN!" This is a super quick but *massively* important recording. Live at the Apollo captured a critically important moment in music that also changed James Brown's career--and Motown R&B--forever. The crisp audio track captures the audience falling in love with Brown's music in such a cool way, particularly during Brown's epic, 10:43 "Lost Someone." Clearly, this album deserves not only a spot in this 1,001 Albums collection but in the pantheon of its five-star gems. How many other albums have been regularly played front-to-back on the radio? Please, please, please recognize Live at the Apollo as the masterpiece it is. Is this the best $5,700 ever spent (by the artist themselves, no less) in music history? I think James Brown would easily argue, yep. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *Live at the Apollo is the first live album by James Brown and the Famous Flames, recorded at the Apollo Theater in Harlem in October 1962 and released in May 1963 by King Records. Capturing Brown's popular stage show for the first time on record, the album was a major commercial and critical success and cemented his status as a leading R&B star. *The album was recorded on the night of October 24, 1962, at Brown's own expense ($5,700)...While Brown's record label, King Records, originally opposed releasing the album, believing that a live album featuring no new songs would not be profitable, the label finally relented under pressure from both Brown's manager Bud Hobgood and Brown himself. *Live at the Apollo was an amazingly rapid seller. It spent 66 weeks on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart, peaking at #2. Many record stores, especially in the southeast US, found themselves unable to keep up with the demand for the product, eventually ordering several cases at a time. R&B DJs often would play side 1 in its entirety, pausing only to insert commercials and to flip the record to side 2, which was often played in full as well. *In 2015, Rolling Stone listed it as the greatest live album of all time. *In 2004, it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. In 1998, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. *Despite its renowned and historical significance, Live at the Apollo was not reissued on CD until 1990 because the original master recordings had been misplaced and the available copies were not of a high enough quality for a satisfactory CD release. The master tapes were recovered in late 1989. *By 1958, James Brown's career was faltering...On the way back to Macon, Georgia, after a disappointing West Coast tour, Brown approached his guitar player Bobby Roach with a tune he said he had been given by a patron at the Million Dollar Palms, a Florida nightclub. After Roach crafted a guitar part for "Try Me", Brown and the Flames worked out the vocal harmonies together and cut a demo to send to label head Syd Nathan...Released in October 1958, the song became their first to crack the R&B charts in three years and their first ever to crack the Billboard Hot 100. *A cover (of "I Don't Mind") by the Who for their 1965 album My Generation led to the track gaining wider attention, being covered by other British Invasion groups at the same time. *A performance of "Lost Someone" is the centerpiece of Brown's 1963 album Live at the Apollo. Nearly 11 minutes long and spanning two tracks on the original LP release (the end of Side 1 and the beginning of Side 2), it is widely regarded as the album's high point and as one of the greatest performances in its idiom on record...Long, drawn-out performances of "Lost Someone" continued to be a feature of Brown's live shows until 1966, when "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" largely supplanted it in his concert repertoire. Interesting Factoids from SongFacts.com: *("Please, Please, Please") was the song where James Brown would do his cape bit, where after exhausting himself on stage, a functionary on his revue named Danny Ray would place a cape on his shoulders and start to guide him offstage. Brown would summon the strength to continue, throw off the cape, and keep performing. It always brought the house down. *Several different sets of lyrics have been set to the tune of "Night Train"; James Brown's version features a shouted list of his regular East Coast tour venues along with many repetitions of the song's name. Standout Tracks (spoiler alert: it's every officially titled song on this absolute institution of a live album): I'll Go Crazy, Try Me, Think, I Don't Mind, Lost Someone, Medley: Please, Please, Please/You've Got the Power/I Found Someone, Night Train
Definitely more into the later straight-up funk but I still like the early soul as well, a rare talent JB.
This will pick up your mood.
Not as good as the Jerry Lee Lewis recording we had a couple of weeks ago and I wasn’t a massive fan of that. Guess this was the record that ‘made’ JB, hence its inclusion, suspect there’s better in his discography
Was really looking forward to listening to this as I’d heard it’s a classic live album, but ultimately couldn’t wait for it to end. Obvs he’s got a great voice, but that was all this is, the backing band felt non-existent. I always thought he was supposed to be legendary live, but I got no energy from this - maybe that’s the recording or I’m just not getting the pure soul element. Also the crowd screaming didn’t seem linked to the music, guess he’d just shoved his crotch in the general direction of some underage girl. Anyway, this isn’t a patch on that other wrong’un Jerry Lee’s live album we rated the other week.
He invented a few genres and can imagine seeing him in 62 would have been a riot. Battery aside, he got the funk.
Didn’t know a lot about James Brown. This is a very smooth album, especially as live cuts. I particularly enjoyed the first half of the record. The energy was undeniable.
Nice and short energetic live album. Too bad James Brown was a real piece of shit person.
Though not enamored of soul in general, the quality of Brown's band is remarkable to me. I'm a sucket for horns though. I hope to see more James Brown on this journey.
Crowd is crazy :-)
For live it's like studio
Great stuff as always Mr B.
Wanted to like it and started off doing so but it couldn’t keep my attention.
Oh this is fun. Familiar voice with mostly unfamiliar songs to me but you can hear the exuberance of the performance though the recording. Not something that I might seek out all the time but enjoyable nonetheless
I enjoyed it, but like many of these older albums it’s more of appreciating a historical piece than something I would actually regularly play. However, I like the funk/ blues/ soul sound of the music as evidence by the other songs that came on the album radio
Fantastic recording of a time and sound that, in the moment, must have been electrifying.
Short
Great energy, the music is a groove, but I don’t think I’d revisit.
Live albums shouldn't be on this list!!!!
Kids and parents lost their minds over this, for different reasons.
Gotta love James Brown! And he’s from my hometown. I’m here for it. 4
We need to bring back live album introductions. 4/5
I was looking forward to this but I should have known nothing will ever live up to his performance in Rocky 4
I expected a longer live set from the hardest working man in show business but I think they had a weird habit in those days of chopping up the recordings and changing the order around, missing songs etc
Definitely explains the fuss, which one has long heard about but never fully got. The band is almost painfuflly tight, and some of the cuts almost vanishingly short – it was a different era, one supposes. Weird that the record itself is so brief. "Try Me" is pretty deeply affecting.
Sounded like a sick performance. 4 stars ‘cause I think those chicks watching live would kill me if I rated any lower.
Sounds very old-school. Lots of different instruments used. Good music but didn't catch my interest.
Love this album! Fantastic
Certainly I side of James Brown I have not been exposed to before. I really like the intro and the bridges and Lost Somone is good with my fave being Night Train.
32 minutes absolutely flies by - seems like it's over when it's just getting started! I gave it a third spin just for the heck of it. I definitely appreciate hearing some James Brown that hasn't been played to death by pop culture. Bet it would have been awesome to be there in person! Fave tracks - "Lost Someone" was a groove - I would have happily let him swell all the other songs to 10 mins too!
good album. live isn’t usually my thing but it’s still good. GODFATHER OF SOUL.
Pretty good, it's nice hearing the crowds reaction to his performance.
Interesting historical artifact.
Great listen to this album
This is a time capsule. The downside of this record is that James Brown was an incredible dancer and showman, which is hard to capsule in audio. But you can certainly hear the screams from all the women reacting to him. His band, The Famous Flames, were tight as hell. But you can literally hear glimpses of R&B morphing into soul and funk on this record.
I enjoy the energy on some songs, but I really don’t like the screaming voice. Some songs were fun, made you want to move, but not my thing.
Somehow I realize I've never listened to a James Brown album before?!? Yet of course I've heard a handful of popular songs, and that voice is instantly familiar. Interesting that this live album made the list; but I can quickly imagine that James Brown must have been positively electric on a live stage in a way that is hard to capture on a record.
I commend it for giving me the authentic live experience: getting annoyed with other people in the audience. Very cool album cover.
nice!
excellent, James Brown was a master of his craft
Great performance. Wish I could watch the video along with it.
Classic
Song the song James!
This album sounds so uplifting. I’ve never been a James Brown fan and was first exposed while watching the Rocky movies as a kid with Living in America. He sounds so power and inspiring.
I bet it would’ve been amazing to be there. It was fun to hear the screaming and hollering. I also really enjoyed the horns.
Unlike some recent suggestions, I absolutely could play this album again. Tons of energy. It must have been unbelievable in 1963, and the sound quality for a live concert that old is fabulous.
James Brown vamping at the Apollo? Pretty cool. The horns are the best.
Feel like I’m on. 3 star run. Maybe four or five in a row. Prolly added interest after my recent Memphis trip where I went to Blues hall of fame museum. I’d say 50/50 on the songs on this album. Maybe it’d be higher if not live. Don’t like the crowd yelps throughout.
Good!
Very brass forward backing music, but entertaining
The highlight on this album is the orchestra /band, they sound sharp and I bet this gig was amazing. It’s also charming to hear Brown before his funk period, there’s almost an innocence to the record in hindsight.
Not a fan of live albums, but this was a decent listen
Were all of James Brown’s concerts a half hour long? By the time I was in the groove it was half over. JB was a rocking performer, but live albums are generally awful. This one wasn’t too bad for being live, but still…
Ongelofelijk goede artiest. The godfather of blues. Toch ben ik niet zo'n fan helaas.
Stop met fucking schreeuwen. Ik raak hier erg overprikkeld van
One of the greatest on-stage performers ever, doing what he does best. The crowd is rabid, but they quiet down to still hear every word he sings. Barely a half hour, and he's got the crowd eating out of his hand with ease. Not too many others on that level.
Sounds like they might have done a little booger sugar before this show
funky I like it
After a while there's just too much yelping
3.5 stars , pretty cool.
I own and have listened to it. Classic live show with JB at the peak of his powers.
Undeniable. 5
This album is a party. After listening, it's easy to understand why his style influenced so many artists- It's infectious!
A great live performance and interesting to think that he was fairly well into his career at this point and still had so much influential music ahead of him.
Screamy
Kinda let down by this one after all the hype over the years.
Soul blues thing live
Short! 30 minutes. Fun. Fine. I’ve heard way better stuff from him. Probably a whole lot better if you can see him dance and perform.
This was fine. Certainly no Sam Cooke at the Harlem, that’s for sure. Some good energy. The announcing of the setlist before they played anything was interesting to say the least.
Honestly killer. He really shines with the energy of a live performance. The instrumentation is super tight and intense as well and his voice is so intense and powerful, especially for the early 60s.
James brown is great but this wasn’t the greatest live album I’ve gotten on this album. There were some fun bits but it never really felt like it crescendoed to songs that blew the roof off the venue. Like lost someone and medley are both fine but they still feel like tracks early in the setlist before you get to the crazy stuff. I might just be scrounging for rationales instead of just saying this didnt do it for me but whatever.
Bueno
Enjoyed his voice…. And the crowd participation in Lost Someone… first time I really listened to this and some songs.
Day72 - here he is mr. dynamite, the hardest working man in show business. this is a fun, short album
R&B, soul.
It seems incomplete for some reason.
et af de bedre livealbums vi har haft, god energi og fede numre. 100% det fedeste coverart vi har haft til et livealbum endnu!!
Virkelig energisk sæt og Djeims har en fed stemme, men øh...man sku nok ha været der. Og jeg følte ikke rigtig at jeg var der.
Det lyder som om at kvinderne havde en fest (eller nærmere poolparty, if you catch my drift 😏🍑🍑💦)
Who doesn’t love James Brown? This album isn’t my favorite of his but it does capture the intensity of his live performances
I think the choice of backing vocals from a bunch of screaming 14-year-old girls high on sugar were a miss-step by the great James Brown.
Great album, there was no one like James Brown.
Good samples; maybe too much screaming
Gefällt mir nicht so wegen der Live-Aufnahme mit viel Gejohle, was meines Erachtens die Musik stört.
2.6/5 Best Track: Night Train
James Brown is a legend, I just prefer some of his other recordings
This album was awesome. The crowd's reactions to him had me laughing at my desk. Great instrumentation, singing and crowd energy. I'll be revisiting this album for sure. 9/10
Love this album. James is the man! The crowd really brings something special to the album. 4.5
Great, but sounds like it was even more fun to be there...
100% yeeeeeaaaah-uh
Good live Album, James has great charisma and an iconic voice. Album is pretty repetitive which is main flaw. 7/10
Sheer class JB early and live. Electric what a time to be alive. (though a rough recording.)
I swear someone told me years ago that James Brown had a scat fetish, which I took to be true until I looked it up while listening to this album.
6/10
Fantastic soul voice
Good
Wenig interessanter R&B.
This is great.
Not a style of music I listen to but it was fun hearing the audience and imagining the showmanship
Didn't do much for me. Night Train and I'll Go Crazy were the best tracks.
So this is where Janis Joplin got her singing inspiration from. What a soulful performance. The energy of the crowd is high and infectious. I don't love live albums so I can't go above 3 stars on this one.
not my thing
It’s ok, not a huge fan of live albums
James Brown is incredibly talented. The band is tight. This is no doubt the very top tier of pre-Beatles music. The recording lets down the music here. Not really bangers either but very very solid, short, tight performance 7.6/10
James Brown puts everything on the stage and I'm sure this was a fantastic show to be in the crowd for. Live albums can range wildly in quality and this one sounds pretty good all things considered. The other part with live albums is they have a greater opportunity for appreciation when the listener is familiar with the material to pick out the special parts. I liked the album pretty well, but I know there is better James Brown out there. It also got a bit screamy from the crowd towards the end.. Favorite track: "Think" 2.5/5
What a voice, what a band, what a performer. 4/5
Not as James Brown as I was expecting
I like James Brown, but a little can go a long way. This was the just right amount.
I'd hoped to enjoy this more. Loved the band, but besides a couple of bright spots I found this just okay.
Lots of his trademark screams. Lots of soul.
Fun stuff. Given that it was 1962 and live, this gets 4*.
ladies love it
a solid live album. 3 stars.
Good, no real gripes
Not the best album to start listening to James Brown too. Need to revisit after exploring his studio work.
A short and sweet little live LP. The flattened production mutes some of the vibrancy a bit, but it’s a testament to James Brown’s stage presence that this album keeps rolling along at a clip regardless. Some fun crowd interaction here as well, feels organic and genuine unlike some other live LPs that have cropped up on the list.
I really enjoyed this, I was journalling all the albums and thought I rated this. I loved it and the fills were so fun
I liked the live version of this album. I can only imagine what an electric performance James Brown gave.
Solid album with fun songs.
Great album, if a little short. I'm a big fan of James Brown, and while you can see how this album was a stepping stone to his (almost sole) creation of the funk genre I don't think it counts as his best work. Absolutely worth listening to and I will definitely listen again, but there are other James Brown albums that provide a clearer picture of him, his sound, and what he contributed to the music scene.
Favorite tracks: I’ll go crazy
So fun and upbeat, love the brass section and instrumentals and how each song flows into the next. Maybe won’t listen to it all the time, but great background upbeat music
Didn’t love this but let’s facet, that’s largely on me. I mean, the guy was the inspiration for Prince!
Great set. Amazing energy. Can’t believe the time between songs is so brief. He was the hardest working man in show business.
All the cheering and squealing in between songs made me smile. Experiencing live music is such a universal thrill. Hearing that must've been my favorite bit of the album, because although this is James Brown, the music or these performances weren't that impressive. I'm not a huge fan of live albums in the first place, but even I can admit that there are some amazing ones out there - Sam Cooke and Johnny Cash are just some of them. This record was fun and upbeat, but not... that.. amazing. There are better live albums for sure. Standout track is Try Me.
6/10
Out of respect for James Brown and what he brought to music I give this a 3, but my enjoyment was closer to 2. Not really a fan of live albums, and I couldn’t really pick a specific song from the album that I would return to - especially not in the live format. I do like the album cover with the abstract watercolor painting vibes. No comment on the album name.
I can't get on board with a live album that's only 31 minutes but still managed to cram a 10 minute repetitive track in the middle, that seems to mainly consist of screaming over the same riff being played endlessly. I was expecting something more funky but it's slow jazzy / R&B that I found to drag Also the generator gave me back to back live albums which I'm not a fan of generally
... Kinda meh?
"Let me hear yah say OW!!"
This is James Brown. Not sure what else to say. He’s better when he’s singing, not screaming, but that’s his schtick.
Just raw live awesomeness.
It was good. Very pleasant for background music while cleaning.
James Brown had a great voice, my problem with this kind of music is it all sounds really similar, besides a few changes like speed.
Концертик коротенький, половина это попурри и женские крики. Ну не солидно как-то. Сорян, Джеймс Браун
Very nice music! Fun album, and you can hear how it influenced other artists like the Beatles.
Eh... Just not my cup of tea
you know i feel alright
Really good, but no better. Live album was interesting, and loved the introduction he was given. Didn't know many of the songs, but all pretty catchy. Will come back to when I'm not driving, so I can listen more fully 4 🌟
Hate old “live” albums
lots of fun!
boring asf
I’m sure if I was there it’d be electric
Gonna go with what I feel is the general 1001 consensus with this one. As an album, it’s not particularly great, and its influence clearly far outpaces the musical content itself on this album. At times the band isn’t super tight, even. Clearly I’m just not hearing what every other screaming girl at the show that night heard, which was a step change in music, a very important one, but one that nonetheless sounds normal and even boring to a listener today. Though my mind was gonna get blown, I left kind of underwhelmed! I don’t remember sitting through a James Brown album, though, so it was worth it for that. 2/5. Great musician, clearly electric, not a good album.
Wonderful album. The thing that always strikes me about James Brown is how great his band is. This record is no exception. I wish they would record live albums like this still - no overdubs (probably), lots of audience noise, uneven in parts, electrical hum here and there, all the good and the bad. Anymore a live album might as well be a studio recording with applause between songs. This album is as close as you can get to being at an early 60's James Brown show. Highly enjoyable and replayable. I'm curious as to why it was decided to only include half an hour of material. Seems like a double live would have been a good choice for this. Loses 1 star just because it's so short.
I love James Brown, but I struggle with live albums. Rarely the live component improves the listening experience for me and this wasn't one of those times. There's a visual component necessary for me to enjoy a live album.
this was such a fun time!!
The people complaining about the shouts and screams don’t get it- you can feel the energy build through the Apollo as the show goes on, reaching a fever pitch on the second side, and James Brown and the band know exactly what to do with it. Crazy that he had to pay for this album out of pocket because King didn’t believe it would make them money. There’s nothing worse than a bad live album, and there’s nothing better than a good live album, and James Brown (and the Famous Flames!!) do such a good job that you spend the whole thing wishing you could’ve been there at the Apollo in person (and also that it went on for another 20-30 minutes). Man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
9/10, the instrumentals were soulful especially on 1 am late night drives The tracklists gives a funky/soothing environment James brown's vocals never fails to impress Overall, the album is an iconic figure to the genre
Must be before he found out about cocaine.
groovy
Iskreno nisam ni jednu pjesmu zapamtio, al mogao bih ga danima slušati.
That is a crazy list of accolades. The fact that it's a live album from the 60s makes the audio quality pretty bad, and the screaming is just ugh. You can feel James Brown's energy, and it's crazy that this is such an early album. Overall didn't wow me though, 3*.
The music itself is great and has incredible energy througout. But the quality of the recording (even if it's early 60s) and the constant screaming of the crowd and other background noises distract me a lot from the music itself. 5 for the music, 3 for the album itself.
Mein erstes James Brown Album (live). Super funky und stimmungsvolles live Album. Überraschend kurz. Kurzweilig, aber ob ich es nochmal höre...
Zeer funky albumpje, James Brown wordt niet voor niets the Godfather of Soul genoemd. Maar toch luister ik dit niet zo snel nog een keer, is meer muziek waar je live bij wilt zijn. Wel meer dan 60 jaar oud, heel ziek
Opzich wel leuke funky soul-muziek. Ik zie m’n oma al helemaal staan daar in de jaren 60. En zo te horen aan die gillende dames, wist James de vrouwen ook wel om z’n vinger te winden
altes Amerika
This is fantastic, but I feel like I’m watching a soundtrack to a movie that would have been stunning. You can hear him working the crowd, and I’ll bet there are lots of JB dance moves. The album is great but I makes me wish I was hearing and seeing this.
Very good but not my kind of music
James Brown is an eternal classic...great album!
Großartige Soulstimme, teils aber etwas schmalzig
AAAAAAAaaAaaaAAaaaAAAAAAAAAaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
R&B, soul.
Fun stuff
Pretty good album. Jazzy and funky. Nothing more to add.
Great instrumentals and lots of energy. Very fun album to listen to and need to listen to more James Brown.
It's OK!
No stand out songs but I enjoyed the music on the album.
Soul
Good performance. But not my style.
This record is so tight - it’s shocking it’s a live record. A brisk 30 minutes, James Brown and his band never miss a beat.
What a f’ing maniac. What a musical genius. This guy was as good as they get.
For James Brown it felt really dry. I didn't sit there hating on any of the tracks but it felt weirdly short for a live album and the whole time felt like it was build up to a really good song which never really came. Just ended up feeling underwhelming and not really having much to it.
Brief funky jams tight as dovetails joints
Classy!!!
Earl James Brown live show that shows shy he was such a popular concert. I've listened to it a bunch but it never really got into a steady rotation. Still a great listen that I enjoy every time I revisit.
Love the live sound. Spirited, full of life. Truly the Godfather of Soul.
You just can’t beat the work of the “hardest man in show business.” This is such a unique moment in the transition from big band to funk, making heavy use of a full brass band. It was interesting that the curators chose a live album rather than one of his more produced works, but it’s fitting, since he really made live albums successful in a time when they were mostly duds. it was really cool to hear him interact with the audience, and this was my first time listening through this particular album. Not only is his music phenomenal for pure enjoyment, but you have to respect the man’s ability to break out of the gospel mold, impact culture at large, and largely break out of the segregated nature of the music industry!
I'm a fan of Mr Brown but i dont think this captured him at his best. I'm sure he was spectacular live but it doesn't come across in this
James Brown's importance to soul, Rock and Roll, R&B, and even modern pop are undeniable. However, this album isn't the best to illustrate his significance as, with most live albums, the production is not great.
no me parece tan especial
Liked it!!
6/10 Decent but honestly a little throwaway. Slightly surprised this is in top 1000 let alone considered to potentially be the best live album ever and top 100 of all time But it sounded great, tight band and he was driving the crowd feral at times Great voice, great backing singers More straight R&R/R&B than I was expecting - not so much funk (too early?) Best: I Don’t Mind
Instrumentals were great, the songs were good. I’m preferential to later James Brown, this was cool but mostly ballads.
Funky, but with more mellow tracks that I would’ve guessed from the Hardest Working Man in Show Business.
It was good, lots of energy and you can tell they were having fun.
Muchísimo ritmo. 3/5.
Hardest working man in show business
I’m sure he was an amazing performer but live records on this list just grind my gears. [0131/1001]
This is a difficult one to rate. James Brown and this album is significant in rock history and has influenced countless other artists over time. Based on that and the quality of the performance, I would give it five stars. To be consistent with how I've been rating other albums, I have to look at how I personally enjoy listening to the album. I did like it but don't see myself pulling this down to listen to. That leaves me between a 3 and a 4. So I'll give it a 4 because I did like it and it was more than just ok to listen to. Scale: 5 - My absolute favorites. 4 - Albums I like. 3 - It was ok to listen to but I wouldn't seek it out. 2 - Didn't like. 1 - Absolute shit.
This was a fun album! I really enjoyed the energy!
Very impressed! Did not expect to like it as much as I did. What a force of energy!
Really loved this album. Great cooking album! The "live" aspect is so intoxicating. You can feel the NYC energy.
You know, I'm kind of surprised to get another live album just a little over a week after the last one I got. Fortunately, not only I do respect James Brown more than Jerry Lee Lewis as a person (although, unfortunately, he wasn't perfect either), I also liked Live At The Apollo more. This album isn't really special to me, but it's at least decent. James Brown was a really good singer. His screams are undeniably iconic and would justify him having multiple albums on this list, if he had more than one album on here. Apparently this is his only album that's on here. That doesn't seem right. Anyways, the writing is fairly basic, but that's to be expected of early 60s music. My biggest problem with this album is the mixing. I can only hear the singing in my right ear. That's a problem. This also doesn't really feel like a live album. A live album should really make you feel like you're there at the performance. This is just kind of music that is being played. Overall, not the most interesting album, but not particularly bad either. Light 3/5.
Would be so much better if it wasn’t a live album by him
I don't listen to live albums.
I never really "got" James Brown but this album drips with hard work.
banging all the way through
Funky and groovy
I think it would have been crazy to see James brown at his level of career. But as far as the album goes, nothing better than a good horn section, but my take away was that the album wasn’t mixed very well. Had vocals only on one side
Schreeuwerig druk gedoe. Zowel Chames zelf als de wijven in de zaal. Enorm weinig zin in deze maandag. Gelukkig is het maar een half uurke. Niet per se slecht, maar wel slechts 2 sterren van deze zure recensent.
I’ve listened to some James Brown in the past but my major JB kick was back when I was 18 or 19 so it’s been 10 years. The music is great, of course, and the live instrumentation stands up to the vocal performances. But by far my favorite part of this listening experience was the feeling that I was transported back to a 1960s concert hall. No phones, no distractions, just screaming fans, lovely r&b, and groovy jams. I do wish we had a bit more of his funk jams on this record vs. his slower love songs. Both are good but I think the high energy funk performances are where James Brown becomes James Brown
That's gotta be the tightest live band of all time. It sounds clean and contemporary. James and his Flames put on one hell of a show. You can't go wrong what the sub-half-hour runtime, too. This thing would be BLOATED if it came out today, but instead, it's a lean, mean R&B machine.
The best thing about this album is the balance between stage and crowd volume. It’s really nicely leveled, making it listenable but still keeping that fun live audience sound. Super talented musicians. Really fun jazz doo-wop stuff. Night train kind of lacked an ending tho as did the whole album but such is the nature of a live album I guess
Pretty good
he's a legend
Good
Really shows you how popular this man was and still is
Another live performance. Johnny cashes one was way better tho
An all out R&B and soul jam medley, front-to-back, that must have been life changing to witness live. James Brown is truly the "Hardest Workin' Man in Show Business", and you can hear the physical effort of his hot singing style as he belts out, wails, and croons with his signature raspy vocals. The band is absolutely cooking on this recording as well, with tight brass jabs, gainy guitar work, and killer backing vocals. My favorite part of this record is the audience reactions as they scream in excitement, respond to Brown's calls, and shout at him during the show; just so much fun. Stand out tracks include "I'll Go Crazy", "I Don't Mind", "Lost Someone" and "Night Train", as well as all of the Instrumental Bridges.
Fun album. Dude was amazing.
FUCK YES!!! So, I knew this girl in high school. Her mother moved from Alabama to NYC, back in the 60s, for the sole purpose of seeing James Brown at the Apollo. She had listened to this particular album and knew immediately that she needed to radically change her life. She was a very smart woman, who lived an interesting and joyful life.
This is kind of an amazing record. James Brown is most remembered for his upbeat tunes, but he definitely had some romantic crooner in him as well. I actually had the great fortune to see James Brown live in the 90s in the Bay Area, he played a relatively small venue, the Circle Star Theatre, and the fashion, the vehicles, the spectacle of the pre-show from the attendees alone was worth the price of admission!
Nice
A bit too shouty for my taste
I enjoyed this. Never really listened to him much and didn’t expect this. I was thinking it was all the upbeat stuff. Pleasant surprise. Would I come back? Not sure. I’ll stretch at three.
Excellent stuff. Really fun
Like James. Do not like this album.
No one had more energy on stage than Mr. James Brown.
James Brown has always been one of those weird success stories to me, where I don't fully understand the timeline of how he got to be the greatest soul entertainer of all time. I'm not disputing the man's talent. He's marvelous, but I don't know one full album by him that's not a compilation of pre-written blues songs with a single or two thrown in the mix, and having listened to this record, without reading about it, I'd have no idea if this was in his early or later career. Anyway, yeah this is objectively great. Brown's unmatched vocal style is on full display on virtually every track. But boy I'd much rather watch the recorded show than just listen to it. This alone really isn't my bag.
Although iconic, I prefer Brown's funk pioneering to his early blues- and gospel-inspired work; it almost feels like a disservice to The Hardest Working Man In Show Business to merely listen to his legendary stage presence without actually seeing it happen.
I love jazz
Loved it!!
Class but not his beat
Not bad, I liked some of the songs.
Pre-Funk era, I guess? This live recording sounds like it was a great gig - I mean, really great. The energy and performance is top tier, and the audience wailing and screaming throughout confirm it. This will get a lower rating from me for being not my cup of tea, and, whilst I appreciate it, i'm not intending to revisit it again.
Good party mood
A fantastic live performer, full of energy.
Great
I had my hopes maybe too high for this album. But at the end of the quick 30 minutes, I found myself sort of without many thoughts at all. It's a shame, because I can't really find a fault with the album. The live performances are incredibly clean and tight, and the audience adds to the record more often than it doesn't. But off paper, it didn't do much for me. Will have to come back to it at a later date to see if I'm feeling it more. Highlight: Think Lowlight: I Don't Mind
Gotta like this one!
Lively, impeccable recording. You can feel the energy in the room. A nice quick introduction to James Browns’ talent.
Really liked this performance, though I wasn’t familiar with these particular songs. He has such great energy and this feels like getting transported back in time. Quality soul for the soul. The audio recording is great too.
Passte zu meiner Laune, aber ich bin nicht R&B
not really fan of any live albums
A lot of energy for sure
Anything James Brown is awesome!!!
Just straight fire..
Novelty use of stereo. Music on left, all vocals on right.
Extremely underwhelming.
This was fun. The energy from the crowd really added to the vibe. I gotta listen to more James Brown now.
Exceptional performance
How many musicians that considered as superstars in nowadays did you influence. I havent got your genre yet cuz you were inducted into so many institution and received enormous number of awards. And i also love your came-back-performance that you do every time in the live. (Sorry, i dont know how do you say it)
Nice funky soul music. I also now acknowledge this man's insane influence on the music world and industry. Overall the album is not bad, but I feel like I'd need to listen more for it to hit properly. 7/10
Not usually one to listen to live albums, but I did really like this one. It was fun, dynamic, and energetic. The crowd screaming was a bit annoying at times, but some moments where he interacts with the crowd are pretty cool
As much as he was a problematic person, his songs are catchy and just great.
Great album! I loved the musical interludes and having them as separate tracks makes them easier to find. I’m also not usually big in listening to live performances but it just felt right on this album. A lot of the audience interaction added to the music, in my opinion. Good stuff.
This was a fun jazz album to listen to. He’s very engaging with the crowd Top tracks: Lost Someone
Eh
Not my genre
LOVED this live album. I danced & laughed & danced!
Slapped
Okay
Ok a live soul record is really something else. The audio is amazing and there is just an absolute scream of joy and anticipation at the beginning of almost every track. It's kind of delightful. In "Lost Someone" someone just loudly shrieks in the middle of the track and it's genuinely amazing. You can tell they are just overcome with joy and I love it. Soul, especially live soul, can be so jazzy or proggy or whatever you want to call it. There is obviously a ton of structure on this record, but because it's live, there are so many moments when he just like, ~VIBES~ for a while and it is amazing and I feel like that live aspect of soul is nearly a genre in and of itself.
Okay, hear me out. James Brown is phenomenal, and absolute icon. Visionary performer and entertainer, hell he invented Mick Jagger and got minimal credit. But, 1962 live at the apollo was not his best performance. Frankly, cocaine was a god sent to this man and is art. Albeit a Motown & RnB purist goldmine for James Brown fans but, I prefer the later coke fueled sex-funk.