James Brown Live At The Apollo

Wardle will probably give it 2 stars because he hates everything.

Albums like this make me understand the appeal of live albums

_Live at the Apollo_ Wow what a short album! James Brown competes with punk acts on short song length. I wasn’t expecting so many “slow” songs, but that is because the only experience with James Brown are all the songs of his which are used in movies. I appreciated the audience participation

Was good but nothing special, was expecting more. The fact it was live added to it, I miss gigs.

5 all day

For live albums to work they have to be great performances. Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, Elvis comeback special no.1440, something like that. This is decent without me really ever paying close attention. I also for some reason felt like James Brown had a bit of Jimmy Saville about him. Everything about this album is good without being great. The Voice, The tunes, the music. All good. The crowd noise sounds like they put it on afterwards. I'm not having it people screamed and clapped like that. Maybe this gets a 3 as i feel bad about calling him a nonce and "I Don't Mind" is a magnificent song!

Enjoyable. Don't want to feel too stingy so will give it a 4 for 'Lost Someone' alone.

Nice, quick entertaining listen. It's James Brown innit?

Great but so short :(

I think that JB's most influential works came later in the sixties and early seventies. If you're in a bar/club or listening to an old school set you won't hear many of these 50s inspired songs, maybe with the exception of Night Train.

Amazing energy. Can feel stage presence in recording.

SHEEEEEEEEEEESH

I know that I should liked it more than I liked, but this live album was....just ok, nothing special. it's not up to James Brown

Good but not something id nornally listen to

Although this sounds good on speakers, maaan it must have been something to see JB's energy live on stage. I bet this concert was legendary

It is not a bad concert, although it is not my style

I can only listen to so much Blues. It gets me down

It was ok

great album and love the feel. the original ll cool j (ladies love cool james brown). only problem was it was too short...

I love the opening fanfare. I want an opening fanfare at all times please. I’m not usually a huge fan of live albums, too much screaming from the audience and it doesn’t always flow as well as it would in person. James Brown is clearly playing to the audience and they are eating it up. This is fun, but I’d rather listen to a studio album from James Brown.

Excellent. Very nice.

Surprisingly pleasing! I usually do not like live albums and I have never been into James Brown, but I really enjoyed listening to this album. Catchy!

Emoji Monday: 🎵🤴🏿🕺🏿🎷🗣🎺😎🎶

Classic

Great primal funk, still with lots of R&B roots and an emphasis on the "B(lues)" part of it.

3.5 - I dunno man, I am normally into Jazz but this one feels like it got in because 'James Brown!'. The crowd has to be in it. Go take a look at Sam Cooke - Live At The Harlem Square Club and listen to that crowd. Maybe just not in the mood.

awesome live album. hardest working man in show biz

I thought this was a great live album to listen to. The concert looked fun. Absolute tunez in there too

Short, fun, soul & blues. Lots of screaming women.

I liked it

Definition of a classic, great party album

that was one intense performance - he just never stopped that whole way through. amazing, and an awesome album as well.

Jazzy feeling and love a good live album. Full of soul and energy. Props to the double bassist, really fills the band out Vocals drop in and out a couple of times but not too noticeable. 3/5

One of the greatest live albums of all time. Slightly behind Johnny Cash Live at Fulsom Prison.

I like 60s music, so I liked this one pretty well. I liked BB King better, but this one was good.

Love the interaction with the audience! And this must be where Michael Jackson got the influence for his "Aowh!"

It’s powerful and clearly showing his potential but I’m too far from that era to experience it properly.

Great Horns. Favorite Tracks: Night Train

This was great. Never listened to this album before. Incredible live performance.

I didn’t do this cause I’d already seen this one, it was pretty good. Micheal McIntyre introduced him and I think Jack Dee did a set after!

Heerlijke soul? Iig goeie shit

Very chill and relaxing

Fun, quick, easy

Big influencer on all music that followed.

it wasnt exactly my favorite style of music. but the guy can definitely play music well

The girls screaming throughout are incredibly annoying but otherwise an awesome live album (which I normally dislike).

Lovely to hear James sing.

The band was probably a 4/5 and 50% of JB's singing was 3/5 but the other 50% was incoherent screaming that really didn't sit well with me. That coupled with the way too forward high pitched wailing of the girls was just all a total turn off. Close to a one for me but the band saved it.

I liked the songs a bit bit slow for my tastes. It was close to jazz but not quite there. Some songs have more of a groove to them then others.

Good call-response structure in the songs. Live recording captures the energy and devotion of the fans. Good toe-tapping music to pickup your mood and pace.

1. Chill intro, I like the fact that it is pretty much a live thing, really immersive. 2. Really cool guitar work, instrumentation and harmonized voices are really cool. The use of the horns was really cool to accentuate the beats. 3. Reminds me of Earth Angel, really cool, slow song. 4. Hectic, cool transition. 5. Nice kind of jam song. Muted guitar technique is cool. 6. The high energy and momentum is nice. 7. The bass tone and bassline is really cool, as well as the slowness of the song and background voices. 8. Cool bridge. 9. Really nice, slow song. The horn accents are really cool, and the laid back instrumental is relaxing. OOOWW 10. Really amazing instrumental. Love it a lot. Bassline is cool. The song at the end with the rhodes and guitar was awesome. 11. One of the best tracks. The rhodes and the guitar tone make this song amazing. Love it so much. Favorite track.

Meh. I know Brown was a talented, high energy performer, but this album didn’t deliver.

boring lol and no guitar

The band was tight, listening to this live makes me wish I could have seen it.

Vähän kylmäksi jätti vaikka potentiaalia kyllä olisi. Toivottavasti listalle tulee jossain vaiheessa myös Brownin studiolevy.

James Brown rules, but there is not a ton here.

Amazing... a lot more love songs than I expected.

Some bangers but too much breaking it down, taking it to the bridge and shouting. Maybe cause it was a live album.

3.4

I really miss live music

Pretty good, upbeat live album. Not too memorable though

This man will make your liver quiver! This man will make your bladder splatter! This man will make your knees freeze! If you will let’s all welcome the worlds Godfather of Soul, Soul Brother #1, JAMES BROWN!!! 1001 Albums To Hear Before You Die Day 9. I FEEL GOOD!! The album for today is Live At The Apollo (1962). Let me start by saying that it would be an impossible task to find another more influential artist in the history of modern music and dance. The best you can convince me of, is that he’s had some equals along the way, though few and far between. Now that we have that settled, I thought to myself, what’s my first memory of James Brown and his funky, soulful music? My first conscience memory is Living In America, the super smash, Grammy winning song that also just happened to be in the blockbuster film Rocky IV in 1986. Seeing The Godfather Of Funk giving an explosive performance in that movie moments before Apollo Creed would die in the ring against Ivan Drago changed my childhood. Apollo the boxer died in the movie. Live at the Apollo from Mr. Brown lives on forever. Mr. Please Please Please was only 29 when he recorded this live album at the historic Apollo Theater, a theater named after a Greek God that hosted many, many musical Gods over the years. Brown paid for this project out of his own pocket as his label didn’t think he held the same appeal to deliver a live recording that someone like Sam Cooke had at the time. In early ‘63 this album came out and it was so popular that it was hard to find a copy. Record stores bought cases upon cases in order to meet the demand, and if you found a copy, you had to share it with the whole household, and it was played so much that when you finally wore it out you had to re-up. Most of Mr. Dynamite’s biggest hits weren’t even recorded yet in 1962. Deciding to showcase his best repertoire at the time in a live setting was a genius move. Sure, James Brown sounded just as good on his records as he did in his live performances, but there is an electricity in hearing it live, even if it’s just on an 8-track in the 60’s or Spotify in 2021. You can almost feel the vibrations of this man working up a sweat. Just listen to the crowd go berserk. On the song Lost Someone you can hear the girls in the crowd literally falling apart at the seams. James Brown had the crowd in the palm of his hands and he knew it. His band, The Famous Flames, are “Clean as a silk suit” as quoted by Robert Christgau in Rolling Stone magazine. They never miss a beat, literally. This live album has my most favorite song from The Hardest Working Man In Show Business, Try Me. The passionate pleasing and soulfulness of that record, especially live, is worthy of being added to The Library Of Congress, which it has been. The first to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, James Brown sounds like a preacher at times. The way he uses the call and response technique has me in the shower damn near testifying! There’s no bad songs here. Make sure to check out Try Me, I’ll Go Crazy Night Train and Think. Also, make sure to listen to the girls losing their shit on Lost Someone. James Brown is The Godfather of not only Soul, but of Funk, Pop, and Hip Hop as well. He is the highest sampled artist in the world. His work has been borrowed a record smashing 7,413 times over the years. Listen to his song Funky Drummer and you’ll get the idea. James Brown is the Johnny Appleseed of music and I’m grateful for him.

kann man machen... bisschen kurz

Great voice live, lots of energy. Not really my scene for the whole album.

James Brown certainly lives up to his name as the Godfather of Soul. I'm not usually a big fan of live albums, but this is an excellent recording, and the performances are incredible. James Brown's vocals are outstanding, and the band are incredibly tight and all sound fantastic. Crowd noises didn't even annoy me as much as they usually do, as they punctuate the recording nicely and almost behave as another instrument in the mix.

s ok

This was the first body of work by James Brown that I had the pleasure of listening to, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. the sound of the live crowd boosted the already electrified atmosphere that burst forward through James Browns stellar voice.

Amazing energy and talent!

Shit that's good. The faster version of I got you is truly a masterpiece. James' browns voice is also one of the greats

I really enjoyed the album but I felt like some of the songs dragged on a bit.

Great album even if not my gendre

Funky 3,5

Love his music.

Funny hearing the (almost all female) crowd go wild!

Sounds like a fun concert. James leans a little more towards Sam Cooke than I expected him to. He really knows how to work a crowd. The medleys are great. Favorite tracks: "I'll Go Crazy", "Please Please Please"

FINALLY!! The HARDEST working man in show business at his best.

Rhythm & Blues

great.

He's got better

More soulful r’n’b than some of James’ more famous work. Short and sweet!

An absolute belter! To think the label didn't want to release it!!!