James Brown did not retire he was still performing when he passed away on Christmas Day 2006 he was set to play a few days later at B.B. King’s place in Manhattan.
James Brown IS the man, he could do it all so well. Great pick, Joel and great reaction Lee. A great start to my afternoon. Wilson Pickett is the icing on the cake. Blessings all.
You can’t be a rocker without appreciating where the roots came from. Especially the Stone who had a blues and soul loving style. Thanks L33 for the great choices today
Fantastic choice of a video of James Brown. It really captured his essence. He was hugely popular in the 60s and had lots of big hits. His backing band was fantastic too. While he was in prison for a while, they toured on their own and played their backing licks of his most popular songs, just without his singing part- really fascinating to listen to and so cool of a concept.
James Brown, The Godfather of Soul, The Hardest Working Man in Show Business...when Brown appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, America was In Shock! I'll never forget the Look on my Dad's Face!
Thanks for doing a reaction to James Brown who is my all-time favorite entertainer since I was 12 years old in 1968, I saw him about 100 times in concert I have all of his records I met him a few times. A little background about this song back in that time he was coming out twice he would come out at the beginning of the concert and sing a few songs and then he would have some of his other acts do their saw that he would come out for the star time segment. He was dressed more casual here than he would be for the main part of the show.
Saw him live at The Country Club in San Fernando Valley. Sick good. Known for his dance moves, tricks with the mic stand, & his super over the top dramatic performances. Was like buddy rich when it came to being hard & demanding on his band. The King of Soul.
Got to see Mr. James Brown twice, late in his career, but the show was still just as good. The cape, Purple with a White interior and about 10,000 sequins, came out after the first song, and about four or five more during the show. The man had Charisma is vast quantities. Later, I got to drive down James Brown Boulevard in Augusta, Georgia, his hometown. RIP Godfather.
I'm not sure what song it was but I always loved the live performance when the stage hand, manager? kept coming onstage to throw his robe on him to usher him off stage and each time James Brown would start up singing again. Great stuff. Check out living in America off one of the Rocky movie sound tracks. Mr. James Brown was the MAN!
Saw him at a tiny theater in Boston , his followers were so devoted, it was like a revival. Great show . Dangerous cat but the music - So Good. When we could separate the arts from the person.
My favorite song by James Brown is "I Go Crazy", but if anyone says "Please Please Please", "Try Me", "Poppa's Got A Brand New Bag", "Say It Loud", "Livin' In America" or some other I won't argue. James Brown changed the beat in black music forever and everyone followed. No James Brown, no modern R&B, and no Rap. Sam Cooke changed how everyone sang, but James changed how everyone danced and made black music the force it is today. James was tough on his band and everyone around him, but Wilson was the worse kind of mean drunk there was. However his Funky Broadway" and "Midnight Hour", along with James Brown, made the R&B scream popular.
At the TAMI Show The Rolling Stones we’re watching James Brown perform and Mick Jagger was floored and when they went on he danced like crazy to maintain the charisma and power of Mr Brown. Watch those performances at the Apollo Theater on RU-vid.
A friend of mine worked as a recording engineer at Criteria Studios in N. Miami when James brought his band in to record their first couple of hits. He set up his whole band in the big room and they recorded their songs each in ONE TAKE!!!! The were so well rehearsed. They were Papa's got a brand new bag and I Feel Good. He was a very dramatic performer and had incredible stage presence.
Just so you know Papa‘s got a brand new bag and I got you I feel good were not his first couple of hits. Those came out in 1965 James Brown‘s first record please please please was 1956 and then after try me in 1958 he had hit after hit after hit.
I suggest checking out James Brown and Luciano Pavarotti doing "It's A Man's Man's Man's World (Official Live Performance Video)", together. An outstanding performance to be sure. If you like this one, James and Luciano's version is awesome. You will not be disappointed.
James Joseph Junior Gardner Brown. Soul Brother #1. Cool Tough Pure Excitement: Mr. Dynamite. The Hardest Workin' Man In Show Business. The Godfather O' Soul...need I go on?
When James Brown first came on TV, he would go down to the floor & his agent would bring a cape out to him, put it on his back & walk him to the back of the stage. James would turn around, come back to his microphone & do it all over again 3 or 4 times. Forgot what he was singing at the time, darn it! 😂
Love Mr. James Brown. Favorite song is “Pap Don’t Take No Mess” live and it’s perfect. A video of him performing while his crew try to put his cape on him is to be seen. Wilson Pickett’s Mustang Sally demands dancing, so so good. You must hear “ Hey Jude” by Wilson Pickett. Joel seems to know what you need to hear, Lee.
I remember hearing once from an interview of a PhD in music theory that James Brown had all instruments as percussive. That's f'n nuts- until you listen to his music! Even horns are percussive. Everything. Is. Percussive. There is no other music composer like him.
My cousin had the "Hell" album (mid-seventies) by James Brown, with amazing cover art (comic-book artwork where Brown is towering over the jungle singing, like a Soul Tarzan, and two African hunters are saying about him "He's too strong, we can't stop him!" - "That's because he's the Godfather", lines that soon became an in-joke between my cousin, me and my brother) ;) But listening to the album I also appreciated the superb musicianship of the band - much of the set was recorded practically live in the studio and man, is it tight and funky! Years later I got around to seeing them live in concert at a festival gig here in Sweden and they were still funky! 😀
You gots to get down, with Get Up Offa That Thing! And the song that pays tribute to James, Wilson and a few other giants, “Do You Like Good Music?” By Arthur Connelly
A Man who don't have a woman is lost ''in the wilderness'' , lost in ''bitterness'' lost in ''loneliness'' ........ 60's music is full of groundbreaking WTF are they doing performers .... IMO , way before Deathmetal squeals there was James , lol Get it ?
I had the great fortune to see him perform live in the last 70s. He wasn’t in his prime like he is here but there’s no doubt why this man is considered “The Godfather of Soul” and “The Hardest Working Man In Show-business”. He’s definitely the greatest. If you have never seen him perform before, check out some of his videos of him dancing…. He could dance his ass off too!!!
Hello from Sweden, you very talented youtube reacter (is it the right word? ) ! Lovelovelove JB - would be nice to see a reaction to JBs funky dance music - I got the feeling, Sex machine and so many others
Oh at the end you were talking about how the drummer sounded with the snare, he rehearsed his band relentlessly. He was known to be very strict if they hit a wrong note he could hear it and he would find them 5 10 15 $20 or whatever.
James Brown was directing the orchestra with his hands and body language, the guys knew when to cut out or come in when he signaled them. He was known to fine his band members if they missed to beat
Hint> This is pretty normal for a Janes Brown performance, he's always this way on stage. Cher does a beautiful version of "It's a mans world" and turns it into a ballad..
Please do some more reactions of James Brown but some more of his faster material in the 1960s 1970s when he was doing a lot of dancing especially NIGHT TRAIN from the 1964 TAMI SHOW and his 8 minute medley on the ED SULLIVAN Show from 1966.
Oh yes about those strings cause I just heard you say they’re awesome. That was not part of his 15 or 18 piece orchestra at the time whatever he had he would get some local people to play the strings at his shows.
