James Brown: Live at the Apollo [POLYDOR]

Why you'll love it

This remastered Polydor edition captures the whole 1962 show. The album spent 66 weeks on the Billboard pop albums chart, peaking at No. 2, and sits in both the Grammy Hall of Fame and the Library of Congress National Recording Registry.

This edition

• Remastered
• Original album artwork

About the album

James Brown believed in his stage show enough to pay for the recording himself. On October 24, 1962, with his manager Bud Hobgood behind him, he taped the whole revue at Harlem's Apollo Theater, and when King Records issued it the following May it became one of the fastest sellers of its day, with shops in the southeast ordering it by the case. The Flames go uncredited on the original cover, but MC Fats Gonder names them in the introduction, and they're all over the record.

MC Fats Gonder's introduction sets the stage, then the band, sharp and tight, hits "I'll Go Crazy," "Try Me" and "Think" with no room to breathe. The Famous Flames (Bobby Byrd, Bobby Bennett and Lloyd Stallworth) are right there on every chorus, the medley rips through a run of hits, "Night Train" closes the show, and the ten-minute "Lost Someone" brings screams from the crowd that are part of the record's legend.

R&B DJs often played side one straight through, stopping just for ads and to flip it over. We'd recommend the same approach at home, minus the ads.

Also at Kops: more James Brown on vinyl · browse Classic Soul

Tracklist

Listen

On King / Polydor (cat# 422 843 479-1), a reissue of the 1963 live album.