James Brown

The Classic Soul of James Brown

Guide by Cliff White, Let It Rock, August 1975

It's White on Black. Cliff White examines the output of the sex machine inch by inch. ...

James Brown, Valentines Park, Ilford

Live Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, August 1994

TEN MINUTES BEFORE JAMES BROWN IS DUE TO APPEAR ON AN English stage for the first time since his release from prison, there is an ...

AUDIO: James Brown (2003)

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages Audio, December 2003

James Brown talks about survival, mistrust, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Invention of Funk.

File format: mp3 File size: 28.5mb Interview length: 31 minutes 8 seconds Sound quality: ***

Solomon Burke: The Burke v. Brown Feud

Interview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, July 1965

"TELL ME," I said, "all about you and James Brown. There was a two-second hush, and then Solomon Burke, king of rock & soul, launched ...

Two Sides of James Brown

Report and Interview by Ann Moses, NME, March 1966

JAMES BROWN. Such a plain name – they call him Mr. Dynamite. They are one person. But there are two faces to the entertainer. Thousands ...

James Brown: The Soul Of Mr. Brown

Interview by Dave Godin, Record Mirror, March 1966

JAMES BROWN has at last been to Britain. His all too brief stay had just about the maximum impact that it could have had. It ...

James Brown Says 'I'm A Dynamo!'

Interview by Rochelle Reed, KRLA Beat, October 1966

Mr. Soul Speaks Out On Himself, His Music, His Points of View... ...

James Brown: Outasight

Interview by uncredited writer, Hullabaloo, November 1966

On stage, there are a dozen musicians and a few dancers, gyrating to a rock tempo. The conductor is tall and he smiles toward the ...

James Brown: Telling The Natural Truth

Interview by Charlie Gillett, Record Mirror, September 1969

'SAY IT LOUD – I'm Black and I'm Proud' sold 20,000 copies in Britain, although the BBC played it only once. Is James Brown surprised? ...

James Brown: Mister Messiah

Report and Interview by Philip Norman, Sunday Times, 1971

JAMES BROWN will die on the stage one night, on the moving staircase of his own feet in front of a thirty-piece band; and then ...

James Brown: The Sugar Shack Club, Boston

Live Review by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, February 1971

The Greatest Showman In Soul ...

Bobby Byrd

Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, March 1971

IF YOU'VE ever wondered who the second voice is on James Brown's 'Sex Machine', we can put your mind at rest for it is none ...

James Brown: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, March 1971

IF ARETHA is the Queen of Soul and Otis was the King of Soul, James Brown must qualify as the Super-King of Funk! On the ...

James Brown: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Roy Hollingworth, Melody Maker, March 1971

The clockwork king of soul? ...

James Brown: Talking Loud And Saying Something

Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, March 1972

JAMES BROWN is renowned for being a leader of his people and never more so than right now. During his long and successful career, he ...

James Brown: Rainbow Theatre, London

Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, NME, March 1973

SOUL BROTHER Number One's in town, and the James Brown Revue's gettin' down and gittin' it on at the Rainbow. Bop through to the stalls ...

James Brown: He Ain't Slowing Down

Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, March 1973

SOUL BROTHER Number One leaned back in his chair, adjusted his robe, and expounded: "Back in 1969 King Records didn't want to know. They said ...

The Legendary James Brown

Interview by uncredited writer, Beat Instrumental, May 1973

JUDGED SOLELY on sales figures, James Brown has to be one of the half-dozen most important performers in popular music since the War. ...

James Brown: Reality and Breakin' Bread

Review by Bob Fisher, NME, April 1975

A WORD OF advice. Never attempt to review James Brown product whilst the records are actually playing. It's impossible either to write or type when ...

James Brown: Sex Machine Today, Hamilton Bohannon: Insides Out, The Commodores: Caught in the Act

Review by Ian MacDonald, NME, August 1975

"WHITE ROCK", OBSERVED CSM last week in his Wailers review, "lays its beat on you; the Wailers' music allows you to find your own rhythm ...

James Brown - Live at the Apollo Vol.1

Review by Cliff White, NME, August 1975

EVERY SO OFTEN an album comes along that is more than just another good, bad, or indifferent release from the artist concerned. ...

James Brown: Everybody's Doin' The Hustle/Dead On The Double Bump (U.K. Polydor)/Hot (U.S. Polydor)

Review by Cliff White, NME, December 1975

J.B. reforms the Famous Flames, says hello to '57 ...

James Brown: Hot (Polydor)

Review by Simon Frith, Street Life, May 1976

IN WHICH the Godfather of Soul issues a firm but gentle reminder of who's boss and why... ...

Git Down! Git Down! Git Down!

Interview by Cliff White, NME, January 1977

Is Britain ready for the return of the Godfather of Soul? On the eve of JAMES BROWN'S fourth visit to the UK, Cliff White reveals ...

James Brown: After 21 Years, Still Refusing To Lose...

Report and Interview by Cliff White, Black Music, April 1977

A MONTHLY magazine cannot attempt to match the ephemeral topicality of a weekly news-sheet, particularly, a monthly magazine that works within the rigid structure of ...

James Brown: OOOP! YAAA! UNNGH!

Live Review by Cliff White, NME, December 1978

(That's right, this is a James Brown review.)James Brown: Odeon, Hammersmith ...

James Brown: The Original Disco Man

Report by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, June 1979

'People are doing what I was doing ten years ago and calling it Disco' ...

Sweat, Power And Expensive Perfume

Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, NME, September 1979

TALKIN' 'BOUT The Venue...and people, it's bad. There is no way that something the size of a small theatre can pretend to be an intimate ...

James Brown: Get Up, I Feel Like Being A Rap Machine

Interview by Nick Kent, NME, September 1979

JAMES BROWN is late for our appointment. But then it would almost be heresy on his part were he not a regal 45 minutes behind ...

James Brown: Studio 54, New York City

Live Review by Roy Trakin, Melody Maker, April 1980

Despite the recent hip upsurge in his popularity, James Brown has for over a year studiously avoided playing a live gig in Manhattan. Pity that, ...

James Brown: Prisoner Of Love Meets The Prisoners Of Hate

Report and Interview by Michael Goldberg, NME, April 1981

"Those black kids ain't ever seen a black president – and they won't ever see one. This country is no better off than it was ...

James Brown: Soul Brother Number One

Retrospective by Cliff White, History of Rock, The, 1982

James Brown: the most famous flame of all. ...

James Brown: Twilight Of The Godfather

Interview by Lloyd Bradley, NME, January 1982

APART FROM several Arsenal players, James Brown was my first hero. ...

James Brown: Roots Of A Revolution

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, NME, February 1984

YAAAOOWWW . . . Witchaw bad self! A few years ago Polydor issued a deluxe double album commemorating the first 21 years of James Brown's ...

James Brown (and Afrika Bambaataa): Sex Machine Today

Report and Interview by Gavin Martin, NME, September 1984

WHAT DO you think of when you think of James Brown? A stretcher case raddled with emotional pain dragging himself back from endless encores of ...

James Brown: He's So Good, He Says

Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, February 1986

JAMES BROWN is a litany of hit songs and personal titles. He's the Godfather of Soul, the King of Soul, the Living Legend of Soul, ...

James Brown: Papa's Got A Brand New Hit

Report and Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, BAM, April 1986

"CALL HIM MR. BROWN," a colleague advised me on the eve of my first meeting with James Brown. "Or he might not talk to you." ...

James Brown at Wembley Arena: Back And Proud

Live Review by Simon Witter, NME, April 1986

IT'S A tribute to the unbelievable power of James Brown's music that it has always managed to overwhelm our reservations about this dodgiest of superstars. ...

James Brown: Stay On The Scene Like An Answerin' Machine

Interview by Mark Sinker, NME, October 1986

MARK SINKER talks to God – alias JAMES BROWN – on the great black telephone. ...

James Brown: I'm Real (Polydor)

Review by Mark Sinker, NME, June 1988

HE ISN'T, of course. He's Mr James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, the Funky President, the Original Disco Man. He's a numbing backbeat tightened to ...

James Brown

Profile by Simon Witter, Sky, 1990

THE FIRST PHASE of James Brown's tempestuous career was as a '60s soul screamer in a suit at least two sizes too small for him. ...

James Brown: He’s Brown And He’s Proud

Profile and Interview by Cynthia Rose, Observer, The, September 1990

"NOT TOO MANY people can really set a precedent," James Brown told me. "But then, I was never too traditional about music." What an understatement. ...

James Brown: Star Time

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Q, May 1991

AN ASSEMBLAGE of 71 tracks and slightly less than five hours of music, weighing in at four CDs or cassettes (committed vinylists are, unfortunately, totally ...

James Brown: Star Time (Polydor/CD Box Set)

Review by Gavin Martin, NME, June 1991

SOONER OR later, all 20th Century music has to reckon with The Godfather. Before him there were be-bop revolutionaries blowing down the city walls, shamanic ...

James Brown: Startime

Review by Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, June 1991

THIS FOUR-CD mega-anthology reveals that there are actually two James Browns. The first is JB the patrician and patriarch: the disciplinarian who fined his musicians ...

James Brown

Interview by Robert Sandall, Q, September 1991

Fresh out of jail, James Brown got back on the good foot with a couple of UK shows last month. Backstage afterwards, Robert Sandall met ...

Sweet Cell Music

Profile by Sean O'Hagan, Observer, The, February 1998

(THE OBSERVER PROFILE James Brown – same song, different keys – by Sean O'Hagan ...

Bootsy Collins on Bootsy Collins

Interview by Marc Weingarten, MOJO, April 1998

‘Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine’James Brown (King single, 1970) ...

James Brown: The Prisoner

Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, August 1998

"How do you stop... before it’s too late?" ...

Looking Back with Bootsy

Retrospective and Interview by Martin Herron, unpublished, 2001

'SEX MACHINE'; 'Superbad'; 'One Nation Under A Groove'; 'Tear The Roof Of Tha Sucker' – Bootsy Collins' bass is the foundation stone of the House ...

James Brown: Live At The Apollo Volume II (Deluxe Edition) (Universal)****

Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, October 2001

UNEDITED REISSUE of legendary 1967 double album. ...

The Making Of James Brown Live At The Apollo

Retrospective by James Maycock, Daily Telegraph, February 2003

"ARE YOU READY for Star Time?" exclaimed MC Lucas "Fats" Gonder from the stage of Harlem’s Apollo on 24th October, 1962. The eager crowd ...

Death Or Glory: James Brown In Vietnam

Retrospective by James Maycock, MOJO, July 2003

JUNE, 1968. Seven US Army lieutenant colonels - six Afro-Americans and one Caucasian - are collected from Tan Son Nhut, Saigon’s international airport, and ...

Super Bad: James Brown

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, February 2004

JAMES BROWN’S road manager Charles Bobbitt takes me to one side and places a friendly paw on my forearm. ...

Beat The Devil: James Brown's Demons

Profile by James Maycock, Observer Music Monthly, February 2004

DAMN! LIFE WAS sweet and dandy for the Godfather of Soul in the last few years. But James Brown's slippin' and slidin' once again – ...

Red Hot Chili Peppers/James Brown: Hyde Park, London, 20th June

Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, September 2004

JUST HOW SERIOUSLY can you take the Red Hot Chili Peppers? Or am I missing the point? ...

The TAMI Show Remembered

Retrospective by Steven R Rosen, Los Angeles Times, October 2004

THE ROLLING Stones were there, along with James Brown, the Beach Boys, the Supremes, Chuck Berry, Marvin Gaye and more, filmed live before their screaming ...

Caught in The Act: James Brown's Soul on Top

Live Review by Kirk Silsbee, Downbeat, December 2006

WHEN SOUL shouter James Brown released his big band album – Soul on Top – in 1970, it was received as neither fish nor fowl ...

James Brown 1933-2006

Obituary by James Maycock, Independent, The, December 2006

JAMES BROWN was one of the most extraordinary Afro-Americans of the 2nd half of the 20th century. A raw, emotional singer, electric performer and tough ...

The Last Soul Brother: James Brown (1933-2006)

Retrospective by Mark Anthony Neal, PopMatters, January 2007

JAMES BROWN was of a generation of black men—mythological in many ways—who helped define the contours of freedom and possibility for black folk in the ...

James Brown: I Got The Feelin': James Brown In The '60s (Shout! Factory)

Review by Jeffrey Morgan, unpublished, 2008

NOTE: previously unpublished; banned after having "been labeled 'offensive' by most of the editorial department here" at Detroit Metro Times. ...

The Greatest (Pop TV) Show on Earth: The T.A.M.I. Show, October 1964

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Rock's Backpages, March 2010

ON 28 OCTOBER, 1964, the T.A.M.I. Show was recorded at the Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California. T.A.M.I. stood for Television Audience Measurement Index, though ...

Behold the Human Hurricane: Grammy Museum exhibit proves why James Brown was the Hardest Working Man in Show Business

Report by Kirk Silsbee, Los Angeles Downtown News, October 2011

JAMES BROWN HAD a signature piece of stagecraft that he honed over the years, beginning in the 1950s when he worked his way up through ...