James Brown
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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 ...

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 emergency ...

AUDIO

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 ...

ARTICLES IN LIBRARY

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 unknown, ...

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 who ...

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 other ...

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 evidence ...

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 I ...

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 ...

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 your ...

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 within ...

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 ...

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 the ...

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 ...

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 club, ...

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 schedule. ...

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, since ...

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 25 ...

James Brown: Soul Brother Number One
Retrospective by Cliff White, The History of Rock, 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 career ...

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 'Please ...

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, Mr. ...

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. No ...

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 intolerable ...

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. With ...

James Brown: He’s Brown And He’s Proud
Profile and Interview by Cynthia Rose, The Observer, 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. Without ...

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 out ...

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 gospel ...

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 for ...

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 the ...

Sweet Cell Music
Profile by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 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, ...

James Brown: The Prisoner
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Mojo, August 1998
"How do you stop... before it’s too late?" ...

James Brown: Live At The Apollo Volume II (Deluxe Edition) (Universal)****
Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, October 2001
UNEDITED REISSUE of legendary 1967 double ...

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 of ...

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 speedily ...

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 ...

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 – and ...

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 ...

The TAMI Show Remembered
Retrospective by Steven 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 fans ...

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 by ...

James Brown 1933-2006
Obituary by James Maycock, The Independent, 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 bandleader, ...

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 the ...

see also Maceo Parker