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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 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 interviews

James Brown (2003)

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, 1 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: ***

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James Brown: Think!

Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 7 June 2023

IT IS 1960 and we are along the lined streets of early James Brown, having steadily moved from Little Richard inspired tonal rock to Ray ...

Top Tunes: James Brown Explains About 'Papa's Bag'

Interview by Ronnie Oberman, Evening Star, The (Washington DC), 7 August 1965

YOU MIGHT say that July 23 to 29 was a sort of James Brown Week in Washington. ...

Maceo, Blow Your Horn!

Interview by Gene Santoro, Pulse!, November 1990

James Brown's saxman of choice, Maceo Parker cuts two solo albums, one jazz, one P-Funk ...

The Soul Parade

Overview by Maureen O'Grady, Rave, November 1966

RAVE's Maureen O'Grady puts on parade some of the greatest and the latest singers of "soul". The sound the "in" crowd said would happen. ...

The 30 best live concert albums of all time

Guide by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 22 April 2020

LAST WEEK, A STORY appeared in the New York Times that predicted that live music would not return to the world's stages until the autumn ...

James Brown: Ready Steady Go! (Rediffusion Television)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Richard Green, Record Mirror, 19 March 1966

AND TELE VIEWER RICHARD GREEN SAYS... ...

Why the early '70s was the greatest period for live soul albums

Guide by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, December 2016

JAMES BROWN invented the modern live soul album with the release of Live at the Apollo in 1963, and Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, and Etta ...

Four days that shook the British pop world: The Brown Bomb!

Report and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 19 March 1966

James Brown brought something that has been missing... ...

James Brown: James Earns $20,000 a Day in U.S.

Interview by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 19 March 1966

THE RECEPTION laid on for the purpose of meeting up with America's James Brown was timed for 6 p.m., to finish at 7.30 p.m. James ...

James Brown: Wembley Arena, London

Live Review by Paul Sexton, Record Mirror, 3 May 1986

"IT WAS just like watching Gary Glitter," said one voice on the way out, not in the least discontentedly. He wasn't far off, either. You ...

James Brown: the Royal Tahitian, Ontario CA

Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 14 July 1967

JAMES BROWN has sustained 12 years of rock solid solid rock popularity, carving his career scream by scream, frantic performance after frantic performance, building a ...

Take The Power Back: Black Artist-Owned Labels

Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Red Bull Academy Magazine, 25 January 2016

At the height of their careers, Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield, James Brown, George Clinton and Prince all formed their own imprints. Michael Gonzales tells the ...

James Brown: Oakland Auditorium, Oakland CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 30 July 1968

Music World's Soul Brother: James Brown Deserves Title ...

Talking All That Jazz: the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame

Column by Danny Fields, Spin, April 1990

The Dish, The Dirt, The Inside Dope Sussed by DANNY FIELDS ...

Brown Arrives in His Own Style

Report and Interview by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 15 September 1966

JAMES BROWN, who will appear at the Hollywood Bowl for a concert Friday night, has built up a 10-year momentum which catapulted him out of ...

The Superstar: Much More Than The Just The music

Overview by Vernon Gibbs, Billboard, 5 June 1982

IT MAY be one of the most frequently misused of the music industry's accolades, since in a business full of stars there are few genuine ...

R&B is B(l)ack and Involved

Comment by Bob Merlis, Words & Music, July 1972

WE'VE BEEN experiencing a remarkable phenomenon in recent months; the re-emergence of rhythm and blues as an important force in American popular music. Since it ...

Bobby Byrd, 1934-2007

Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 9 October 2007

James Brown's right-hand man for 20 years ...

James Brown: Revolution Of The Mind (Polydor Double-Album).

Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 22 April 1972

SOMETIMES IT'S hard to separate James Brown the entertainer from James Brown the social voice of the down-trodden American negro, but in Brown's case he ...

James Brown, the Count Basie Orchestra, Ramsey Lewis Trio: Madison Square Garden, New York NY

Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 23 November 1968

James Brown Scores Knockout With Soul Music at the Garden ...

Disco: "Who's that on the jukebox?" "Who cares?"

Overview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 10 January 1976

ROGER ST. PIERRE considers what the disco boom has done for soul, and reviews forthcoming action on the soul scene. ...

James Brown, Mandrill, George McCrae: Madison Square Garden, New York NY

Live Review by Dan Nooger, The Village Voice, 11 July 1974

GODFATHER'S GROOVE ...

LP Reviews: Sam & Dave, James Brown, Chet Atkins, and the Mothers of Invention

Review by uncredited writer, Beat Instrumental, April 1967

  Sam And Dave: Double Dynamite (Stax 589003) ...

Is James Brown Obsolete?

Comment by Vernon Gibbs, The Village Voice, 28 July 1975

Last summer, when I visited Afriac with James Brown for one of his "triumphant" blitzes, I was surprised at the discontent among his employees. The ...

James Brown: Hot Pants (Polydor 2425086 £2.15p)

Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 6 November 1971

IF YOUR big turn on is leapin' n' boogalooin' about in stuffy, sweatin' coalbunker discotheques while having your ears and mind blown by a thundering ...

The Voice Squad

Overview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 12 January 1985

From the raw to the pure, from the sublime to the meticulous — BARNEY HOSKYNS sings the praises of 24 of music's most glorious voices. ...

Soul: it's what Negroes have and white men are learning

Overview by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 30 June 1968

THE WORD is "soul" and if white Americans haven't been quite sure what it meant before, they are this week. ...

James Brown: Wiltern Theater, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 20 June 1991

Living in America: James Brown's defiant return ...

James Brown: Please Don't Go

Memoir by Peter Stone Brown, CounterPunch, 26 December 2006

LATE LAST NIGHT, or more accurately early this morning doing my final email check, I noticed the headline: "James Brown hospitalized with pneumonia." I immediately ...

James Brown: Mutha's Nature (Polydor PD-1-6111)

Review by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 20 October 1977

ELVIS' DEATH exploded the myth of his senescence with the fury of a surprise eruption from a long-dormant volcano. It had been easy to laugh ...

James Brown: Madison Square Garden, New York NY

Live Review by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 27 March 1966

He's the singer who puts Elvis to shame ...

The T.A.M.I. Show: Rock's Greatest Concert Movie Ever?

Retrospective and Interview by Richie Unterberger, Record Collector, May 2010

Richie Unterberger celebrates a legendary who's who of rock and soul royalty caught live in their prime, and now finally available on DVD. ...

James Brown: The Cassius Clay of Music

Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 March 1971

JAMES BROWN — broad and stocky — America's Soul Brother Supreme, with a warm smile etched deep into his granite face — perhaps the very ...

Soul LPs... including Wilson Pickett and James Brown

Review by Peter Jones, Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 17 February 1968

WILSON PICKETT: The Best Of Wilson Pickett 'In The Midnight Hour'; 'I Found A Love'; '634-5789'; 'If You Need Me'; 'Mustang Sally'; 'Don't Fight It'; ...

James Brown: Concurrent Terms

Report by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 9 March 1989

SOUL SINGER James Brown has received a second six-year prison sentence. The sentence will run concurrently with the six-year term Brown is already serving at ...

James Brown By James Brown with Bruce Tucker (Sidgwick & Jackson, £12.95)

Book Review by Cynthia Rose, The Wire, November 1987

JAMES BROWN is the Andy Warhol of sound — it's just not possible to imagine modern music without him. Nor could there be a more ...

James Brown: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Pete Wingfield, Melody Maker, 2 December 1978

The Sex Machine winds down ...

James Brown: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 March 1971

"I WANNA know... do I you feel alllllrrriiiigggght?" "Yeaaaaahhhh," roared the audience in reply. "Did yaa bring your sex machine with you?" The affirmative cry ...

James Brown the Cassius Clay of Music

Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 March 1971

JAMES BROWN — broad and stocky — America's Soul Brother Supreme, with a warm smile etched deep into his granite face — perhaps the very ...

James Brown: Superbad (Polydor 2310 089)

Review by Royston Eldridge, Sounds, 17 April 1971

HAVING ADMITTED that James Brown is the premier entertainer in soul after seeing him in concert at the Albert Hall, I thought that perhaps I ...

TAMI, Electronovision's Latest, Gets N.Y. Showing

Report by uncredited writer, Billboard, 21 November 1964

PRESS, TEENERS GET EYEFUL ...

James Brown: He's So Good, He Says

Report and Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, 16 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, ...

Herbie Hancock, Bootsy Collins, James Brown: The Barbican, London

Live Review by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, September 1998

DIGNITY OR DESPAIR: How are these funk giants confronting the present day? ...

James Brown: There It Is (Polydor)

Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 2 September 1972

WHERE JAMES BROWN IS AT ...

James Brown at the Crossroads

Comment by Cliff White, Black Music, March 1975

Is the Sex Machine slowing down? Can the Godfather Of Soul keep getting down now that he's over 40? Cliff White caught the man's recent ...

Bootsy Collins Effects the Funk

Interview by Gene Santoro, Musician, May 1991

Scouting bass hyperspace, speaking without words ...

Celebrating the "Godfather of Soul" the best way they know how

Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 16 July 2015

LAST SUMMER, when the James Brown biopic Get on Up opened on movie screens, jazz bassist Christian McBride organized an all-star concert at the Hollywood ...

Bobby Byrd: Rare Byrd

Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 6 May 1989

Over the years, BOBBY BYRD has been an integral part of JAMES BROWN'S career. PAOLO HEWITT spoke to him about his hot-and-cold relationship with the ...

Cliff White, 1945-2018

Obituary by Paul Sexton, Music Week, 30 January 2018

CLIFF WHITE, one of the UK's leading journalistic authorities on soul music and a Grammy winner for his work on James Brown's Star Time box ...

James Brown: Hackney Ocean, London

Live Review by James Maycock, MOJO, October 2001

After reports in this magazine (Mojo issue 88) of eccentric antics preceding a New Year's Eve concert in Las Vegas, will James Brown behave himself ...

James Brown: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Simon Price, Independent on Sunday, 19 July 2003

THE LOVED CHILD, they say, has many names. Make what you will of the fact that most of James Brown's epithets – The World's Greatest ...

James Brown: Calling Mr. Dynamite

Overview by J.D. Considine, Record, November 1984

WHEN JAMES Brown first took to being called The Godfather of Soul, it was more to play upon the faddish success of Francis Ford Coppola's ...

Eyewitness: James Brown is arrested after a Car Chase

Retrospective by Johnny Black, Q, March 1997

1988, SEPT 24: HIGH ON PCP, SHOTGUN-WIELDING JAMES BROWN GETS ARRESTED IN AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, AFTER AN INTER-STATE CAR CHASE. ...

Backstage in the '60s

Memoir by Chris Welch, Rock's Backpages, 25 July 2009

LIFE BACKSTAGE AT pop shows in the Swinging '60s was always a hoot. Looking back, it's fun to recall how casual and relaxed it all was ...

James Brown: Rainbow Theatre, London

Live Review by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 10 March 1973

MR. JAMES BROWN — Soul Brother Number One. Mr. Dynamite. ...

Black and Proud: James Brown, 1933-2006

Obituary by Gavin Martin, Daily Mirror, 26 December 2006

GODFATHER OF SOUL James Brown, who died of heart failure yesterday aged 73, was a member of a very select group of performers who truly ...

James Brown: Cobo Arena, Detroit MI

Live Review by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 23 May 1967

Brown Had The Crowds In His Hand ...

James Brown: Sue Hit with 'Night Train'!

Report by Guy Stevens, Record Mirror, 2 January 1965

FIRST STOP No. 1 IN THE CHARTS FOR JAMES BROWN CLASSIC! ...

James Brown: Brown Excitement

Report and Interview by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 22 July 1966

THERE WAS excitement both inside and outside of the Los Angeles Sports Arena on Sunday, when the James Brown Show played to an audience of ...

James Brown Shined Shoes Here!

Interview by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 22 July 1966

"SHINE, MISTER?" a tiny shoeshine boy called after a passing businessman, who dismissed him with a shake of his head. The young Negro sighed and ...

James Brown IS Super Bad

Report and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Columbia Daily Spectator, 22 April 1971

WE'RE SITTING there rapping just before camera time. This evening James Brown is taping the Johnny Carson Show and he is in a good mood, having just ...

James Brown — Outrageous Extrovert

Profile and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 24 October 1970

PERHAPS ONLY the outrageous James Brown could get away with a single like 'Get Up I Feel Like Being A Sex Machine', which stands at ...

Fred Wesley: Right, Said Fred...

Interview by Roger St. Pierre, Blues & Soul, 14 May 1991

Fred Wesley talks of funk, jazz and the idiosyncratic Mr. Brown ...

James Brown: Crescendo Tiger's Tail, Hollywood CA

Live Review by Nikki Wine, KRLA Beat, 11 September 1965

Mr. Excitement Stirs Audience With Soul ...

Eyewitness: The Black Woodstock — 22-23 September 1974

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Q, June 2000

As Muhammad Ali and George Foreman waited to go toe-to-toe in Zaire, Don King persuaded James Brown and BB King to headline a music festival. ...

Ten Commandments: The Gospel According To James Brown

Interview by Steffan Chirazi, Q, May 2006

Soul Brother Number One, 72 ...

Who Killed the Funk?

Comment by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 24 July 2013

MICHAEL A. GONZALES REFLECTS ON P-FUNK, THE OHIO PLAYERS, EARTH WIND & FIRE, ETC. AND WONDERS WHERE THE FUNK HAVE ALL THE FUNK GROUPS GONE? ...

James Brown: The Apollo Theater, New York NY

Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 16 November 1974

UPTOWN AT the Apollo, an eager audience is wondering when The King of Soul will make his appearance. ...

James Brown — Soul For The Cool

Profile and Interview by Mike Tuck, KRLA Beat, 30 July 1966

HOLLYWOOD — James Brown stood in the corner of the Villa Capri banquet room and began to relax. His first day in Los Angeles had ...

James Brown: Wrestling With The Devil

Report and Interview by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 6 April 1989

The struggle for the soul of the Godfather of Soul ...

The T.A.M.I. Show

Retrospective by Jonh Ingham, Creem, September 1972

Monster Rock Flick Flips Out Freaks Coast To Coast ...

Albums from Isaac Hayes, Taste and James Brown

Review by Royston Eldridge, Melody Maker, 10 January 1970

Isaac Hayes: Hot Buttered Soul (Stax) Tremendously successful in the States, this is the first solo album from Isaac Hayes, better known as the hit songwriter with Dave ...

James Brown: The Original Disco Man (Polydor Import)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 August 1979

THERE HE SITS, a sly grin splitting up his face to show a set of teeth worthy of a prize nag, his hair dixie-peached to ...

James Brown: 95 Per Cent of Credit

Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 1 October 1965

IT COULD have been James Brown, professional boxer or baseball player. Instead he chose to enter the world of entertainment and became a giant, playing ...

James Brown: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, 20 March 1971

SOUL POWER TO THE PEOPLE... AND HOW! ...

James Brown: Gravity (Scotti Bros.); Aretha Franklin: Aretha (Arista)

Review by Jon Young, Creem, March 1987

LADIES AND gentlemen, the Godfather and the Queen of Soul, Mr. James Brown and Ms. Aretha Franklin. Whether you hail 'em as living legends — ...

James Brown Live

Film/DVD/TV Review by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 5 March 1966

James Brown arrives In England next week for a couple of concerts and to perform, with his entire troupe, throughout the March 11 Ready Steady ...

Tom Jones: Brown's LP Lacks Live Excitement

Interview by Richard Green, Record Mirror, 5 March 1966

Opines TOM JONES in this exclusive feature ...

New Albums by John Mayall, Fleetwood Mac, Van Morrison et al

Review by Peter Jones, Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 2 March 1968

Staunch British blues fans will dig Mayall's Diary LP set ...

New Albums From The Doors, Roy Orbison, Sonny & Cher et al

Review by Peter Jones, Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 22 April 1967

Orbison Gibson album — a fine LP but could be depressing... ...

Tempo: R&B and Jazz Album Reviews

Review by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, November 1966

FOR SOME reason, recordings of live rock and roll shows are selling very well. You can hardly hear the music above the enthusiastic audience response ...

Bob Dylan, James Brown, Otis Redding et al: Album Reviews

Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 13 August 1966

Dylan rocks through 4 great sides ...

Newport Jazz Festival 1969: New Records & Not All That Jazz

Live Review by Ian Dove, Billboard, 19 July 1969

NEWPORT, R.I. — On paper at least the experiment of adding rock music to the Newport Jazz Festival 1969 came from the purest of motives. ...

James Brown Addicted To PCP

Report by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 17 November 1988

Friends of the soul singer say drug has 'whipped him' ...

James Brown: The Stones Can't Stop Talking About King James

Interview by Guy Stevens, Record Mirror, 19 December 1964

EVERY NOW and then, a rhythm and blues artist in America breaks through the confines of his own field of music and becomes a giant ...

James Brown, Box Tops, Albert King, Otis Redding et al, Album Reviews

Review by Peter Jones, Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 18 May 1968

Loads of R&B albums including Otis' great Dock Of The Bay LP ...

Brown's A Super-Spectacle: James Brown: Walthamstow Granada, London

Live Review by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 19 March 1966

OUT INTO THE cold streets of Walthamstow, ears ringing and apparently not working properly; eyes definitely out of focus; legs a trifle shaky. ...

James Brown: Soul Survivor

Interview by Ian Watson, The Evening Standard, June 2004

At 71, James Brown shows no signs of slowing down musically — or in his capacity for getting into trouble. Ian Watson meets the Godfather ...

Stars Turn Out For Grammys: Standing Ovation For Herb Alpert

Report by Louise Criscione, Carol Deck, KRLA Beat, 9 April 1966

HOLLYWOOD: In the finest tradition of glittering Hollywood premieres and openings, the Eighth Annual Grammy Awards were presented in the International Ballroom of the Beverly ...

James Brown: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Roy Hollingworth, Melody Maker, 20 March 1971

The clockwork king of soul? ...

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

Retrospective by Mark Anthony Neal, PopMatters, 2 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. ...

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 ...

Two Sides of James Brown

Report and Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 4 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 Says 'I'm A Dynamo!'

Interview by Rochelle Reed, KRLA Beat, 8 October 1966

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

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, 17 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 ...

James Brown: The Soul Of Mr. Brown

Interview by Dave Godin, Record Mirror, 26 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 ...

Solomon Burke: The Burke v. Brown Feud

Interview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 3 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 ...

James Brown: Talking Loud And Saying Something

Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 31 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, New Musical Express, 10 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: The original Disco Man

Report by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 5 June 1979

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

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 ...

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 TAMI Show Remembered

Retrospective by Steven R Rosen, Los Angeles Times, 29 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 ...

James Brown (and Afrika Bambaataa): Sex Machine Today

Report and Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 1 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 ...

Bobby Byrd

Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 19 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: Mister Messiah

Report and Interview by Philip Norman, The 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, 5 February 1971

The Greatest Showman In Soul ...

James Brown: He Ain't Slowing Down

Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 10 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 ...

James Brown: Telling The Natural Truth

Interview by Charlie Gillett, Record Mirror, 6 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: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 19 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: Stay On The Scene Like An Answerin' Machine

Interview by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 18 October 1986

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

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: Get Up, I Feel Like Being A Rap Machine

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 15 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: Star Time

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Q, June 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 ...

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 – ...

James Brown 1933-2006

Obituary by James Maycock, The Independent, 26 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 ...

James Brown: Live at the Apollo Vol.1

Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 16 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: Sex Machine Today, Hamilton Bohannon: Insides Out, The Commodores: Caught in the Act

Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 2 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: Reality and Breakin' Bread

Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 5 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 ...

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: Papa's Got A Brand New Hit

Report and Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, BAM, 11 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: Star Time (Polydor/CD Box Set)

Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 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 ...

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. ...

Super Bad: James Brown

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, March 2004

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

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 ...

James Brown: Prisoner Of Love Meets The Prisoners Of Hate

Report and Interview by Michael Goldberg, New Musical Express, 11 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: Twilight Of The Godfather

Interview by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 23 January 1982

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

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? ...

James Brown: OOOP! YAAA! UNNGH!

Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 2 December 1978

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

Sweet Cell Music

Profile by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 1 February 1998

ON 5 APRIL, 1968, when the National Guard was on full alert as America's black ghettos burnt in the wake of the assassination of Martin ...

Sweat, Power And Expensive Perfume

Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 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: I'm Real (Polydor)

Review by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 11 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 ...

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 ...

James Brown at Wembley Arena: Back And Proud

Live Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 26 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: 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 ...

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

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: Startime

Review by Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, 15 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: Soul Brother Number One

Retrospective by Cliff White, The History of Rock, 1982

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

James Brown: Git Down! Git Down! Git Down!

Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 8 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: Everybody's Doin' The Hustle/Dead On The Double Bump (U.K. Polydor)/Hot (U.S. Polydor)

Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 27 December 1975

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

James Brown: Studio 54, New York City

Live Review by Roy Trakin, Melody Maker, 17 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

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 ...

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

Profile and Interview by Cynthia Rose, The Observer, 16 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: The Prisoner

Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, August 1998

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

James Brown: Roots Of A Revolution

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 4 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: Hot (Polydor)

Review by Simon Frith, Street Life, 1 May 1976

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

see also J.B.'s, The

see also Maceo Parker

see also Fred Wesley

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