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This is Star Time!
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James
Brown: Live at the Apollo (1962) [Expanded Edition]
Polydor, 2004
Rating: 5.0
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Posted: April 2,
2004
By
Laurence Station
October 24th, 1962, was an unseasonably cold night in New York City,
but those waiting to get into Harlem's Apollo Theater didn't seem to mind.
James Brown was making his seventh appearance at the venue; his fifth as a
headliner. What made this particular evening different, however, was
Brown's insistence on taping the show, an idea in which his label boss,
Syd Nathan, had little faith. Nathan believed Brown's strength was in
singles, and that no one would pay to hear a James Brown concert
recording, when they could see the exciting artist in person. Besides,
radio stations played singles, not entire live performances.
Undeterred, Brown paid for the recording himself and, obviously, knew
what he was doing. Live at the Apollo is one of the greatest live
albums in the history of popular music, despite being barely over thirty
minutes long. Brown and his backing band tear through the entertainer's
most popular cuts with a frenzied yet controlled intensity that's truly
amazing to hear. With a completely remastered and expanded edition of the
legendary set, Live at the Apollo is now available to a whole new
generation of listeners and, thanks to greatly enhanced fidelity
(conveying a foot-of-stage immediacy and crispness of sound that puts
prior pressings to shame) and a budget-friendly price, it's an absolute
must-buy for owners of earlier vinyl or CD versions.
Lucas "Fats" Gonder's famous "Are you ready for Star Time?"
introduction, followed by the band playing a shorter arrangement of "The
Scratch," kicks the evening off in rousing fashion. But it's not until the
crowd screams that you know "Mr. Dynamite" has taken the stage, and that
the real show is about to begin. Aside from being a charismatic master
showman, Brown is a genius set manager, seamlessly moving things along
from the manic fervor of "I'll Go Crazy" to the deep-hearted croon of his
1958 number one hit "Try Me," leading the band through complicated
polyrhythmic arrangements via dynamically precise vocal intonations, not
unlike an orchestra conductor using his wand.
"Lost Someone" affords Brown an opportunity to show off his impressive
range, highlighted by a dramatic shift to a lower register, eliciting
orgiastic squeals of delight from his female fans. Restively reigned-in
saxophone players and Dickie Wells' bottomless trombone perfectly
complement the free-ranging tempo. Standout moments from Brown's medley
include the tremulous organ on "I Love You, Yes I Do" and Les Buie's
sinewy guitar playing during "Stranger Things."
The expanded edition adds four single edits of songs from the show,
which obviously fit quite nicely into Syd Nathan's plan for Brown's
releases. But the album is best heard in the larger context of the entire
performance. Indeed, DJs of the day would play select cuts during the
afternoon rotation, and then honor requests for the entire performance at
night, when commercial airtime was less stringently controlled. Other than
fleshing out the historical record of the show, the four cuts offer little
to the overall package: Live at the Apollo is best heard straight
through.
While nothing will ever completely recapture the feeling felt by 1,500
lucky fans crammed into the venerable theater on 125th Street on that
chilly, late October night, Live at the Apollo in its current
incarnation comes as close as a non-participant is likely to get to
hearing Brown at his glorious, pre-funk height.
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