Live at the Apollo |
|
Recorded: October 24, 1962 Released: May 1963 Charted: June 29, 1963 Peak: 2 US Sales (in millions): 1.0 Genre: R&B |
Tracks:Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts.
Note: chart peaks are for studio versions. Total Running Time: 27:23 |
Rating: 4.473 out of 5.00 (average of 25 ratings)
Quotable:“There is no more exciting document of live performance in the history of R&B.” – Barney Hoskyns, Amazon.comAwards:(Click on award to learn more).
|
Doing Justice to the Genius of James BrownJames Brown is now widely acclaimed as “The Godfather of Soul,” but at the time of this album’s release, he was “still widely unknown outside the African-American community.” JD Apollo “predates the brittle but powerful funk grooves which would later make Brown the most sampled man in show business and focuses on his earlier and (relatively) more conventional hits, the building blocks of his pioneering sound are all here in high-octane live versions.” AMThe album “not only gave Brown national prominence in America, it also made clear the arrival of soul music.” CM “Soul had grown out of traditional gospel and 1950s R&B, and it combined the devotion of church music and the looming desires of secular grooves. With his mastery of the call and response style and his seditious tone…Brown was the preacher ready to minister to more than just souls.” CM “By the end of these thirty-two minutes, no one will doubt that James really was the hardest working man in show business (and this without even seeing him dance!).” AM Even though “you can’t see what Brown…was doing…the audience’s response….make it all easy to imagine.” CM “There is no more exciting document of live performance in the history of R&B.” AZ In fact, it is “one of the most thrilling live albums in pop history.” TM It has gone “down in history as one of the best live albums ever made.” JD Brown Bets on HimselfHis studio albums failed to do “justice to his dynamic performance style” NRR so Brown, inspired by the top-20 success of Ray Charles’ live In Person album, TB asked his record label to record one of his shows. Syd Nathan, the founder of King Records, “refused, arguing that no live record could sell without an accompanying single.” TM knowing “his live performances contained electricity unable to be reproduced in the studio,” RV Brown bankrolled the project himself, TL putting up $5700 “to finance the recording at the end of a week’s residency in the legendary Harlem Apollo.” TBWhen Nathan heard the results, he relented and agreed to release Live at the Apollo, TM although an initial pressing of only 5000 copies TB made it clear he was still skeptical. However, “demand became so great…that DJs played the album in its entirety.” TL It ended up on the Billboard charts for more than a year, peaking at #2 and selling a million copies. It became “a watershed album, both for James Brown and for the burgeoning soul music movement.” AM Capturing Him LiveHarlem’s Apollo Theater was “the ultimate shrine of black American music.” AZ “Like many R&B artists, he knew it as a place where even seasoned performers are tested, and knew…that positive word of mouth from the show would travel everywhere.” TM “Brown doesn’t merely tame the notoriously fickle Apollo crowd” TM of “approximately 1500 deliriously elevated fans;” CM “he blows them clear to the red-velvet back wall of the theater.” TM“The Apollo audience, hysterical with adulation, plays as big a part in Live at the Apollo as Brown himself.” AZ This “seminal live recording [now stands as] a time capsule documenting the latter days of the Chitlin’ Circuit and an album that influenced countless artists across genres. It’s equal parts Saturday at the juke joint, Sunday sermon and last dance of the night.” PM “Hearing Brown’s emotive style and soulful crooning elicit both fevered screams and intense concentration from the Apollo audience showcases the raw power of ‘Mr. Dynamite’ at his dynamic best.” PM He “puts on a flawless show of dynamism that lost nothing in the transfer to vinyl.” TL The BandBrown is “helped immeasurably by backing vocalists the Famous Flames, who cushion and caterwaul…and a backing band…who had been honed by years on the road with their fearsomely disciplined leader.” CM They are “in stellar form, tight as a fist (especially the horn section) and supporting their leader with both strength and subtlety,” AM moving “like a single organism, with the horns ‘answering’ Brown’s guttural moans and bone-rattling wails, the bass and the rhythm guitar prompting an impossible-to resist swaying of the hips, and the tight snare drum hits on two and four sweeping us up, hypnotizing us, and virtually reprogramming our heartbeats in time with Brown’s.” JD“Individual members shine through, whether it’s the alternately sighing and slashing guitar chords of Les Buie or the rousing rhythms that Clayton Fillyau produces for the intoxicating ‘Think.’” CM Through it all, though, “Brown is truly the star of this show.” AM “Live at the Apollo left no doubt in anyone’s mind that he was a live performer without peer, and that his talent could communicate just as strongly on tape as in person.” AM
The Songs“The album seems like one continuous medley – Brown follows hit after hit with staggering verve.” RV “The set contains only six full songs, and most of those clock in at under two minutes.” JD “Deftly swinging from up-tempo grooves to romantic ballads (albeit delivered with Brown’s typically abundant enthusiasm),” JD Apollo “captures the sound of Brown baring his soul with an almost unbearable intensity, which drives the audience into a manic chorus of shouts and screams.” AM“In the two minutes of Think, Brown and his agile Famous Flames create a rippling wave of raw emotion.” TM The album also finds Brown “whirling together love ballads including I Found Someone.” TM On Please Please Please, Brown “offers a pleading epic on the vicissitudes of romance.” TM “The entire performance is linked by instrumental bridges as the band builds up to the big medley – a six-minute merger of bits and pieces…then hurtles through the frantic farewell of Night Train.” JD “Some listeners have suggested that the length of the recording and the effect of alternating the pounding, up-tempo grooves with the seductive slow jams evokes an expert session of lovemaking…One thing is for sure: The tone of the banter between Brown and the audience (especially the women) is positively orgasmic at times, as during” JD “the slow burn seduction of Lost Someone.” CM “The song builds with intensity until the bottom drops, a…move that sends the audience into hysterics.” RV and “is one of the most heart-stopping moments in soul.” AZ |
Resources and Related Links:
First posted 10/24/2011; last updated 9/27/2024. |
No comments:
Post a Comment