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James Brown.


bubinga5
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i might say I'm not really into true funk, i do like a mix of musical styles. but when i here a track like this i quiver at this funk. he was a real master.

his dancing was something to behold, and I'm sure Micheal Jackson stole a few moves. i can't remember the amount of times I've heard his voice sampled, or the bass lines, drums.

it was great acheivement, he managed to get people to peace at the Boston gardens. during the King assassination to come together through his music.. there was a huge crowd of people in Boston at this live venue, who wanted to riot, but James managed to calm them with a speech. it was inspiring to hear/see. lots of vids on youtube..

anyway Maceo with the funk. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UdtmOsdggo[/media]

Edited by bubinga5
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[quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1410720756' post='2552337']
Bearing in mind he was 'the hardest working man in show business' for decades, I've never heard of anyone who has actually seen him live.
[/quote]

I have, in Brighton 2002. Don't remember him being on stage that long, and I don't remember seeing that much as it was all standing. The band were great tho'

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[quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1410720756' post='2552337']
Bearing in mind he was 'the hardest working man in show business' for decades, I've never heard of anyone who has actually seen him live.
[/quote]

I saw him at Wembley Arena in about 1985, it was great in parts, but his band were playing everything so fast there wasn't room for the funk to breathe and it was a horrible big venue for a gig like that.

I saw The JBs two or three times in the 80s and 90s in small venues with Fred, Maceo and Pee Wee and these were much better gigs. The funk was running down the walls!

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Saw him opening for the Chili Peppers in Cardiff, must have been 2004 or so. They were very good, he was great! Had no idea he was going
to be playing, it was such an awesome surprise to walk in just as he got his set underway.
Think he was 70 odd but you'd never have known it, he was still one hell of a showman.

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[quote name='Subbeh' timestamp='1410726289' post='2552498']
Saw him opening for the Chili Peppers in Cardiff, must have been 2004 or so. They were very good, he was great! Had no idea he was going
to be playing, it was such an awesome surprise to walk in just as he got his set underway.
Think he was 70 odd but you'd never have known it, he was still one hell of a showman.
[/quote]

I was there too! He was very good, doing the 'running man' dance with his backing singers at one point. Bloody amazing considering his age.
Did you notice he had two bass players playing at the same time that night? One had a Stingray but I forget what the other player used.

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[quote name='miles'tone' timestamp='1410729898' post='2552574']
I was there too! He was very good, doing the 'running man' dance with his backing singers at one point. Bloody amazing considering his age.
Did you notice he had two bass players playing at the same time that night? One had a Stingray but I forget what the other player used.
[/quote]I was also there, and couldn`t believe his energy

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[quote name='timmo' timestamp='1410758587' post='2552696']
I was also there, and couldn`t believe his energy
[/quote]

Didn't he start out as a dancer?

He seems to have been into the marching powder at various points of his life, which would have helped.

The stories about him fining band members for mistakes is true. I was talking to a FOH engineer who toured with JB in Europe and sometimes a musician owed so much in fines he wouldn't get paid for the gig!

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[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1410738617' post='2552672']
I've seen James Brown twice. First time had Bootsy on bass, at East Ham Odeon in about 1970.

They came on at about 1am, it was their second show that night and that has to be one of the best gigs I ever saw.
[/quote]

I've seen footage of this concert recently.
Work has meant I've had to get in lots of James Brown footage (its a hard life sometimes!). there's a phenomenal concert of him from around 71 in Paris with a very young Bootsy on Bass. Pretty intense stuff.

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I love JB - got loads of his stuff. He had a run of amazing albums which lasted to the late 70's.

To achieve what he did - his upbringing was terrible - makes it even more astonishing. He's one of the true greats, that really doesn't get the mentions he deserves in my book. Bar the odd 'Pappa's...' and the like, a lot of his work seems to be a bit under the radar for many people. Some of it still hard to find - the 'Reality' album, for example.

One of my fave JB jams - awesome drumming from Clyde Stubblefied - the original Funk Drummer!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYsAGlOxVpM

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Saw the Man twice - once at the Royal Albert Hall, about 1969 I think, and again at the Barbican (inventing America) in '98.
The RA gig was loud & competent....musically great, The Godfather worked hard, but somehow missed the spot. At the Barbican, it was all overloud and messy. Had the feeling that James had taken too much of something. There were false starts, wrong starts and no starts, all of them at tremendous volume. (we are talking silly LOUD here) - shame, because funk, soul & reggae are very much my thing.
Nevertheless, the world of music is a quieter (& less energetic) place without The Hardest Working Man.....

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[quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1410720756' post='2552337']
Bearing in mind he was 'the hardest working man in show business' for decades, I've never heard of anyone who has actually seen him live.
[/quote]

A lot of us older cats saw him live. I did many times and when he was young. I saw all the great new pioneering artists of the 60s and 70s live including The Beatles.

James live shows, well you could tell he was a perfectionist and one of the few that truly had an advanced musical vision. He was one of the few that whatever he had going on in his head he could transfer it to his recordings and the stage.

I love to hear about the younger generations taking interest and appreciating these [i]"once in a life time"[/i] recording & performing artists.

Blue

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[quote name='taunton-hobbit' timestamp='1410893134' post='2554460']
....it was all overloud and messy. Had the feeling that James had taken too much of something. There were false starts, wrong starts and no starts....,
[/quote]

I saw one of those JB gigs, Hammersmith Odeon, late 70's, it was shambolic.

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