Live at the Apollo 2 (Dlx) (Dig) [Live, Original recording remastered]

James Brown | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 26, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Live, Original recording remastered
• Label: Polydor / Umgd
• ASIN: B00005LKFC
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,375 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Introduction to the James Brown Show

2. Think

3. I Wanna Be Around

4. James Brown (Thanks)

5. That's Life

6. Kansas City

7. Sweet Soul Music

8. Medley

9. Caravan

Disc: 2

1. Introduction to Star Time!

2. Money Won't Change You/Out of Sight

3. Bring It Up (Hipster's Avenue)

4. Introduction to Star Time!

5. Medley

6. Bring It Up

7. Try Me

8. Cold Sweat

9. There Was a Time

10. I Feel All Right

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Thanks to the paradigm-shifting success of his first Live at the Apollo LP from 1963, James Brown and the famed Harlem theater were all but synonymous in the '60s. By the time Brown recorded there again in early summer of 1967, his music had undergone tremendous changes, as revolutionary for R&B as John Coltrane's sheets-of-sound approach was for jazz. This second Live at the Apollo caught Brown giving full stick to both his classic soul-ballad style and the funk his band was developing practically in front of the crowds' ears. Even better than previous issues is this terrifically remastered version. It adds nearly 25 minutes of previously edited tape, most significantly the pivotal "Let Yourself Go"/"There Was a Time"/"I Feel All Right" funk workout and an "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" that extends to a third of an hour here. The revisions add to the you-are-there feel of one of Brown's must-own albums, as do photos and credits that acknowledge everyone from stellar players like Maceo Parker and Clyde Stubblefield to the troupe's hairdresser and Learjet pilot. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps the best live album ever made, February 9, 2004

By 

Gregory S Sones (Houston, Texas USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live at the Apollo 2 (Dlx) (Dig) (Audio CD)

I first ran across this album years ago on vinyl and it quickly became one of my favorites. This is James Brown at the height of his powers before he began to recycle his best efforts and shriek too much. This version of the band is tighter than a drum head and pumps out the funk beyond belief.

I totally flipped when I found the CD with EVEN MORE MATERIAL! While I'm not completely crazy about the intermission material (Caravan is a good song but without SEEING the JB Dancers doing their stuff it seems like filler) the "There Was a Time" medley is worth the price of admission alone. This song is so powerful it completely makes up for some slight (and I mean slight) problems with the rest of the set. Every time I have it on in the car I can't help but shout along with the audience, UHHHH....UHHHH UHHHH!!!! If you're one of the drivers next to me in Houston please be kind and don't laugh too loud - I just can't help myself. "Kansas City" is also one of the highlights of the show while "Cold Sweat" is an absolute monster. Well, you get the picture. I just wish I could have been there at the Apollo in June of 1967 to witness this amazing series of concerts. If only I had a time machine I could have shot over to the Monterey Pop festival to catch Jimi and Otis and then later that same month out east to the Apollo.... Please strongly consider this CD for you collection. If you have the slightest funk-bone in your body, you won't be disappointed. Long live James Brown!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Funk Is Born, January 15, 2005

By 

Laurence Upton (Wilts, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Live at the Apollo 2 (Dlx) (Dig) (Audio CD)

James Brown has made four albums at Harlem's Apollo, the first in 1963 introducing the James Brown Show to a whole new audience and staying in the top selling lists for well over a year. By the time of this second album, selected mainly from the second of two shows recorded during a record-breaking 10-day run in June 1967, he had played there a further 200 times and claimed to know the stage so well he would recognize it blindfold from the sound of the fans in the balcony.
The concerts caught the James Brown Band at an important transitional phase. The previous month Pee Wee Ellis had taken as over musical director and with Maceo Parker recently restored to the line-up on tenor sax the music had taken a new, more funky direction (at a time when funk didn't exist), as demonstrated on the first groundbreaking piece they had recorded together that same month, Cold Sweat. James Brown did not waste the opportunity to bring his audience up to date with his sound, performing new titles such as Cold Sweat and Let Yourself Go, the current single.
However, less than two minutes into the latter song the Band go into an extended locked groove jam called There Was A Time, with both Clyde Stubblefield and Jabo Starks whacking out the tempo on twin drum kits, plus bongos by Ronald Selicoe, and this soon developed a life of its own when an edit of the performance appeared as the B-side of the next single, I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me). It did better in the R&B charts than the A-side, reaching number 3, and boosted sales of this legendary live album. The liner notes claim that this track "may well be the single most riveting Brown performance on record."
However, James Brown was off to Las Vegas the following month and also had an eye for the mainstream, so as well there are violin-filled renditions of standards like That's Life and I Wanna Be Around, which owes as much to Tony Bennett as it does to Dinah Washington.
This two CD set reconstructs the original set-list as far as is possible, restoring material edited from the original 1968 double-album because of running-time constraints, including in their entirety Sweet Soul Music from Bobby Byrd's set and the James Brown Band's revival of Duke Ellington's Caravan, and edits removed from longer pieces such as It's A Man's Man's Man's World, There Was A Time, I Feel All Right and Cold Sweat, with its Maceo Parker sax solos, all taken from the four-track remote recording master tape

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the greatest live albums., July 29, 2001

By 

beau (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live at the Apollo 2 (Dlx) (Dig) (Audio CD)

"Live in Dallas" is a very strong contender for the Greatest James Brown live album, but this set from approx. one year earlier has a greater range of material and presents the arrangements generally at a better tempo. The original Vol. 2 release was beautifully programmed and the "Deluxe" reissue, with many extra segments and deeper sound is another must-have for any fan of JB or current rap/hip-hop. "...Man's World" is much longer and is almost completely different. "Please, Please, Please" is here a rare alternate and prefaces a prev. unrel. "Bring It Up" finale. I was sad to note that "Money Won't Change You" was not a vocal but an instrumental - there are no "new" entries otherwise, except for Mr. Bobby Byrd's "Sweet Soul Music", a performance which warranted release back in '67/'68. I hope Polydor can offer all the JB live albums in this format - the "Revolution of the Mind" set, reportedly produced using many shows, would be the perfect follow-up! Oooooo-wee!