Customer Reviews

Love Power Peace: Live at the Olympia, Paris 1971

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Absolutely sensational, this is as good as "Live at the Apollo (1962)," and much better if you're a funk fan. It has a wonderful live ambient sound, as with the best live albums, you can feel and see the show through the sound. With JB, that means, a visceral experience of sweat and cries and dancing, and an audience that is screamingly his.

The fun "Brother Rapp" blends into one of the best ever funk/rock performances on record: "Ain't It Funky Now." James Brown's intense vocals and squeals are matched by a Phenomenal guitar solo by Phelps (Catfish) Collins... loaded with power, funk, and a daring non-melodic break. Simply unmatched-play this loud and watch your friends' jaws drop wide open in amazement. JB plays organ, and his cool nocturnal sounds echo over the applause and whistles of the crowd. It is a great display of musical sexuality.

"Georgia" slows things down a bit, but it's a very soulful and intense vocal effort by JB. The problem is the humdrum arrangement of the horns and strings. In general, the horns are not as inspired as on other records, particularly those that feature funk master Maceo Parker. In addition, the horns are not miked as well as they could have been. However, Phelps Collins' guitar makes up for the slightly disappointing horns, and brother Bootsy Collins plays a tight, loud, and imaginative bass (pre-slap funk style, but still compelling).

"Bewildered," one of two non-JB composed songs on the CD, features a throwback Sam Cooke-like vocal by Brown, and some tasty bass. JB changes the dynamics well, both within and between songs: Listen to the transition between "Bewildered" and the funk anthem "Sex Machine."

Bobby Byrd adds his deep, burnished voice to "Sex Machine," which features strong drumming by "Jabo" Starks and "Tiger" Martin and funkified rhythm guitar by Hearlon "Cheese" Martin. There is absolutely astonishing jazz/funk guitar work from Phelps, which makes this a masterpiece. This is just one of several songs that alone make the album indispensable.

As if announcing that he's into a new bag, JB devotes only 90 seconds to a medley of "Poppa's Got a Brand New Bag," " I Got You (I Feel Good)" and I Got the Feelin,'" before Bootsy lays down a compelling bass riff on the 5 minute funk-dance song, "Give it Up or Turnit a Loose." Then it's almost six minutes of the greatest sexist song of them all: "It's a Man's Man's Man's World," where he famously mixes male braggadocio with a well-intended (?) paean to females ("...but it wouldn't be nothin' without a woman or a girl"). It's one of his best performances of this song, with a fabulous tension-building lead-in from JB and Bobby Byrd. The crowd goes wild.

The concert seems to end with "Please, Please, Please (2:09)" but, after Byrd goes through the credits, JB finishes with "Super Bad," an extremely funky "Soul Power," and the political "Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved" (the latter featuring Phelps' guitar). "Super Bad" features some great tenor sax by St. Clair Pinckney; one wishes there were more of him on the album.

James Brown directs both the band and the ecstatic listeners with controlled abandon throughout. An album to play often and loud; it ranks with "Foundations of Funk (a two-record set with great work by Maceo Parker)" and "Live at the Apollo." Note: The liner notes list personnel but only briefly describe this electrifying night. A must for JB fans and anyone with an interest in the birth of the funk. Get it!

If you only buy one James Brown album ever, LET IT BE THIS ONE. This is the single disc that will show you why James Brown is considered the greatest live act, bar none. I own every James Brown release prior to Soul Syndrome (1980), and I listen to Love Power Peace more than all of the others combined! On a sultry night in Paris, 1971, the monster heavy funk was born. You too can be there in spirit by checking out this concert album. The original JB's are featured on this one, and you will soon realize why people refer to them as the "originals." Whenever people ask me which James Brown album they should buy first, I always recommend this album, because the VERY BEST VERSIONS of all of Brown's MAJOR FUNK CLASSICS are right here. Do not buy a lame "greatest hits" collection! "Soul Power," "Sex Machine," "Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved," "Super Bad," and "Give It Up or Turnit A Loose" are all transformed into over twenty minutes of raw funk power fusion at the conclusion! The introduction, "Brother Rapp/Ain't It Funky Now?," spontaneously started parties when I was at college. This is the only album that I have ever owned that caused people to come over and beg me to play it for them! If you don't LOVE this album, you just don't get the James Brown Experience.

This album is the best live recording that I have found from James Brown's prime funk period, with the greatest lineup of musicians in the JB's. This one has a slight advantage over the more common live disc **Sex Machine** which was recorded around the same time. That one also has some incredible performances, but has a disjointed feel because it was compiled from multiple shows, and some of the tracks have cheesy fake applause tacked on. In contrast, **Love Power Peace** is the long-lost soundboard recording of a single, distinct show, and you can feel the sheer continuous energy of the performance. The liner notes state that this show was so hot that a woman from the crowd came up on the stage and stripped naked, and nobody wanted to stop her. I can believe it.

The powerful band on this disc include two drummers (one of which is the immortal Jabo Starks) working in unison and delivering the phattest beats possible; a 19 year-old Bootsy Collins, already laying down the superhuman grooves that would make him one of the most influential bassists of any genre; and Bootsy's brother Catfish screaming bloody murder on lead guitar. Mainman MC Bobby Byrd lays down the law with a steady supply of YEAH's and GET ON UP's. James is his usual bad self, screaming and strutting at his all time best, and making sure the non-English speaking crowd understands completely (the true funk is multilingual, of course). Sometimes James forgets the words, but no problem; everyone can understand the GOOD GOD's that he utters instead. Close your eyes and you can almost see James dancing, making the crowd go insane during every musical jam laid down by the band.

Highlights include "Ain't It Funky Now" in which Catfish takes two entire minutes to drive the head-trippinest guitar solo of all time into your brain; and James's call-and response screaming with the crowd to introduce "It's a Mans Mans Mans World." The entire band delivers such tight, flawless, and relentless grooves in "Sex Machine," "Give it Up or Turnit A Loose," "Super Bad," and "Soul Power" that you'd swear these guys weren't even human! Superhuman, for sure.

This is the only recorded live performance of James with the original JBs. It's a great recording of a great performance. In just over a year, James Brown and these JBs experienced a lot of success with each other. Of the five major singles they released, four ("Sex Machine" "Super Bad" "Soul Power" "Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved") are represented here, in their definitive live versions. The show differs from other James Brown shows in another big way: Solos were usually reserved for brass players; most notably Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, and St.Clair Pinckney. Here, Phelps "Catfish" Collins is featured in one blazing rock-edged guitar solo after another. James had an amazing amount of confidence in him. While Fred Wesley and Bobby Byrd were in charge of keeping these young players tight and somewhat in check, it was Phelps who was the leader of these JBs when they were still calling themselves "The New Dapps." At this point, Bootsy Collins was still known as Phelp's "Baby Brother," though his virtuosity with the bass was proving hard to hold back. A flap over pay (or lack of same) led to the end of these JBs, shortly after this landmark concert, which rocked an enthusiastic French audience. This is Paris in 1971, and when the liner notes talk about the show being so hot that, "a French lady strips on stage and no one moves to stop her," I can just picture it! Later, on this very date (March 8, 1971), Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fought their epic first bout in New York. James himself was soon back in New York, with many of his old sidemen back in the fold, turning out The Apollo Theater for the third time. The shows are similar. James' new JBs are tighter, but not as progressive as the originals. Cheese Martin takes over the solos on guitar, but there aren't as many of them. "Brother Rapp" was cut as the opening song, (replaced by "It's A New Day") and the latest single, "Hot Pants," was tacked on to the end. Pick up "Revolution Of The Mind," and make your OWN comparison of these two fine recordings of James Brown in concert, when he was at his very, very greatest!

...when your SPEAKERS break out into a cold sweat, shoot, you know you on to somethin'...

1971 was transitional for James Brown as band members left (Maceo Parker, Jimmy Nolen), joined (the Collins brothers, Fred Wesley) and rejoined (JB's best onstage foil, Bobby Byrd). JB brought them all to Paris for "Love, Power, Peace," a show at the Olympia Theatre that is the hottest, if not quite the best, JB live set ever. (1963's "Live at The Apollo" still gets that nod for historical as well as musical purposes.)

You'll hear some of the finest rhythm guitar ever recorded on "Super Bad" and "Sex Machine"; a version of "Georgia On My Mind" as intense as Ray Charles' rendition was sanguine (ending with an on-key scream and JB shouting song titles to increasing applause), and excellent horn and string charts by David Matthews on JB ballads like "Bewildered" and "Try Me." Yes, this is essential for JB fans who know that "Star Time" started, not ended, their JB collecting. One question ....what made JB cancel the release of this set back in '71?

It's hard to expand on the other reviews in an original fashion, but I'll try. "Star Time" whetted my appetite originally for this album, with the teaser 'Brother Rapp/Ain't it Funky Now' on it's 3rd disc, but you really have to buy this album and listen to it all the way through to truly appreciate what you're listening to...

...which is to say, the definitive live funk experience; especially if you haven't been fortunate enough to catch Mr. James Brown in concert. This may be the closest I'll ever come to it, but you could do much, much worse.

The video footage to this has been floating around for some time - - but most copies have such horrible visual quality its not even worth watching. Not surprisingly I was thrilled to see this historic recording made for French TV finally released on CD... and clearly historic as it features the original JBs - - James Brown's "young blood" band that would form his ultra funky studio bands of the 1970's (and later jump shimp and become the backbone of the P-Funk organisation) featuring the likes of Bootsy, Maceo and Fred etc. And Bobby's there too... (during the era when JB supposedly having his press agents intentionally spread rumors that they were "involved" just to keep those headlines comin' on!)

Unlike his more famous Apollo albums which were recorded in the SOUL era, this recording features JB right at the height of the FUNK era (sporting an afro, not the conked hair incidentally.) Ultra uptempo and tight - - one other album comes close to this... REVOLUTION OF THE MIND (which features some of my favorite version's of AIN'T IT FUNKY, GET UP GET INTO IT, SOUL POWER and GIVE IT UP OR TURN IT LOOSE) ! ! ! - - This is definitely a must not miss for any true fan of funk, soul or JB ! ! ! Millions of live recordings have subsequently been released, but this is one of the definitive ones... my prayer is that one day the TV footage too will get reissued as well, hopefully from the first generation source if it still exists.

This is the funkiest album ever made. It's impossible to play like this, but these cats went and did it.

Usually for a superstar musician, when archivists uncover some sort of "lost tape" of a show, they will hype it up as the greatest thing EVER. They will make you think that this long lost recording will blow your mind, and will affirm everything that you ever loved about the artist. Invariably, this is NEVER the case. I don't care how big the artist is, I have seen so many Lost Tape Letdowns, I can't even name them all. Miles Davis, Dylan, Beatles, BB King, Zeppelin, Coltrane, Blakey - yes the best of the best have fallen in this regard. Sometimes it makes you wonder, are these guys as good as I thought they were??? Are they a sham???

But guess what? James Brown has Soul to spare. He has Soul to burn. He always did and always will, even in heaven. And when you uncover a Prime Era James Brown Tape, it will NOT disappoint. That is 100% guaranteed. He refuses to lose. When you hear Love Power Peace, you will find everything you love James Brown for, and more. When you play this album, you will be shocked that anyone could have as futuristic sound as the James Brown band had in 1971, even though you have heard this said a million times already. When you think about this show, you will think you would have given practically any material possession you own just to have been there. That's what I still feel. When you think about Phelps' solo, you will rack your brain to come up with any solo in any genre of music including jazz with as much energy, creativity and FUNK as this one. You will wonder how he never had 10 albums of his own.

When you hear LOVE POWER PEACE, you will feel the full force of the James Brown Experience. This Experience was honed with loving skill for almost 20 years before this show. There are few musical artists in the history of the world who can live up to their hype, their Legend, their Ego. James Brown is one of the few, perhaps the one.