James Brown In Concert with B.B. King

Recorded live at the Roxy in Los Angeles, 1983. Track listing; B.B. King - Let the Good Times Roll / Guess Who / The Thrill Is Gone / James Brown - Payback / Gonna Have A Funky Good Time / Prisoner of Love / Georgia On My Mind / Get On The Good Foot / I Got The Feeling / It's A Man's Man's Man's World / Medley; Hot Pants / Cold Sweat / I Can't Stand Myself / Papa's Got A Brand New Bag / Please Please Please / Jam / Sex Machine / James Brown & B.B. King - Sweet Little Angel / Closing Jam. Product Description

Forget (most) of the rest!

Along with the technically substandard The Lost James Brown Tapes/Bodyheat, also from CA and from roughly the same time period, this is the best available example of the post-Polydor JB, rockin' - *soulin'* - along the Club and theatre circuit, cutting for small labels but out there with the delirious throngs of original and new fans, gettin' up offa that thing and shakin' up a storm - can you dig that chick in the black mini-skirt, grooving to a salacious take of Papa's Bag, out in the front row basking in rarified rays from Soul Heaven, James Brown, at his fighting weight, dancing and singing true to form.
This DVD is the only Brown show commercially available to make the audience part of the show, a brilliant production technique.
It's not all uptempo, though, and deep fans might notice, particularly on the ballads, a matured vocalist, offering very little in the way of trademark hollers, screams, and moans, which really permeate earlier ventures. Some of those histrionics might be missed but that's not a critical element here at all.
B. B. King has a fairly short but entertaining set, Michael Jackson is invited on stage and imitates his idol on "There Was a Time", and this certifies the show as an *event*. It's been said that Prince followed MJ on stage but this section was not used (hint...for the next edition).
Extras aren't much, but don't let that get you down. I repeat the review title above. May 10, 2007

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