James Brown is nothing short of showbiz itself. Captured here during a monumental performance in Atlanta in 1985, The Godfather of Soul struts his shit like he’s never gonna die. And he probably won’t. I’ve heard he can’t be stopped by ordinary means.
Here he’s a man possessed by the music, possessed by his two piece jump suit and possessed by the audience as he gits it on and gits funkeh. He has the energy of someone half his age and is still remarkably lithe for a man of his years. His trademark footwork and gymnastic splits all make welcome appearances here as he blows the crowd away for the duration of this 59-minute edited performance.
I was itching to see him work his mojo with that cool foot stuff and after hinting at it for the earlier part of the show he lets rip during the finalé and seriously kicks arse, moving like a man who has never been more fluid in his life. Incredible. It’s sadly unlikely I’ll ever see James Brown perform live and while this DVD is a fairly nice way to do so, I do regret I shan’t see him pull those moves in the flesh. A couple of years ago a friend got me a ticket to see Pseudo Echo, The Village People and Culture Club all on the one bill, and I can proudly say I did the Y.M.C.A. with the Peeps. (Culture Club were shit. Boy George pulled a hissy fit and only sang six songs. I won’t even go into how crap Pseudo Echo were - the crowd cheered loudest for Funky Town. I don’t think I could live with my biggest hit being a cover version…)
I will sadly never do whatever Mr. Brown calls his moves along with him. Looks like it’s back to the Safety Dance or the Macarena or my all-time favourite, Lambada for me.
I was slightly wary as this started out. It’s taken from a video source and the edges in the opening minutes are very soft and grainyish. However, it soon rights itself as the show picks up speed and for the most part we get some pretty neat footage of Mr. Please Please doin’ his thang. Camera angles keep the visuals moving and maintain interest, although this plays just as well with the telly off as a live CD. There’s one camera down on the front of the stage pointed up at Mr. Brown which rocks slightly and constantly whenever used, but I think they figured that out in editing and don’t use it much after the first couple of times.
Flesh tones are funkeh and lit well enough so that the darker skin tones don’t lose detail even from a distance. Shadows are okay I guess, but these really only appear in the crowd shots, while blacks and colours are all well saturated. As mentioned, this is an edited concert and there is not much space between songs, while the entire intermission is also happily cut loose. Mr. Brown comes back on stage in a scarlet jump suit that fairly lifts him away from everything else on stage and even this stark contrast is well saturated and even. Overall the lighting has been well handled and there’s never a moment we can’t see what’s going on midstage.
The sound is killer here, delivered in both Dolby Digital and DTS Surround 5.1. With so many rumbling bass lines, the subwoofer never sleeps and keeps the floor vibrating merrily for the duration, putting us there that night in 1985. All surrounds get worked thoroughly too. Nothing rests for long here and the sound is spectacularly immersive. Certainly rocked our house and several neighbours’ places.
As far as extras go there isn’t much, but there is a ‘selected’ discography that just keeps going for 11 pages! This guy doesn’t stop for a minute, with sometimes up to six albums a year! There’s little wonder he’s called the hardest working man in showbiz. (Except Chef in South Park said it was Elton John).
Then a little Umbrella propaganda in the funkeh shape of four trailers for other concert DVDs in Marvin Gaye, Cesaria Evora, Ray Charles and Back to Stax: Volume One.
Overall this is a bomber performance from the living legend that is James Brown. There’s an extensive playlist happily trimmed of the needless footage between songs and as I’ve not written that part in yet, I’ll do so now (my highlights in bold type):
- Give it Up (Turn It Loose)
- It’s Too Funky in Here
- Try Me
- Get On the Good Foot
- Prisoner of Love
- Get Up Offa That Thang
- Georgia On My Mind
- It’s a Man’s, Man’s World
- Cold Sweat/I Can’t Stand It (Medley)
- Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag
- I Got You (I Feel Good)
- Please, Please, Please
- Jam 1980’s
James Brown rocks and any fan would be insane not to have this DVD. As far as dynamic performers go he’s got ‘em all beat and the treatment of this performance on DVD pays the respect that he deserves as a musical icon.
Funkeh!
