James Brown - Live at Montreux 1981 (2005)

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James Brown - Live at Montreux 1981 (2005)

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Simply put, James Brown is rightfully the definition of soul. He's been adorned with many a lofty title or nickname over the decades-"The Godfather Of Soul", "Soul Brother Number One", the Hardest Working Man in Show Business", Mr. Dynamite", all may seem extreme, but when it comes to JB they are well deserved. Few, if any, African-American musicians have been so influential in popular music. It has been said that no performer puts on a more exciting, athletic stage show than James, with Brown a whirling dervish, sweat soaked and executing incredible dance moves. With a voice that at times soulful, screeching and more predatory animal than man, his sound is singular. Brown has been a lightning rod for two notable movements in African-American music, the catalyst that turned R&B into soul music, and upped the ante from there effectively innovating what would become funk in the late 60's and early 70's.
From the late 50's on, the number of James Brown hits on pop and R&B charts began to grow, a list of songs that includes "Try Me", "Out Of Sight", "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag", "I Got You (I Feel Good)", "Cold Sweat", "I Got The Feelin'", "There Was A Time" brought R&B ever closer to and past the edge into funk music. Being someone who followed soul, funk and rhythm and blues music from the early 70's on, in a sense I missed some crucial years in the Godfather of Soul's canon, having to go backward and pick them up along the way. When I started listening to James Brown "Super Bad" was tearing up the airwaves with a horn as funky as they come and a mean little guitar riff backing that strong, soul-soaked voice. During that period his music became ever funkier, reaching out to African American listeners more than ever with tunes like "Hot Pants" "Get On The Goodfoot" and "The Payback", all huge soul sellers. As this was the era of the "Blaxsploitation" films, JB also did two movie soundtracks, "Slaughter's Big Rip-Off" and "Black Caesar". It can be said that JB was borrowing from himself over and over again with songs sounding so similar to one another, but he was catering to the dance crowd, so its hard to fault Brown for giving his fans what they wanted.
Though James' creative output seemed to have come to halt in the mid-70's, he tried to stay afloat in the musical waters, releasing a disco album amid growing problems with his finances and the IRS. In the 80's he did score some surprise hits, letting the listeners know that he was still Soul Brother No. 1; most notable among these were a collaboration with Afrika Bombaataa, "Unity" and the breakout hit " Living In America" from the soundtrack for Rocky III. With the advent of rap, JB's contributions loom even larger, being sampled again and again by the stars of that genre and effectively letting their audiences know just how heavily influenced they were by Brown. In the late 80's Brown's world came crashing down amid a well-publicized incident in which he was accused by his wife of assault and battery. His personal battles wound up in an interstate police car chase and threatening people with a handgun. This landed him a six year prison sentence, which many thought excessive; he was paroled after serving two years. Upon release he tried putting a few new recordings out during the 90's, some of them quite good ("Universal James" and "I'm Back" come to mind) but has never regained the radio play with anything current that can compete with JB classics such as "I Got You (I feel Good)", "Super Bad" or "Sex Machine". Regardless, James Brown has cemented his place in soul music as one of, if not the most important black performer of the rock and roll era.
Founded in 1967, the Montreux Jazz Festival has established itself as one of the most prestigious music events in the world. The extraordinary list of artists who have played there over the last 30 years is drawn from across the musical spectrum. With the consent of both the festival and the artists, Eagle Vision is making these concerts available for the first time on DVD. While a statement like this could be construed as hype by many, the list of concert DVDs the company has already released is indeed diverse and star-studded. This reviewer has already watched and/or written reviews of Montreux performances by the likes of Eric Clapton, Johnny Cash, Steve Earle, Alice Cooper, The Jeff Healy Band, James Brown, Candy Dulfer, Suzanne Vega, Nina Simone, Ray Charles, David Sanborn, Joe Sample, Marcus Miller, Bonnie Raitt, Ella Fitzgerald…..the list goes on and on. With three decades of great musicians and performances in the vaults I'm hopeful there will be many more gems like this 1981 James Brown concert to come.

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James Brown - Live at Montreux 1981 (2005)

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James Brown - Live at Montreux 1981 (2005)

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James Brown - Live at Montreux 1981 (2005)

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James Brown - Live at Montreux 1981 (2005)

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James Brown - Live at Montreux 1981 (2005)

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