Sometime around 1985 I remember threatening to do bodily harm to myself if my father didn't let me get tickets to see my then (and pretty much still) idol James Brown way way way out in the suburbs of Philly at a place called The Valley Forge Music Fair. - - I was somewhat concerned though. At that time, there were two JB's - - JB, the funkiest man alive... and JB, the guy from Rocky IV who was trying to ride the wave of the unfunky '80s. - - I really wanted to hear all that rare JB funk from the early '70s, but back then, most of that stuff was THE PAST... JB was either the LIVING IN AMERICA guy, or MR. I FEEL GOOD. Maceo & Fred Wesley and the JBs were names of a distant past almost.

Well, I went to the concert... it was a very white audience and the coming attractions included a lot of country music stars like Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton... anyway, the show began... Wilson Pickett tour the roof off... then JB's band came out, and ..., they were kicking this type of Jazzed out JB funk that I'd never heard before, even on the albums... and when JB came out, the fun didn't stop there... he did a few of his greatest hits, but to the disdain of most the yuppie audience, he basically did an evening of extended grooves, even sitting in at the organ, playing drums, giving Maceo Parker (still with him and with Gherri Curls) lot's of long solos. - - THE ENTIRE AUDIENCE basically got up and left, but the show went on for 4 hours... and there were only a hand full of people at the end... yet I was in FUNK heaven.... but so miserably depressed that I'd probably never get to hear anything like that again.

Well to make a long story short, when this CD came out, it almost brough tears to my eyes, because the versions of those tunes that you hear on this CD is the type of stuff that JB was doing that night, against the popular tide ! ! ! - - Though there are plenty of great JB hit albums, when it comes to the overall groove and Jazzed out funk vibe of JB, this is the epitome of it... therefore, I can reccomend no CD more than this for the true funk efficianado.

Long live the Godfather !

In 2001, this album's contents will not cause a great stir with collectors or casual fans, as Polydor/Polygram has consistently released lost gems and reconstituted familiar sides since 1986, when this double album was issued. It was soon overshadowed by the single album "Motherlode", which was almost all previously unreleased stuff from '67 to '72(which should have been released). But this first in-depth effort is definitely worth hearing and having, if only for the much-sampled "Funky Drummer"; the studio recut sans overdubbed audience "Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose" - a mindblower in *any* generation; and for "I Got To Move", a kind of retooled "There Was A Time", recorded at the same session which included Mr. Bootsy Collins, and shelved for 17 years. Other tracks are readily available elsewhere.

this Album just Sizzles Period."FUnky Drummer"alone is the kind of Track that if you have any kind of Groove about you you have to have it ASAP.this is one of the Golden Era's in the Great Musical Evolution of James Brown.Grooves are tight on a Dime.THe Man&His Musical Vibe are truly One of a Kind.