Harlepolis said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

No I won't.

It's not happened in 27 years, it's not going to happen eventually.

Not even Joni or Sly?

No. I have tried. Years ago I bought a mountain of Sly cd's, Funkadelic, a Joni best of etc, and listened to them on a regular basis over a couple of years. I think I convinced myself I was into it because if I liked Prince then i'd like this...right?

I just realized one day that I actually did not like any of it that much. I liked a couple of Sly and Funkadelic grooves, but I had to admit that the rest did nothing for me, so I sold them all.

I have some JB

Who needs his CDs when you can download everything for free online?

i have Star Time only. I guess that's pretty substantial even though i know how nuanced albums can be and non-singles, and non-hits can be sublime.

a similar question could be who doesn't own a Beatles album, cd. now that would be ME! me thinks they're criminally overrated. nothing i've heard in my years of avoidance has made me feel i've missed much or compelled me to dig in to their catalogue. but let me not jack the thread

I'm not into James Brown and I find that Prince's James Brown-impressions aren't great or even that good most of the time.

I much prefer Prince's Jimi, George, Joni, and Sly influences. I respect JBrown as a musician and performer. His music is just a little too much for me.

I have his greatest hits, but that's it.

How can anyone not like James Brown?

Whether you are a fan or not it is sad that so much of his catalogue remains out of print. Virtually every note that Elvis ever recorded is reissued roughly every ten years, why can't James be shown the same respect? Instead we just get the same fifty-sixty songs rehashed over and over.

I don't. To be honest I never was a fan of his until I saw Dead Presidents (my 2nd fav movie) and you can hear Payback in one of the scenes-straight funk! James Brown is an artist I really need to take more time to listen to.

smoothcriminal12 said:

How can anyone not like James Brown?

I like it when people actually can sing a little. James is not a singer.

rialb said:

Whether you are a fan or not it is sad that so much of his catalogue remains out of print. Virtually every note that Elvis ever recorded is reissued roughly every ten years, why can't James be shown the same respect? Instead we just get the same fifty-sixty songs rehashed over and over.

How involved is James' family? Elvis had several assertive and intelligent family members taking care of his fortune up until the mid 2000s (now, I think Lisa Marie only has a small percentage of ownership in Elvis Inc after she sold most of her ownership a few yrs ago).

Jimi's family got involved and took control and have done a fantastic job, especially in the last 15 yrs IMO.

Where's James' family other than fighting each other in court? Seems like his life was well-disheveled whe he died and nothing was in proper order.

Spinlight said:

rialb said:

Whether you are a fan or not it is sad that so much of his catalogue remains out of print. Virtually every note that Elvis ever recorded is reissued roughly every ten years, why can't James be shown the same respect? Instead we just get the same fifty-sixty songs rehashed over and over.

How involved is James' family? Elvis had several assertive and intelligent family members taking care of his fortune up until the mid 2000s (now, I think Lisa Marie only has a small percentage of ownership in Elvis Inc after she sold most of her ownership a few yrs ago).

Jimi's family got involved and took control and have done a fantastic job, especially in the last 15 yrs IMO.

Where's James' family other than fighting each other in court? Seems like his life was well-disheveled whe he died and nothing was in proper order.

I'm not sure about James' family, I would guess that they are all as crazy as he was and not likely to be the best caretakers of his legacy. Still, shouldn't his record label be interested in milking his music for all that they can? Other than "Living in America" virtually all the good stuff (everything he recorded from the mid fifties to the very early eighties) is owned by the same label. Seems like they could easily compile some box sets and/or twofer releases. Most of his early to mid seventies albums were reissued in the early nineties but there was a lot that was left untouched.

In England his early stuff (1956-1961) is now public domain and is being reissued so I'm sure that over the next fifteen-twenty years everything I want will be released but I would like to see some releases with a bit of care put into them.

[Edited 3/28/12 14:41pm]

rialb said:

Spinlight said:

How involved is James' family? Elvis had several assertive and intelligent family members taking care of his fortune up until the mid 2000s (now, I think Lisa Marie only has a small percentage of ownership in Elvis Inc after she sold most of her ownership a few yrs ago).

Jimi's family got involved and took control and have done a fantastic job, especially in the last 15 yrs IMO.

Where's James' family other than fighting each other in court? Seems like his life was well-disheveled whe he died and nothing was in proper order.

I'm not sure about James' family, I would guess that they are all as crazy as he was and not likely to be the best caretakers of his legacy. Still, shouldn't his record label be interested in milking his music for all that they can? Other than "Living in America" virtually all the good stuff (everything he recorded from the mid fifties to the very early eighties) is owned by the same label. Seems like they could easily compile some box sets and/or twofer releases. Most of his early to mid seventies albums were reissued in the early nineties but there was a lot that was left untouched.

In England his early stuff (1956-1961) is now public domain and is being reissued so I'm sure that over the next fifteen-twenty years everything I want will be released but I would like to see some releases with a bit of care put into them.

[Edited 3/28/12 14:41pm]

I guess it depends on the arrangement he had w/ the label. When Jimi died, his shit was all owned by the labels and they would repackage it in terrible condition and slap shit together that had zero continuity. Until his dad and step/half (i forget) sister stepped in and snatched control I think in the early 80s.

If James does have some piece of control in his library, I can see that his family's chaos would be the obstacle there. With little or no proper/sane representation, how would a real, loving project be made? The labels probably just kick out the same ol shit cuz people keep buying it. You know, new fans being made every day and all. They seem to not mind licensing his music for samples all over the place, to that end.

It takes a knowledgeable and meticulous person/group to get these awesome projects started. Maybe there is too much crap in the way for a person like that to give James the kind of posthumous releases he deserves.

Spinlight said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

How can anyone not like James Brown?

I like it when people actually can sing a little. James is not a singer.

James to me wasn't much of a singer more than he was a preacher who could sing-talk to you. But the songs when he did sing were great to me because I guess it was the feeling in his vocals. But maybe to many listening, it's just "all that hollering". That's what Tina Turner was doing anyways but it worked.

Timmy84 said:

James to me wasn't much of a singer more than he was a preacher who could sing-talk to you. But the songs when he did sing were great to me because I guess it was the feeling in his vocals. But maybe to many listening, it's just "all that hollering". That's what Tina Turner was doing anyways but it worked.

I love Tina Turner. In fact, I really prefer the earliest stuff she was doing with Ike (think "It's Gonna Work Out Fine" etc). For some reason, I have never been into the Mother Popcorn/Payback/Sex Machine sound. Even when Prince does it, it's just boring to me.

And of course, Prince can pull a mean Ike Turner when he has a Boni Boyer-type vocalist at his side. Ike was a better musician/bandleader than James, IMO....

James' preacher-style puts me off. I did not grow up going to church so beyond being able to do a really good James Brown impression (for a white boy), I don't really connect with the flavor.

Spinlight said:

Timmy84 said:

James to me wasn't much of a singer more than he was a preacher who could sing-talk to you. But the songs when he did sing were great to me because I guess it was the feeling in his vocals. But maybe to many listening, it's just "all that hollering". That's what Tina Turner was doing anyways but it worked.

I love Tina Turner. In fact, I really prefer the earliest stuff she was doing with Ike (think "It's Gonna Work Out Fine" etc). For some reason, I have never been into the Mother Popcorn/Payback/Sex Machine sound. Even when Prince does it, it's just boring to me.

And of course, Prince can pull a mean Ike Turner when he has a Boni Boyer-type vocalist at his side. Ike was a better musician/bandleader than James, IMO....

James' preacher-style puts me off. I did not grow up going to church so beyond being able to do a really good James Brown impression (for a white boy), I don't really connect with the flavor.

I feel ya. I guess if you hadn't grown up around it, you wouldn't be impressed lol so yeah I know why some folks in here say they can't stand James' voice.

James hollered thats true, but the man had an effective singing voice too. C'mon with the okey doke people.

You could hear he was going for the Sam Cooke/Jackie Wilson crowd with his "song standards" recordings

[Edited 3/28/12 16:03pm]

Harlepolis said:

James hollered thats true, but the man had an effective singing voice too. C'mon with the okey doke people.

You could hear he was going for the Sam Cooke/Jackie Wilson crowd with his "song standards" recordings

[Edited 3/28/12 16:03pm]

That was James' "I wanna be crossover" period (1962-1967). After "Say It Loud", he had to forget "trying" to cross over. Jackie Wilson and song standards I never thought were perfect though.

I love that period, he threw everything but the kitchen sink on the wall just to see what it will look like.

Harlepolis said:

I love that period, he threw everything but the kitchen sink on the wall just to see what it will look like.

He didn't earn that "hardest working man in show business" title lightly. Man didn't have a break, so yeah I imagine he was doing everything he could to get ahead in the crazy ass worlds of show biz and the music industry.

Timmy84 said:

Harlepolis said:

I love that period, he threw everything but the kitchen sink on the wall just to see what it will look like.

He didn't earn that "hardest working man in show business" title lightly. Man didn't have a break, so yeah I imagine he was doing everything he could to get ahead in the crazy ass worlds of show biz and the music industry.

yup

living the chitterlin' circuit

HuMpThAnG said:

Timmy84 said:

He didn't earn that "hardest working man in show business" title lightly. Man didn't have a break, so yeah I imagine he was doing everything he could to get ahead in the crazy ass worlds of show biz and the music industry.

yup

living the chitterlin' circuit

I also often think that James felt like almost being delivered stillborn (and I guess he was also born prematurely), coming from a parentless home (though his father took care of him, he was often absent and his mother more so because she just straight left him and told him "take care of the boy"), coming from the ghettos of Augusta, Georgia (Broad Street), dropping out of school, having an illness in his early life (he had diabetes as early as his late teens probably), he probably said, "fuck it, I'm gonna make something out of myself" and well, did he?!

Harlepolis said:

James hollered thats true, but the man had an effective singing voice too. C'mon with the okey doke people.

You could hear he was going for the Sam Cooke/Jackie Wilson crowd with his "song standards" recordings

[Edited 3/28/12 16:03pm]

Spinlight said:

Harlepolis said:

James hollered thats true, but the man had an effective singing voice too. C'mon with the okey doke people.

You could hear he was going for the Sam Cooke/Jackie Wilson crowd with his "song standards" recordings

[Edited 3/28/12 16:03pm]

purplethunder3121 said:

It's Janelle Monae!

Harlepolis said:

Spinlight said:

How ladylike.

Spinlight said:

Harlepolis said:

How ladylike.

And I'm sure you could teach me.