
The Genius of James Brown - tintinnabula
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/08/18/genius-of-james-brown/
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6stringmerc
After a browsing and selected passage reading of the article, I'm sure it's a
fine piece dealing fairly with the book itself, which, as well, appears to
have merit to an audience which may be interested in the subject. James Brown
is, to me, a very iconic musician and representation of US cultural impact
(both his influences and his influence). If there are several books about the
subject and one comes along to really improve, then great!

Eventually the market will tap out, aka, "How many books about Abraham Lincoln
do we need?!"

Disclosure: For biographies I primarily read ones about musicians. The Rex
Brown autobiography was the latest, and I do want to get around to some
others.

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golemotron
It would've been nice if the review actually talked about his music. It made
me wonder whether the bio made the same omission.

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agumonkey
I don't know his earliest period, but hiring Bootsy collins, IMO, altered his
music, and propelled bassline funk even higher than he did before. Bootsy was
different. His work in parliament is unique, and pfunk is musically
significant. Both in itself, in its direct influence, and indirect later gene
spreading through samples. Dance music wouldn't be the same without this cat.

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TylerE
I think the Bootsy connection is over-stated, actually. He was only with Brown
for 11 months, and while there were a handful of key singles cut (including
Sex Machine), the associate was really quite brief and didn't result in that
many recordings.

If you look at the recording from late 1969 and early 1970, like Mother
Popcorn, Ain't It Funky Now, Say It Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud), the
direction to harder funk was already very apparent.

This is to say nothing of, say, what Larry Grapham was doing with the Family
Stone circa '68-'69, or other west coast funk pioneers.

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agumonkey
I really find Bootsy's basslines and overall music directions very different
even from high rated funk musicians like Graham.

I'll dig further in the titles you listed to test my hypothesis.

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golemotron
I think it would be better if biographers wrote philosophy rather than
projecting their own onto their subjects. Once you have a critic writing about
a biography you have a two layer cake to peel apart.

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scelerat
There's a Wikipedia article on James Brown if you just want distilled facts
with minimal interpretation.

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WhitneyLand
Unlike most music legends JB is one that's hard for me to appreciate. I love
funk and funk derivative bands, but most of his songs have never resonated
with me. Guess I just have be happy that he had such a positive influence on
other artists.

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mjklin
With JB it was as much about the stage work as much as it was the music. That
man just loved being on stage. Watch some videos of his dance moves. At some
point in every show he would appear to break down from exhaustion, and his
stage hands would cover him with a cape and try to lead him off. Then he would
break free, throw off the cape and run back to the mic. Showmanship!

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agumonkey
Some of his early lives, still in bw video, are transe like. Everything was so
tight I felt watching a space Shuttle reentry vibrating and burning.

