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Live at the Apollo

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Live at the Apollo is a live album by James Brown and the Famous Flames, released in May 1963 on King Records. Brown's first live album, it was recorded on October 24th 1962 at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York.

One of the first live albums, Live at the Apollo was an instant success, quickly becoming the most commercially successful R&B album ever recorded.[1] It would spend 66 weeks on the Billboard Pop Albums chart, peaking at #2. In 1998, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame; it has since featured in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and was added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress in 2004.

The Residents, noted as long-time admirers of Brown, chose to cover the album for their short-lived American Composer Series; The Residents' abridged version of Live at the Apollo (shortened to almost 19 minutes in length) featured as the B-side of their 1984 album George & James.

History

Background

James Brown performing live at the Apollo Theater, Harlem, New York, 1962

James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American composer, singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. A progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music and dance, he is often referred to as the "Godfather of Soul". In a career that lasted over fifty years, Brown influenced the development of several music genres.

Brown came to prominence as a member of the R&B and soul vocal group, the Famous Flames, founded in 1953 in Toccoa, Georgia. By the time of their first single, "Please, Please, Please" (released in February 1956), Brown had emerged as the group's lead vocalist. The single reached #6 in the Billboard R&B charts. Following this, the group had further hits with "Try Me" in 1958, "I'll Go Crazy" and "Think" in 1961, "I Don't Mind" and "Lost Someone" in 1961, and "Night Train" in 1962.

The Famous Flames' performance at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York on October 24th 1962 was recorded at Brown's expense. The group's label, King Records, did not believe a live album featuring no new songs would be profitable; however they finally relented under pressure from Brown and his manager Bud Hobgood, and released the recordings as Live at the Apollo in May 1963.

The album became an amazingly rapid seller, peaking at #2 on Billboard's Top Pop Albums chart; many record stores (especially in the south-east United States) could not keep up with demand, ultimately ordering several cases of the album at a time. R&B radio disc jockeys often played the album's first side in its entirety, pausing only for a commercial break and to flip the album over to its second side, which was often also played in its entirety.

Live at the Apollo has remained influential in the years since its release; Rolling Stone magazine listed it as the greatest live album of all time in 2015, and it has consistently featured in the magazine's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" lists. In 2004, it was one of fifty recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.

The Residents' version

The Residents had been fans of James Brown since their pre-history, having likely discovered his music during their teens. Members of the group had even met the R&B star following a show in their Louisiana in 1965, helping to direct him when his tour bus got lost. The Residents had previously paid homage to Brown by sampling and covering his hit single "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" as part of their mash-up suite "Swastikas on Parade", featured on their 1976 album The Third Reich 'n Roll.

In October 1983, having recently recorded a cover of Brown's "This is a Man's Man's Man's World", The Residents decided to create a studio rendition of one of their favorite Brown releases, the influential Live at the Apollo, as part of their American Composers Series project. The Residents' version, shortened to almost 19 minutes from the original album's 31 minute length, featured as the B-side (or "James Side") of George & James, the first album in the ambitious (but ultimately short-lived) series.

The suite features tape-manipulated, low-pitched vocals by The Singing Resident, contrasting Brown's soulful, high-pitched vocals on the original album. To replicate the feel of the original live recording, they included samples of audience cheering and applause (sampled from a June 1983 performance of The Residents' Mole Show in Utrecht, Holland), and replicated conversations between Brown and his backing band, however it excludes Fats Gonder's introduction to the band, heard at the start of the original album. Raoul N. Di Seimbote - a pseudonym for The Residents' long-time friend Joshua Raoul Brody - assisted with arrangements and backing vocals, marking his first credited appearance on a Residents album.

To date, none of the songs from the Live at the Apollo suite have been performed live by The Residents. The group's version of "I'll Go Crazy" was issued as the B-side to the Korova 7" single of "This is a Man's Man's Man's World" in 1984 following the release of George & James; it was later featured on the 2017 retrospective compilation 80 Aching Orphans.

More than twenty-five years after the release of George & James, fan discussion of the Live at the Apollo suite in The Residents' official chat room led to a limited time digital release of the suite, remixed to approximate the experience of listening to the side at 45rpm, which was said by fans to be "pretty cool". This version, titled JB@45, was released via the group's digital music platform Robot Selling Device in February 2011. This version also later featured on the pREServed compilation American Composers Series 1982-1987, released in 2025.

Track listing

Original album

Note: The original 1963 release of the album is unindexed; this track listing is as it appears on the 2004 remaster.

  1. Introduction to James Brown and the Famous Flames (by Fats Gonder) (1:49)
  2. I'll Go Crazy (2:05)
  3. Try Me (2:27)
  4. Think (1:58)
  5. I Don't Mind (2:28)
  6. Lost Someone (10:43)
  7. Medley: Please, Please, Please / You've Got the Power / I Found Someone / Why Do You Do Me / I Want You So Bad / I Love You, Yes I Do / Strange Things Happen / Bewildered / Please, Please, Please (6:27)
  8. Night Train (3:26)

The Residents' version

  1. I'll Go Crazy (2:42) (Brown)
  2. Try Me (0:40) (Brown)
  3. Think (2:15) (Pauling)
  4. I Don't Mind (2:29) (Brown)
  5. Lost Someone (5:52) (Brown/Stallworth/Byrd)
  6. Please, Please, Please (1:17) (Brown/Terry)
  7. Night Train (3:25) (Forest/Simpkins/Washington)

List of releases

List of versions

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Clementina Street studio recording, Oct 1983–Feb 1984 (18:40)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "I'll Go Crazy" (rec. Oct 1983–Feb 1984) (1:11)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "JB@45" – sped-up version of studio recording (15:44)

See also

  1. ↑ George & James liner notes, 1984
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