James Brown
Star Time Box Set
Polydor 849 109-2, 849 110-2, 849 111-2, 849 112-2
(Scroll Down For Links)
__________________________________________________
James Brown's Introduction:
God had a special job for me. He gave me a special talent to relate to people of all cultures. I found that the common denominator among people was love. Because regardless of all the obstacles which we fight, the social problems and the poverty problems, it all boils down to the love factor. And I believe I was able to create that in my life.
When I was very young, my people, the poor community, didn’t have the education available to us to be taught music properly. And there were no outlets for playing. I played harmonica, and you might have seen somebody playing guitar, but that’s about as far as it got. The only horn that you’d see most African-Americans playing in those days was a bugle, if a kid was in the Boy Scouts. Music lessons were unheard of. Sometimes you might find a teacher to teach piano lessons to the teacher’s son, or the preacher’s son. Or the Pullman porter who worked on the train, he was able to send his kids to music school. That was an extraordinary thing. To be able to have electric lights, and to have a radio… We didn’t have those things. Didn’t even have a toilet inside the house.
So I said, “There’s a need for me to have a place.”
I pushed hard. The first nine years of my career, 1956-65, were good. I had “Please Please Please,” “Night Train,” “Lost Someone,” “Bewildered,” and others. They sustained me, but it wasn’t enough.
Then I thought about the people around me. I wanted to come up with something that would give us a place in the business. That’s when I hit on “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag.” It was a slang that would relate to the man in the street, plus it had its own sound: the music on one-and-three, the downbeat, in anticipation.
Right away, I got a new bag going. I was tellin’ ‘em in so many ways, too. To the listeners I was saying, Papa’s doing his thing, eating dinner with his family, dancing with his family, going to the ball game with his kids. To the musicians I was saying, here’s a new bag. Here’s a new direction. Here’s one that represents the people, not just Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, Bach, Strauss, or Mantovani.
So I brought the realness back. From then on I would say, Ain’t THAT A Groove, I break out in a Cold Sweat, I Can’t Stand Myself, I’m SUPER Bad, Get On The Good Foot, Doing It To Death, all of ‘em. It was a revolution that became a universal sound, and it’s still universal today.
I’m very proud of what I’ve done. I thank God that I could do what I did. And it thank the fans all over the world. I’ll always come to you from my heart.
Huh! I Feel Good!!
PEACE,
James Brown
January 1991
___________________________________________________
Links:
___________________________________________________
Compilation Credits:
Compilation Produced by:
Harry Weinger, Cliff White, Oscar A. Yong and Bill Levenson
Associate Producer: Alan M. Leeds
Booklet Introduction by James Brown
Booklet Essays by: Cliff White and Harry Weinger, Nelson George, and Alan M. Leeds
Track Annotation by Alan M. Leeds and Harry Weinger
Discography by Cliff White
Project Assistant: Benjamin C. Forgash
Project Engineers: Joseph M. Palmaccio and Dennis M. Drake, PolyGram Studios
Digitally mastered by Ted Jensen, Sterling Sound, New York
All tracks on STAR TIME were prepared from the original session tapes
or the original single and album masters, under the supervision of
Harry Weinger.
"Devil's Den," dubbed from acetate, was digitally restored by Scott
Hull of Masterdisk, New York, using the Sonic Solutions System.
Art Direction & Design: Michael Bays, Sheryl Lutz-Brown
A special mention to the original engineers who successfully captured
the spontaneous artistry of James Brown and his bands: Eddie Smith,
Chuck Seitz, Ron Lenhoff, Dave Harrison, Bob Both, and anonymous
others.
__________________________________________________
Photos courtesy of:
pp. 2-3: Laura Levine
p.4: Kwame Braithwaite
p.5: Kwame Braithwaite
p.6: Alan Leeds Archives
p.8: Charles Stewart
p.10-12: Alan Leeds Archive
p.14: Charles Stewart
p.16: Michael Ochs Archives (Photo by Barry Trimier)
p.17: Ben Sandmel Collection
p.18: Michael Ochs Archives
p.20: Alan Leeds Archives
p.21: Sammy Lowe Collection
p.22: Charles Stewart (top photo of J.B. backstage at the Apollo)
p.22: Alan Leeds Archives (tour program)
p.23: Charles Stewart
p.25: Cliff White collection
p.26: Cliff White collection (Photo by Steve Richards)
p.27: Showtime Archives (trade ad only)
p.28: Cliff White collection
p.29: Kwame Braithwaite (top photo of young fan)
p.29: Alan Leeds Archives (bottom photo of J.B. w/H.H.H.)
p.30: Cliff White collection
p.32-33: Alan Leeds Archives
p.34: Alan Leeds Archives (photo of Dapps & White House invitation)
p.35: Carlton Smith collection
p.36-37: Alan Leeds Archives (V. Anderson & J.B. Photo spread)
p.36: Alan Leeds Archives (rehearsal photo only)
p.39: Charles Stewart (top photo of J.B. w/Bootsy)
p.41: Carlton Smith collection
p.42: Kwame Braithwaite
p.43: Ebet Roberts (bottom photo of J.B.)
p.44: Ebet Roberts (both photos)
p.45: Mary Fleener
p.46: Charles Stewart
p.60-61: Alan Leeds Archives
p.62: Charles Stewart
p.64: Charles Stewart
__________________________________________________
STAR TIME is the culmination of many years of work, completed with the
help and advice from friends and associates. Our thanks and gratitude
to them, the "JAMES GANG":
Vicki Anderson, James Austin, Pat Baird, Dick Bartley, Ralph Bass,
Bobby Bennett, Jonathan Block, Tim Bright, Craig Brown, Ron Brown,
Kathleen Brown, Brian Campbell, Curtis Carpenter, Phelps "Catfish"
Collins, William "Bootsy" Collins, Polly Chung, Frank Dattoma, Diana
Davis, Michael Del Rossi, Rick Dobbis, Ronnie Drayton, Marty Duda, Tim
Eaton, Ed Eckstine, Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis, Bob Emmer, Charlie Feldman,
Dennis Fine, Bob Fisher, Bonnie & Tom Forgash, Mark Fried, Fred
Goodman, Richard "Kush" Griffith, Peter Guralnick, Lewis Hamlin,
Suzanne Heintz, Felix Hernandez, Tracey Hill, Cat Jackson, Jeff Jones,
John Keanna, Brian Kelleher, John Kubick, Michael Kushner, David
Laviscount, Robert Leiberman, Nausica Loukakos, Sammy Lowe, Dennis
MacNamara, Larry Nager, Andrew Nicholas, Beverly Paige, Maceo Parker,
Melvin Parker, David Peck, Bruce Pilato, St. Clair Pinckney, Tim
Rogers, Tom Ruff, Pat Ryan, Ben Sand mel, Phil Schaap, Martin Scott,
Brad Shapiro, Charles Shiddell, Davitt Sigerson, Tom Silverman, John
"Jabo" Starks, Maeretha Stewart, Henry Stone, Clyde "Funky Drummer"
Stubblefield, Nancy Sullivan, Hamp Swain, Trevor Swaine, Aaron Talbert,
Ron Taylor, Terri Tierney, Scott Townsend, Wendi Traub, Tom Vickers,
John Waller, Richard Weitz, Amy Welch, Fred Wesley, Bill & Sharon
Williams, Shawn Wilson-Bunyan, Drew Wohl, Isabelle Wong, Julian Yates
and Jon Young.
Our extra 'Soul Power" thanks to: Mr. James Brown, Bobby Byrd, Daniel
Caccavo, Eulogia M. Gutierrez (1919-1991), Leo Sacks, Vera Savcic,
Carlton Smith, Michaelle & Adam Weinger, and Martha J. Yong.
The Producers
February 1991
'Please Please Please" + 35
__________________________________________________
RECOMMENDED FURTHER READING:
James Brown With Bruce Tucker, James Brown: The Godfather of Soul, Thunder's Mouth Press, New York, 1990 edition.
Roddy Doyle, The Commitments, Vintage Contemporary, 1989.
Nelson George, The Death of Rhythm & Blues. E.P. Dutton paperback, 1989.
Peter Guralnick, Sweet Soul Music, Harper & Row, New York, 1986.
Gerri Hirshey, Nowhere To Run, Penguin Books, 1984 edition.
Robert Palmer, James Brown, excerpt from Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll, Random House, New York, 1980
Cynthia Rose, Living In America: The Soul Saga of James Brown, Serpent's Tail, London, 1990.
Coming soon:
Alan M. Leeds' Complete James Brown Discography, publisher TBD.
Cliff White's biography of James Brown, Omnibus, London, 1991