Album of the Week: Love Power Peace

there is a james brown concert finally released on cd in 1992: "love power peace" recorded in 1971 at the olympia in france..basically this was meant to be a 3 lp live set but was scrapped for reasons i'll tell ya in a sec.. keep reading.. totally worth checking out.. its -as they say- the joint...

james brown had a band in the late 60s which had fred wesley and maceo and a bunch of awesome guys that had taken him through his funk phase.. anyways in late 69 or something they leave him flat cause they were sick and tired of being underpaid and probably underappreciated.. he hires a new band of young kids which is basically bootsy , his brother and the rest of their band and that night they are on stage backing him up.. plus bobby byrd of course who becomes james' foil. . you know the guy who plays piano/keys and sings "get on UP!" and yells "james brown! james BRROOWNN!!!"..they start out kinda bad but get into and i mean they were like 20! anyways by early 71 they are touring europe but with the added bonus of fred wesley and one or two other guys from his 60s outfit coming back... so its hot.. its a few choice cats from his late 60s band plus the young cats from bootsy's band...well..it did not last... they get back to the US and bootsy and guys split (some go on to pfunk)..cause they were underpaid and underappreciated.. anyways this is the only live recording of all these cats together and once bootsy and gang split and james brown signed to polydor the project to release the concert was shelved..a pity.... bobby byrd also leaves james brown soon after and james brown does not replace him meaning that funky keyboard sound is gone (which became the basis for house music i think) is gone.. which is sad cause its like one of my favorite things..anyways talk about someone not getting the credit: BOBBY BYRD.. he practically makes sex machine.. (you know eric b and rakim sample of i know you got soul..thats bobby byrd too)...

so this cd "Love Power Peace" is the only live document not only of the original JB's (Bootsy and band) but also the only document, except for a very few studio tracks, of Bootsy's band, Fred Wesley and some of his cats, James Brown of course, and Bobby Byrd.. all together...when you think of it its a pity Maceo isn't on it..

the live album mixes some incredibly funky tunes on some blistering versions with some nice slower more early 60s material.. the show starts with what i think is bobby byrd giving some sick "buahhhha hah ha" laugh... then bobby byrd who is of course the emcee gives the intro "..and now the star of the show.. let the brother out! JAMES BROWN!" and the french go nuts..(which brings up a point: one thing thats nice on this is that james has at least two foils: bobby byrd and fred wesley) james comes out with "you gotta hit me" and the rest is just goosebumping.. starts with a great "brother rapp" ...its not too long before james is yelling "take me to the bridge!!".....which seamlessly goes into james yelling "ain't it funky now, allright"..with those wonderful horns.. but particularly commendable on this record is the guitar work..in this case i think its the "lead guitar", bootsy's brother, phelps catfish (all these cats had nicknames!) who shreds the guitar in a way that you have not heard with james yelping and yelling him on with "do it DO IT COME ON NOW! hit it.......auuuuuuuuughhh.....come on now........aaarrrrrrrrrrghh..hit it!"...its HOT...of course everything is anchored by that fatback groove bootsy's laying..then we get wesley's trombone.. everyone is just in top notch here and i think this is hands down the best live james brown recording in large part because he had the ideal personnel here......."fred wesley give him a big round of applause ladies and gentlemen...fred wesley..........some organ..some organ ...some organ...some organ....".....and JAMES BROWN comes in with some funkier than an organ is got a right to be keys...."ain't it funky now..come on now..."....

i need a rest!..

then they go into a particularly moving "georgia on my mind"...james has been on the road in europe for a while and its somewhat poignant to hear him sing this in paris..with his improvised "maybe because i'm from augusta georgia..".not to mention i had not heard him doing this one before...

from there the tempo rises to the stratosphere again..lets just say you got to hear it! the shredding guitar work on "sex machine", this time i think its the rhythm guitarist "cheese" martin, again, makes this version unique..