James Brown "Live at the Apollo" [1963]

Hyperactive, anally retentive and more egotistical than Muhammad Ali on a gram of coke getting his dick sucked, James Brown presents his sweaty, overcooked doo-wop supper-club extravaganza "Live at the Apollo" for discerning music listeners who were just beginning to become desensitized to endlessly repetitive soul riffs -- perfectly useful in setting the table for multiple generations of rock, R&B, funk, disco and hip-hop brain-dead morons. He solicits bad behavior from his audience of expensively-dressed middle class Harlemites and generally gets it, although the toga party in "Animal House" dancing to Otis Day & the Knights was livelier than "Live at the Apollo." And all this before mentioning James Brown sounds exactly like Otis Redding with his balls in a vice. His aimless wail and chalkboard screech are intact, however, even as far back as this era of processed hair; unfortunately the producers had not yet been able to disguise the fact that this album was recorded over several dates, thus they were able to cherry-pick when the crowd was behaving the most respectfully boisterous, probably when their TV-studio "Applause" sign was operational.