Is it me or is Star Time not thorough enough?
Lucious_Fox
2,479 Posts
The 4 cd set is a cool overview of his career but i feel like its just skimming the top.No that Mr.Brown has passed will there be an extensive compilation for the GodFather?He has way more than this. And what were people saying when it debuted?James Brown heads speak on it. 
Comments
It's just YOU, partner, it's just YOU!
"Not THOROUGH enough?"
Considering that it goes straight from his 1950's R&B years on up to his 1980's collaboration with Afrika Bambataa, what the hell more could you want? Really, I'm not trying to bust any chops, but what does Star Time lack that you are looking for? "Living In America?" His later Scotti Brothers sides with Dan Hartman producing? Some more of those boring, tax-writeoff organ instrumentals he did on Smash? A bonus video or DVD of Future Shock (which actually wouldn't be a bad idea)?
If I were at the midway point with James Brown - just enough that I'm familiar with the stuff, but if I didn't have a whole mess of his records - then I would be all over that Star Time box like flies on homemade shit. To top it, you'd have to reissue every last one of his leventy-seven albums all together in one mammoth box. This is like the perfect summation of his career. Not too common, not too obscure, but a good blend of both.
That is, unless you wanna hear that album he did in the 90's where he's produced by the guys from the C&C Music Factory (which came out after Star Time, but what the hey)...
well, it's mainly a hits compilation. the tracks were edited for shorter length back in the day (why do you think all his singles said "Part 1"/"Part 2"?). goes with the territory.
I agree w/ that. I guess I'm looking for just a handful of album tracks - say like PayBack's MindPower.
I find the JB's comp more enjoyable.
I actually liked that song "Can't Get Any Harder" from that album. It's a jam.
What I've always wondered is why album tracks that are labeled parts 1 & 2 fade out and come back in the middle. It's like they just recorded the 45 to the LP.
but you don't like funk though.
I know. I'm actually down to one James Brown record. Why am I even still posting here?
Yeah, I gotta be honest, here - I'm so far gone on JB that I even like his post-"Living In America" stuff. "How Do You Stop" is a neglected classic, and if Dave Godin were still alive, he'd probably feature this track (synths and all) on one of his deep soul compilations.
But if Martians came to you from outer space and wondered what James Brown sounded like, would you play these post-1985 records as examples? I sure wouldn't.
Well, that was an album track and not a hit single, which kind of answers the question as to why that wasn't on Star Time.
It's like I said in the "which artists do you have the most albums by in your record collection" thread - JB was so on-the-case that one greatest-hits album isn't gonna get it (even if it's a multidisc box set). Believe it or not, he was such a consistent hitmaker in the 60's and 70's that even a lot of the hits didn't make the cut.
Less hits, so more space for the obscurities!
which jb lp makes the 'crink cut'???
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haha!
I will admit that I might have over-purged though. There are a few more I'll probably pick up again in the future.
youre gonna have to pay the new post death rates.
hahaha!
I remember back when the startime box came out( '91?) - jb lps were selling at stupid prices, I actually remember taking a few to stores in chicago & getting like 30-50 in trade per, which I promptly used on some blue note & prestige microgroove lps which were going for a measly 10 bucks each at the time.
So what you're saying is that you don't like rhythm?
I personally get board with straight forward funk. I mean, don't get me wrong, James Brown is as good as it gets, but I just don't find myself listening to him that much. I've got a few dozen of what I consider the better funk records and I'm good with that. I don't really need a whole bunch of the third tier shit that everyone is so dick-hard over.
post the list or you're mr. softee.
I'm really not trying to bait you or get this thread to blow up into a :5pager: but are you suggesting that the bulk of James Brown's catalog is built off of "third tier shit"?
Ok, smart guy... off the top of my head...
a james brown record (Yes, I should have more)
Dyke and the Blazers
the first meters
the first night-liters (which I've been questioning the essentialness of)
Osmium
the early Funkadelic record
several Isleys
lots of Temps
like 3-4 stevie wonder records
2 Sly and the family Stone
that Micky and the Soul generation comp
and some shit like Jimmy McGriff Soul Suger and ronnie foster 2 headed freap that I like for some reason, but I guess that stuff would be considered "jazz funk". Does that count?
I'm probably spacing on a few...
oh no. definitely did not mean to imply that. I'm talking about all the medicore one-off shit that people here talk about to death. I don't really even know how I got started on it now though...
And one too many Nite Liters records!
so you're ok with collecting a bunch of less-inspired white-man loner-folk, but you hold funk to a different standard???
what can I say, I'm just a closet racist.
Seriously though, I do judge loner folk and all that shit equally harshly for the most part. I really don't keep many less than inspired records period (despite how it might look on my website). It's just fun to poke at the raw nerve that is tacky funk.
haha! you're right. I know it in my heart.