James Brown R.I.P.

Damn.

For Mister Bijou, there were two James Browns: one who did the funk stuff such as Night Train, Papa's Got A Brand New Bag, Say it Loud -- I'm Black and I'm Proud, I Got You (I Feel Good). The other JB did ballads, mostly in the early 1960s late 1950s. Emotion tuggers such as Please, Please, Please, Try Me, It's a Man's Man's Man's World (1966).

JB's funk stuff laid the templates for much that followed and has since been sampled to death. But (apart from the above-mentioned standouts) much of his music had a sameyness, one song sounded much like another on record to Mister B's ear. Though live, live, James Brown was just sensational. And mighty good too pounding out of a real good club sound system.

But the ballads, oh, the ballads. Mister B long ago saw a film of JB at the Apollo, his rendition of Please, Please, Please was, how to say, once seen, never forgotten.

Anyway, here is JB One and Two, accompanied by British soulsinger Joss Stone. The clip is brill:



JB, thanks.