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19th out of 95 books
—
24 voters
Live at the Apollo (33⅓ #13)
by
Douglas Wolk
In this remarkable book, Douglas Wolk brings to life an October evening in 1962, at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem: an evening at the height of Cold War tensions. In great detail, Wolk pieces together what took place (and what was recorded) that night, and illustrates beautifully the enduring power of one of James Brown s and popular music s defining moments: Live at the Apo...more
Paperback, 117 pages
Published
August 10th 2004
by Continuum International Publishing Group
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When most people think of James Brown, they conjure up the hyperspeed grooves of “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag” and “Cold Sweat.” Live at the Apollo was a coupla years before “Papa” and the frantic, syncopated funk that Brown made his trademark. This album is JB as a soulful, bluesy crooner — a stage of his career that folks often skip right over nowadays.
That isn’t to say he took it easy in ‘62; even then, a James Brown stage show was one part adrenalin and two parts crackling sexual charge. Can...more
That isn’t to say he took it easy in ‘62; even then, a James Brown stage show was one part adrenalin and two parts crackling sexual charge. Can...more
Uit de 33 1/3-reeks van Continuum Publishing, een reeks boekjes die me (elke rockfanaat?) op het lijf geschreven is. Ze gaan immers niet over artiesten (genoeg veredelde biografieën already!) maar over albums. Inderdaad, boekjes van een slordige honderd pagina’s in handig zakformaat die gaan over gemiddeld 40 minuten muziek. De voorbije vier jaar zijn er intussen al een paar dozijn verschenen en zowel classic rock (Let It Be (van The Beatles én The Replacements), Led Zeppelin IV) als indie (Bee...more
I really like the way that this book was set up, and while the tangents seemed unimportant, they added a different level of interest to the entire affair. Stylistically, the book had an interesting flow, which aided in the overall aesthetics of the book. One of the better ones of the early part of the series.
I adore this book. This is fast becoming my favorite series and I've only read this one. The concept is brilliant. Reading about music is awesome, but usually writers are limited to a few columns in a magazine. With this they get to write as much as they want about records they love. Rock on!
One of the better 33 1/3 books, although the "historical context" kind of gets left behind at the end.
I don't own the album- and if you can't have it playing in the background while you read- don't bother with this one. It's a blow by blow of factoids from each note of the original album. The stuff about the Cuban missile crisis is a strange choice- don't quite see how James Brown's badass music at all related to global politics.
James Brown is a sex machine. Also the crowd sounds are faketaped! Oh well.
I've been listening to this record a lot; I would even say it's my five-year old son's favorite record. As a piece of background on the album and Brown, it's quite successful. The added information about the Cuban Missile Crisis, which was happening at the time the album was recorded, is a bit thin. I wanted either the comparison to be meatier or else touched on less prominently. As it is, its inclusion seems forced and predetermined.
May 15, 2008
Ian
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Musicians who like numbers, useless trivia
The author tells you straight up: This book has a lot of numbers in it. That's because so much of music in this time was about what was hitting the charts -- and which charts.
It's OK if you like numbers. If not, you'll be bored. There are a few great stories about the madman that was James Brown, but with such an interesting protagonist/antogonist, you could have a much more interesting read.
It's OK if you like numbers. If not, you'll be bored. There are a few great stories about the madman that was James Brown, but with such an interesting protagonist/antogonist, you could have a much more interesting read.
Really clever approach, using the Cuban Missile Crisis as a framing device for the stint at the Apollo when this was recorded. Lots of good info about Brown,the album, live show, and recording. However, the tie-in with the Cuban Missile Crisis, while very interesting, also seems a bit underdeveloped. Overall, though, I enjoyed this book quite a bit.
This is one of the more fluid and concise books of the 33 1/3 series. Filled with lots of great tid-bits of info on the various releases of this legendary LP. It also had an engaging side story on the state of the country the week of the Apollo shows which coincided with the Cuban Missle crisis.
This was informative as Wolk seems to know his stuff but his odd organization makes the narrative choppy and generally detracts from the project.
This book failed to deliver. Too much arcana, and it doesn't deliver on the Cuban Missile Crisis zeitgeist thing.
if you are fan of music, in general, you should like this book/essay. seriously.
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