Browse Music
Rock & Pop
R&B & Hip-Hop
Country
Blues
Jazz
Classical
Latin
Christian
Soundtracks
Collections
James Brown
Star Time
James Brown:  Star Time

$27.96 4-CD Set
Listen Boxed Set

Album Review

Released: 1991
Label: Polydor
Selection #: 217004
Grammy®-winning collection! Papa's Got A Brand New Bag, Sex Machine, I Feel Good, Super Bad, Public Enemy #1, Say It Loud--I'm Black And I’m Proud, etc.
Listen RM WM
1 Please, Please, Please
2 Why Do You Do Me
3 Try Me
4 Tell Me What I Did Wrong
5 Bewildered
6 Good Good Lovin'
7 I'll Go Crazy
8 I Know It's True
9 (Do the) Mashed Potatoes, Pt. 1
10 Think
11 Baby, You're Right [Alternate Take][#]
12 Lost Someone
13 Night Train
14 I've Got Money
15 I Don't Mind [Live]
16 Prisoner of Love
17 Devil's Den
18 Out of the Blue [Alternate Take][#]
19 Out of Sight
20 Grits
21 Maybe the Last Time
22 It's a Man's Man's Man's World
23 I Got You
24 Papa's Got a Brand New Bag, Pts. 1-3 [Complete Take][#]
25 Papa's Got a Brand New Bag, Pt. 1
   1 | 2 | 3  
Download Player:    Real Media Real Media    Windows Media Windows Media
Album Review

When the four-disc "Star Time" box was released in 1991, James Brown's catalog sorely needed an overhaul; much of it was out of print, and what was available was hardly befitting of his magnitude. "Star Time" got everything right: it put Brown's hugely influential career into striking perspective, helping to complete his critical renaissance, and the richness of its music set a standard for box sets in general. It was no easy task to balance Brown's lengthy, multi-part funk workouts with the need to include all of his most significant tracks, and the compilers did an excellent job in deciding when and when not to truncate ("Cold Sweat," for example, must be heard in its entirety). There's nothing from "Live at the Apollo" (which should be experienced start to finish), and his last hurrah on the pop charts, "Living In America," is missing, but these 71 tracks cover all the other high points, and make an eloquent case for Brown as the greatest R&B artist of all time. Disc One covers Brown's early R&B years, when his pleading intensity helped lay the groundwork for soul music. Disc Two, however, is where his genius truly crystallizes -- it basically chronicles the birth of funk, as Brown gradually discards song structure in favor of working hard grooves; it also offers a picture of Brown's emergence as a bandleader and spokesman for black pride. Disc Three features Brown's hardest funk, including his much-revered material with the Bootsy Collins band. Disc Four traces Brown's later creative decline, yet he duplicated his former glories often enough to make this disc a surprisingly solid listen; plus, his massive impact on hip-hop is underlined on the last track, the Afrika Bambaataa duet "Unity." "Star Time" paved the way for several other excellent compilations which highlighted different parts of Brown's vast legacy, but as the definitive retrospective of one of the most important musicians of the 20th century (black or otherwise), it has yet to be equaled. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide

Back To Top
About This Artist
Biography


Other albums by: James Brown
James Brown:  Gold Listen Greatest Hits James Brown
Gold

$13.98 2-CD Set

James Brown:  Jazz Listen Greatest Hits James Brown
Jazz

$6.99

James Brown:  Number 1's Listen Greatest Hits James Brown
Number 1's

$6.99

more
Related Artists
Aerosmith
The Bar-Kays
Beastie Boys
The Brothers Johnson
George Clinton
Joe Cocker
Con Funk Shun
more

Any reproduction, publication, further distribution, or public exhibition of materials provided at this site, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited.
©2006 All Media Guide, LLC
Portions of content provided by All Music Guide®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC