James Brown: House of Blues

Rating:
Summary: Did Anyone Say He was Slowing Down?
Review: After all these years, the man still has it, and mind you, he is well up in age and the only thing he does not do is the split.
But I tell you, this is a concert, especially when he performs "funk on a roll." and "Papa don't take no mess".
HE IS STILL THE MAN, in my book. A must have in your collection.

Rating:
Summary: Did Anyone Say He was Slowing Down?
Review: After all these years, the man still has it, and mind you, he is well up in age and the only thing he does not do is the split.
But I tell you, this is a concert, especially when he performs "funk on a roll." and "Papa don't take no mess".
HE IS STILL THE MAN, in my book. A must have in your collection.

Rating:
Summary: Please Please Please give us the old footage!
Review: I love James Brown, and this current package is sad. The band is tight and the sound is good, but it's like he walks through the whole show giving brief nods to various songs in his career.
He has gotten old, and has lost his vocal power. He does try
to put on a good show, but the magic is gone.
I hope someone puts together a nice package of live clips at some point, that shows what this great man was. It really pains me to be writing this, so if you don't want to be disappointed, avoid this one.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I recently saw JB live in Tulsa.. the show was absolutely amazing.
This dvd is basically just a terrible, watered down version of the concert I saw..
The songs listed on the back cover are a sad trick..
Most of them are 10 second high speed [garbage] versions - its disgusting.
Better try your luck on some of the Godfather's older stuff.
Sorry JB.

Rating:
Summary: Felt like I was there
Review: One of the best DVD concert discs to date. Great sound and great video. If you love Brown you'll love this.

Rating:
Summary: James Brown; still the hardest working man in show business.
Review: Realistically speaking, James Brown cannot sing as well as he sang when he was younger. This is still, however, a good performance marred only by the irritating camera work and angles from the cinematographer. Yes, the constant camera jumping is terrible and catches James at the wrong angle sometimes. But, James can still put on a good show and his effort warrants an A+. The sound and video are reference standard quality. Those middle age women are overkill too and can't sing or dance, but J.B. does a marvelous job showing us why he was known as the hardest working man in show business. James Brown's style sometimes will wear you out, but if you can get through this presentation, you'll appreciate how great James Brown is as an artist. If the camera work was not so jumpy and busy, I'd give this DVD a five (5) rating. If you see this one, you'll understand why James Brown states in it that he's not afraid of technology. He's waiting for technology to catch up with him.

Rating:
Summary: disappointed!
Review: Sorry, but all the songs sound the same on this disc! I love "Living in America" but the version on this disc fall flat. Keep looking if you want to hear the songs like you remember them from the radio!

Rating:
Summary: New Video Loaded With Surprises
Review: The '68 to '74 JB is highlighted with lesser-discussed items like "Popcorn" ["Mother Popcorn"], "Gimme Some More" (performed by BitterSweet), "If I Ruled The World", "Soul Power", and "Papa Don't Take No Mess". Two of these titles deserved more than the passing glance they received but the whole program is well-paced and heavily features backup performers - the set opens with diva-esque protege Tomi Rae performing a powerful blues-soul ballad "I Still Care" and the J. Joplin "Try". In consideration of the venue name I had hoped that JB would do some straight ahead blues like he did with B.B. King on another outstanding video JB AND HIS VERY SPECIAL GUEST B.B.KING (something like "The Things That I Used To Do" or "Home Again"), but Candice Hurst emerges from stage left and delivers the goods with the jazz/blues "Why Don't You Do Right" with style. The consumer may wonder about his energy level (at age approx. 66), but except for the occasional reliance on aforementioned contributors plus Roosevelt Johnson (who sings on "Soul Power" and the presumed tribute to the Blues Brothers, "Soul Man"), he is the vital artist we've watched over the years. In fact, his dancing is better here than on some video efforts from the 1980's! Another selling point is the inclusion of the heavy hip-hopp "Funk On A Roll" from the recent I'M BACK album. With all due respect to the talented all-Female backup group BitterSweet, I feel that the tune is more effective with (apparently) all Male singers in unison as on the CD. Still, it is a great selection. I hope James Brown continues to mix in unexpected numbers in his live act and on record (and hopefully on video!).


Rating:
Summary: New Video Loaded With Surprises
Review: The '68 to '74 JB is highlighted with lesser-discussed items like "Popcorn" ["Mother Popcorn"], "Gimme Some More" (performed by BitterSweet), "If I Ruled The World", "Soul Power", and "Papa Don't Take No Mess". Two of these titles deserved more than the passing glance they received but the whole program is well-paced and heavily features backup performers - the set opens with diva-esque protege Tomi Rae performing a powerful blues-soul ballad "I Still Care" and the J. Joplin "Try". In consideration of the venue name I had hoped that JB would do some straight ahead blues like he did with B.B. King on another outstanding video JB AND HIS VERY SPECIAL GUEST B.B.KING (something like "The Things That I Used To Do" or "Home Again"), but Candice Hurst emerges from stage left and delivers the goods with the jazz/blues "Why Don't You Do Right" with style. The consumer may wonder about his energy level (at age approx. 66), but except for the occasional reliance on aforementioned contributors plus Roosevelt Johnson (who sings on "Soul Power" and the presumed tribute to the Blues Brothers, "Soul Man"), he is the vital artist we've watched over the years. In fact, his dancing is better here than on some video efforts from the 1980's! Another selling point is the inclusion of the heavy hip-hopp "Funk On A Roll" from the recent I'M BACK album. With all due respect to the talented all-Female backup group BitterSweet, I feel that the tune is more effective with (apparently) all Male singers in unison as on the CD. Still, it is a great selection. I hope James Brown continues to mix in unexpected numbers in his live act and on record (and hopefully on video!).

Rating:
Summary: Jumpy video ruins this DVD
Review: The bands are great (2 drummers, 2 bass players and 2 guitarists), the video is clear and audio is great, but the direction of the video is horrible. The video constantly jumps back and forth between James, the backup singers, the horn players, at a lighting speed that makes your eyes get tired and you start to feel sick.

Also, many of the songs on the DVD are not presented in their entirety. The band starts jamming on one tune only to segue into another tune.

If the video direction was done right (keep it simple) then I would rate this DVD as 4 stars. Buy at your own risk!

<< 1 2 >>