Make no mistake - funk begins here
This is in some places better and in some places worse than the first Apollo album. First, because I'm a psychotic jerk, I'll go with the downside. James does try a bit too hard to get himself across to the conservative whites, playing Tony Bennet's "I Wanna Be Around" and Frank Sinatra's "That's Life", both of them saturated in an unhealthy amount of gloppy strings. I'm glad JB never decided to make himself over as a supperclub crooner, let's just say that. A few other songs also fall victim to the strings: "Try Me" loses its naïve, fun charm with the mini-orchestra behind it. So now for the good side. For one, it's got energy to spare: "Think" (performed as a duet with Marva Whitney) and especially "Kansas City", with Steve Cropper-like guitar licks, are pure dynamite; and "Sweet Soul Music", sung by Byrd, is filled with enthusiasm as well - "Please, Please, Please" and "Maybe the Last Time" get similar treatments. But it gets better than even that. Oh yes, much better. Where this thing really gets going are on the two twenty-minute performances. First off is the soul ballad "It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World", which JB makes captivating with a rambling testimonial about the power of love and multiple quotes from soul hits such as "When a Man Loves a Woman" and "In the Midnight Hour", as well as a dollop of his own smashes and a couple Temptations sides to boot. I like the Temptations. Not as much as I like James Brown, but I like the Temptations just the same. And it gets even better than that. The medley on side two - "Let Yourself Go", "There Was a Time", "I Feel All Right", and "Cold Sweat" - is fascinating and revolutionary. Totally revolutionary. The foundations of funk were laid down in 1966. Clyde Stubblefield and Jabo Starks' polyrhythmic drumming; the emphasis on rhythm and groove; the minimalist, nonstop rhythm guitar; the offbeat bass - that's funk right there. Good funk, too, with suspenseful horns ("There Was a Time"), fun audience participation over an unbeatable groove ("I Feel All Right") and several stunning sax solos ("Cold Sweat"). More proto-funk is found on "Bring it Up", with some cool rhythm guitar and horns, as well as Brown's trademark wails and a few Marvin Gaye quotes. And "Prisoner of Love" mixes a soulful vocal, strings, funk rhythm guitar, and many dynamic shifts that may or may not have been brought on by a poor mix. Outside of the crooner stuff, this is a superb album that every soul fan should own. By the way, my review is based on the two-disc deluxe expanded edition that contains virtually the whole show, though according to the liner notes some of it is regrettably lost to history. There's another, considerably shorter, one-disc version that omits some songs entirely and truncates others. Try to find this version if you can. It's a rare example of a "deluxe edition" that's actually worth getting, for several reasons. A reissue fit for royalty, I'd say!

Classic
I used to listen to this album every night before I went to bed(I was 7)

Dissapointed
One of the main reasons I purchased this CD was because of the song "Money Won't Change You." This song is listed as #2 on Disc Two and it is not there! I checked all of the songs on this 2 Disc CD and "Money Won't Change You" is no where to be found. I would appreciate some feedback and an exchange on this CD as it is not what I expected nor paid my hard earned money for.

JAMES and the FLAMES.....PURE DYNAMITE !!
THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST LIVE ALBUMS EVER RECORDED...dynamic and powerful...It was surpassed only by LIVE AT THE APOLLO, VOLUME ONE That is quite an accomplishment for any group ..yes- but for an R&B group...unprecedented ! And yes, JAMES BROWN AND THE FAMOUS FLAMES are,or at least WERE..a VOCAL GROUP ! There's been a great deal of CONTROVERSY and CONFUSION over the last 40 years as to just who the FAMOUS FLAMES were.Were they a BAND?...or were they a VOCAL GROUP ? Many writers and music historians still DONT KNOW .. To this day they still mistakenly write in article after article that the FLAMES were a BAND..that FRED WESLEY, MACEO PARKER , SINCLAIR PINKNEY..AND OTHER BAND MEMBERS were the FAMOUS FLAMES...WRONG!! IT'S TIME TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT RIGHT NOW ...The FAMOUS FLAMES were originally a combination vocal/instrumental group from Georgia fronted by singer /musician BOBBY BYRD...who actually was the man who discovered JAMES BROWN..while he was still in a Georgia Juvenile Detention Facility..BOBBY's family sponsored his release and James and his FORMER cellmate/friend JOHNNY TERRY joined Bobby's group..this was the group,(the original FLAMES), that originally recorded PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE and several other songs over a two year period in the mid '50's..but that group broke up...around '58 James RE-FORMED THE FLAMES ..this time as a straight VOCAL GROUP ....BACKED by the old JC DAVIS outfit...which became the first incarnation of what would become the JAMES BROWN BAND...But the FLAMES were always a SEPARATE ENTITY from the band ...THEY WERE A SINGING GROUP.After several members came and went over a period of 2-3 years,Original members BOBBY BYRD and JOHNNY TERRY rejoined the group...and new members BOBBY BENNETT and the late LLOYD STALLWORTH were added..TERRY (who was the co writer of PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE along with JAMES} eventually left the group ...and the remaining members- BYRD, STALLWORTH, AND BENNETT became the best known and remembered FAMOUS FLAMES lineup...this is the group on this album and that was featured in two Hollywood motion pictures: SKI PARTY (part of the famed "BEACH PARTY" series of movies featuring FRANKIE AVALON}and the 1964 concert film "THE TAMI SHOW " where they and JAMES stole the show from THE ROLLING STONES ,THE SUPREMES , and everyone else.THE FLAMES also appeared with James on the ED SULLIVAN SHOW TWICE ,dressed differently than the band, and ,sadly,uncredited.JAMES has made it clear in his autobiography and even on the DAVID LETTERMAN show that "the FAMOUS FLAMES are not a band - they're a SINGING GROUP " ...yet many writers and music historians still DONT GET THE MESSAGE.This confusion has persisted to this day... and has cost the FLAMES a possible spot in the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME along with JAMES.,which they so richly deserve. THE FAMOUS FLAMES are one of the great UNSUNG GROUPS in rock & r&b history .Though they sang with JAMES on such big million selling hits as PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, TRY ME,I'LL GO CRAZY, OH BABY,DON'T YOU WEEP, THINK, BEWILDERED,and others, Their faces never graced a single album cover, and most fans today don't remember that they even existed !! Everyone today only talks about JAMES AND THE BAND. They deserved much better.THE FLAMES were a POWERFUL SINGING GROUP, WITH TIGHT HARMONIES , AND DANCE STEPS THAT WOULD PUT EVEN THE HIGHLY TOUTED TEMPTATIONS TO SHAME !! DON'T BELIEVE IT ? ASK ANYONE WHO'S SEEN THEM WITH JAMES AT THE APOLLO !! In 1964, THE FLAMES stopped recording with JAMES in the studio...but they continued performing on stage with him for another 4-5 years... and their name still appeared on the records ,so most thought people thought the name applied to the band. Although THE FLAMES played an important ,CO STARRING ROLE with JAMES on the the 1st two live albums , LIVE AT THE APOLLO (VOL 1 ) AND PURE DYNAMITE:LIVE AT THE ROYAL, by the time this album appeared ,they were relegated to THIRD BANANA STATUS behind JAMES and the band.On the original album release , KING RECORDS even went so far as to cut their name from the show's original introduction !! At least now , on the EXPANDED CD RELEASE, THE FAMOUS FLAMES' name has been rightfully restored to it's proper place. Hopefully ,one day, THE FLAMES THEMSELVES, BOBBY BYRD, BOBBY BENNETT, LLOYD STALLWORTH, AND JOHNNY TERRY, will be restored to THEIR rightful place in music history.

Should have left well-enough alone
Get the original version of this album, rather than the remastered version. The first is tight and powerful; the second adds a bloated, interminable version of "It's a Man's Man's World" and some tepid instrumentals for his back-up dancers. If you buy the remastered version, you'll be hitting the skip button more often than you should on a live James Brown album.