James Brown — I Got The Feelin': James Brown In The '60s

I Got The Feelin': James Brown In The '60s

Shout Factory

Dan "The Mouth" Lovranski (CHARTattack)

08/20/2008 9:49am

This three-DVD set is important for a couple of reasons. First, it documents the turmoil that shook America at the time of the Dr. Martin Luther King assassination, when inner-city landscapes quickly became hotbeds of rioting and looting when disenfranchised blacks exploded in anger.

James Brown was already scheduled to play the Boston Garden the day after the assassination, so mayor Kevin White decided that showing the concert on TV might prevent Boston from becoming yet another fireball of discontent. It worked and cemented Brown as a force for social change.

Secondly, it gives youngsters the chance to see Brown in his heyday, when he was a true musical force, not a running Eddie Murphy comedy bit, or, even worse, an aging soul singer shooting up bathrooms and getting chased by the police.

The set consists of the VH1's documentary The Night James Brown Saved Boston, revealing the fascinating, and sometimes, precarious tale of how this show went down and its effects. The other two discs are live concerts from 1968, including that entire Boston show.

The quality may not always be there (the Boston show was broadcast by a PBS station that was used to strings and symphonies, not the godfather of soul), but even fans who know his studio recordings from this period will be amazed by the intensity he gave them on stage. This may not be in HD, but it'll still blow your mind.