James Brown - Live At The Apollo CDs • Vinyl Records • LPs • Music Albums

height of his powers -- captured so vividly you can almost see him sweat -- on what many people still consider the greatest live album ever. (Brown was further vindicated when the LP peaked at Number Two.)The James Brown of Live at the Apollo was an ace balladeer years removed from inventing funk, but what Mr. Dynamite did deliver to the famously tough Apollo fans was a relentless, driven set steeped in the church, the cotton field and the juke joint, pushing his waistband-tight musicians like a drill sergeant. Gospel-soaked vamps such as "Try Me," "I Don't Mind" and the ten-minute-plus showstopper "Lost Someone" are testaments to Brown's ability to wrap sexuality in the Lord's cloak. And on a cover of the "5" Royales' "Think," he jacks up the bpm to speedcore rate and dares the band to keep pace. By the time the fading notes of "Night Train" allow the spent Brown passage offstage, he has transformed a Wednesday into Saturday night and Sunday morning.