Roots of a Revolution

Recorded between 1956 & 1964. Includes liner notes by Cliff White.
This set documents the years 1956 through 1964. Most tracks are mastered from the mono original master tapes. A 28-page booklet with extensive liner notes and track-by-track annotation is included. "I Found You & I Cried" was taken from vinyl.
Liner Note Author: R.J. Smith .
While some of James Brown's peers sported more vocal chops or had bigger, smoother voices, no one delivered with the intense, inspired immediacy of "Mr. Dynamite." And unlike most pop acts of the day, Brown was his own artistic director, penning many of his own tunes, hiring and firing the musicians, booking and choreographing his stage shows.
Originally a drummer, Brown's delivery is fresh and rhythmically precise and his sacred/profane spirit shines through on even the earliest vocal efforts presented here. Glimpses of the music's future are repeatedly evident: densely strumming rhythm guitar, the stop-time horn charts, impromptu conversational exchanges with the band, the sound-barrier-shattering squeals. All reflect a gestating genius simultaneously making crafty artistic decisions and letting it all happen. On careful inspection, three elements that are key to Brown's future innovations are abundantly yet subtly present here: repetition, rhythm and...repetition. With credible stabs at balladry, proto-rock & roll, lyric play, even doo-wop(!), The Hardest Working Man In Show Business shows why he went on to become the true Godfather of soul. Where did funk (and therefore disco, rap and dance) come from? ROOTS OF A REVOLUTION is not a bad place to begin looking.