*Before “Sex Machine,” “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” and “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” James Brown recorded the soul-pounding, industry-rattling full-length album “Live at the Apollo,” an album that almost never was … because of one man.
Brown recorded the groundbreaking King Records album at Harlem’s ‘world famous’ theatre on this day in 1962, capturing his unbridled stage energy on wax for those who had never experienced him live, while simultaneously proving to the head of his label that he could make a live album. It went on to sell more than a million copies, made No.24 on Rolling Stone’s 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and was one of 50 recordings added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry in 2004.
But the record was thisclose to never existing. King Records head Syd Nathan saw Brown and his backing band the Famous Flames as only a “singles” act. He refused to finance a full-length album for the band, much less a live one.
Through King Records’ imprint Federal, Nathan released Brown’s “Please, Please, Please” in 1958 to commercial success, their next nine Federal singles flopped.
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Brown asked Nathan if the band’s next single could be an instrumental. He wanted the song to showcase both his band and the popular “mashed potato” dance that had become his trademark in live shows. Years later, Brown would demonstrate it in the video tutorial below – at the :32 mark:
Not surprisingly, Nathan denied the request. He pointed to “Doodle Bee,” the band’s last instrumental he allowed as a single, which had flopped. It was credited to Famous Flames sax player James “JD” Davis.
Unwilling to take “no” for an answer, Brown took his instrumental request to industry buddy Henry Stone, who ran Dade Records. Although nervous about crossing Nathan (with whom he did business), Stone allowed Brown to record the instrumental at his Dukoff Studios in Miami. And that’s how “(Do The) Mashed Potatoes,” credited to Nat Kendrick and the Swans (named after the band’s drummer), became a hit for Dade Records, not Federal. It reached No. 8 on Billboard’s Hot R&B chart in February 1960.
Although Nathan was now convinced to release future instrumentals from Brown and the Famous Flames, he still refused to put money behind the recording of a full length album, saying Brown’s hit singles were too few and far between. Also, Nathan didn’t think fans would buy an album full of live versions of songs that had already been released as singles.
Again, Brown refused to accept “no,” and reached into his own pocket to fund the LP. After the success of Ray Charles’ 1960 live album “In Person,” Brown knew that a live album would be the best way to not only showcase his music, but also spotlight his band and stage show. Again, the gamble paid off.
On October 24, 1962, a Wednesday night, emcee Fats Gonder took the stage and hit Apollo Theatre’s notoriously fickle crowd with, “So now, ladies and gentlemen, it is Star Time.” The frenzy that followed would only intensify throughout the night – from first song “I’ll Go Crazy,” to the 11-minute “Lost Someone,” on through to “Night Train.”
And again, Syd Nathan had to eat humble pie (mashed potato-flavored). Released in May 1963, “Live at the Apollo” ended up spending a whopping 66 weeks on the Billboard album chart and selling more than a million copies, giving Brown his first hit album and launching his crossover success in the mid-1960s and beyond.
Music critic Robert Christgau wrote of “Live at the Apollo” in a retrospective article for Rolling Stone: “Not only did it establish Brown as an r&b superstar and a sales force to be reckoned with, it’s a time capsule, living testament of a chitlin circuit now defunct. The band is clean as a silk suit, and how the women love this rough singer’s tender lover-in-song act.”
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