Please Please Please, despite including Brown’s first single (the raw, gospel-inflected title track) and his first R&B; chart-topper (the more traditional R&B; tune “Try Me”), is mostly given over to derivative material such as “Chonnie-on-Chon” and “Let’s Make It.” 

 Try Me—which was reissued in 1964 as The Unbeatable James Brown—repeats "Try Me" but otherwise leans more toward the blues, thanks to such songs as "I Want You So Bad" and "Messing with the Blues." 

 Then there are the original albums. Of these, Think is by far the best, in part because it has the highest hit quotient (“Think,” “I’ll Go Crazy,” “Good Good Lovin’”) but mostly because it offers Brown’s most distinctive work to that point, particularly in its chugging title tune. 

 With Presents His Band, Brown moves into the instrumental realm and delivers his epochal remake of Jimmy Forrest's "Night Train" (a huge hit in the U.K.). 

 The Amazing James Brown shows off the increasing proficiency of his band through gritty titles such as "Dancin' Little Thing" and "Come Over Here." 

 Excitement Mr. Dynamite—which has also been available as Shout and Shimmy—returns Brown and company to the hard-hitting vocal approach of Think, even to the point of repeating "Good Good Lovin'." 

 At that point in his career, Brown was still better-known for his live show than for his recordings, a fact that explains the somewhat misleading title to the studio album James Brown and His Famous Flames Tour the U.S.A.  

 Brown recorded Live at the Apollo at his own expense; it turned out to be the album that finally put him on the map–and no wonder. It doesn’t just present the hits, but also shows off the incredible precision of Brown’s band as well as the uncanny bond he had with his audience. 

 Brown later admitted that his model for Live at the Apollo was Ray Charles’ concert album In Person. That wasn’t his only nod to Brother Ray; Prisoner of Love, with its string sweetening and choral cushioning, is self-consciously in the vein of Charles’ ABC recordings. 

 Pure Dynamite! , a wildly energetic set recorded before a raucously appreciative crowd at Baltimore’s Royal Theatre, followed a year later, and Brown would release eight more live albums after that, including three more recorded at the Apollo. 

 Brown also put out a couple of fake live albums–studio recordings with audience noise dubbed in later. Perhaps the most notorious of these was Showtime (fortunately, its best tunes appear without embellishment on Messing with the Blues). 

 This, in effect, is the birth of funk, as Brown’s songs grow lean and repetitious, with fewer and fewer chord changes and a greater emphasis on rhythmic tension. Granted, nothing else on the album takes that idea quite as far as its two-¬part title tune, but that was more than enough. The revo... 

 One of the best of the 11 all-instrumental albums Brown released between 1961 and 1971. 

 Brown’s most consistent sideline was playing organ, piano, and vibraphone. Although by no means a master technician, his solos are remarkably fluid. James Brown Plays James Brown Today and Yesterday features some funky, Jimmy McGriff–style organ solos. 

 Brown ¬didn't cut down on his balladry during this period. It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World certainly has its share of funk, including "Ain't That a Groove," but there's room enough for the slow ones, including the title track and a tearfully intense number ... 

 “I Got You (I Feel Good)” was an outtake from an album that never saw the light of day, but Brown recut the song with a harder groove. Both versions of the song can be found on Star Time, but the funkier and more familiar of the two is the centerpiece of I Got You (I Feel Good) .  

 The unstoppable groove of “Cold Sweat”–which, with its monolithic bass pulse and exquisite Maceo Parker sax break, was a milestone almost as important as “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag”–is flanked by MOR numbers such as “Mona Lisa” and “Nature Boy” as well as a smattering of ro... 

 James Brown Sings Raw Soul alternates rhythmically intense tunes such as "Money Won't Change You" and "Let Yourself Go" with soppy ballads along the lines of "Tell Me That You Love Me." 

 Because Brown toured with an entire revue, The James Brown Show puts its emphasis on the other players in the show, including his band; likewise, James Brown Presents His Show of Tomorrow features only two tracks by Brown, with the rest given over to members of the revue. 

 Brown refused to see himself as a one-dimensional musician and regularly fleshed out his albums with material that ranged far afield from the sound of his singles. Sometimes it filled whole LPs, such as this tribute to the influential R&B stylist that boasts a touching cover of John's "T... 

 One of the highlights of Apollo: Live at the Apollo, Vol. II, is its itchy, intense rendition of "There Was a Time." 

 Because Brown toured with an entire revue, The James Brown Show puts its emphasis on the other players in the show, including his band; likewise, James Brown Presents His Show of Tomorrow features only two tracks by Brown, with the rest given over to members of the revue. 

 Brown tries his hand at lounge singing with the Dee Felice Trio on Gettin’ Down to It. 

 With Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud Brown states what had long been implicit in his music; the black power sentiment of the title tune generated a certain amount of controversy at the time, but the album isn't all politics, as the loping "Licking Stick—Licking Stick" ma... 

 The Popcorn put the emphasis on his band. Much of this material has been written off as inconsequential, but the music is often quite good, particularly on rhythmically centered tunes such as "Soul Pride." 

 It's a New Day So Let a Man Come In is especially strong, thanks to "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose," a mesmerizing workout with interlocking guitar and bass patterns, as well as such lesser greats as "It's a New Day" and "Let a Man Come in and Do the Popcorn." 

 The first half of the double-album Sex Machine repeats Brown's ruse of simulated crowd noise, although the loping, hypnotic groove generated by his band on “Give It Up or Turnit a Loose” makes such fakery almost forgivable.  

 Brown also flirted with jazz, recording Soul on Top with the Louis Bellson big band. 

 Yet another Brown live album recorded at the Apollo. 

 Brown took the notion of funk quite literally with Hot Pants. 

 There It Is includes highlights such as “I’m a Greedy Man” and the marvelously kinetic “Talkin’ Loud & Sayin’ Nothing,” as well as the message song “King Heroin." 

 After the double album Get on the Good Foot, Brown released several soundtracks, of which only The Payback is worthwhile. 

 By this point, Brown was losing his edge, and as he tried to cope with the disco era, his albums grew increasingly spotty. The remake-¬oriented Sex Machine Today is a conceptual failures. 

 On which Brown copied David Bowie’s “Fame” for “Hot (I Need to Be Loved, Loved, Loved)”. 

 Mainly worthwhile for its insistent title tune. 

 Notable for the funky “For Goodness Sakes, Look at Those Cakes." 

 With The Original Disco Man, he even came to terms with disco itself. 

 Brown proved on Soul Syndrome that he could imitate the Miami sound as well as anyone.  

 By the early Eighties, Brown was in limbo, with no label and a waning audience. He tried going independent, releasing the pleasantly retro Bring It On! through the tiny Churchill/Augusta label; it’s a good album heard by almost no one. 

 Representative of the albums he produced for his backing band, the JBs, and their various spinoffs, a sampling of which is spread between James Brown’s Funky People and James Brown’s Funky People (Part 2) .  

 A DJ-oriented release that augments “Funky Drummer” with a three-¬minute “Bonus Beat Reprise,” while Star Time offers a choice selection of complete versions of key tracks such as “Mother Popcorn.” 

 Brown began to reestablish himself with “Living in America.” Ironically, part of the reason it works is that it plays off the cliché James Brown–isms that had come back into vogue, resulting in Brown imitating himself (as he does through the rest of Gravity).  

 Brown complaining about rappers ripping him off, over rhythm tracks largely built around sampled James Brown records.  

 Representative of the albums he produced for his backing band, the JBs, and their various spinoffs, a sampling of which is spread between James Brown’s Funky People and James Brown’s Funky People (Part 2) .  

 Brown’s band was getting funkier with each passing month; even his outtakes are astonishing, as evidenced by the selection on Motherlode. 

 Roots of a Revolution, focusing on the 1956–62 period, with two songs each from 1963 and 1964, gives a strong sense of Brown’s early evolution, but because the set purposely excludes Brown’s best-known titles from that period, it should be seen as a “second step” album for fledgling fans.  

 A compilation, including tracks from the classic Showtime presented without fake audience noise. 

 The best introduction to Brown’s work by far, a wonderfully annotated four-disc box spanning Brown’s career from 1956 to 1984. Alongside all the hits, it restores some singles to their full-length versions, offers a fair amount of non-LP material, and includes several illuminating rarities. 

 Love Over-¬Due, recorded after Brown’s release from prison on drug charges, is a return to form that boasts a sharp new band and a classic sense of material.  

 The most economical of his hits albums. 

 Fortunately Soul Pride: The Instrumentals, 1960–1969 includes all the highlights and then some.  

 Funk Power 1970: A Brand New Thang not only offers a clear picture of the Brown band with bassist Bootsy Collins but also presents a number of hits in their original, unedited form.  

 JB40: James Brown’s 40th Anniversary Collection is expensive, but makes for a nicely compact history. 

 50th Anniversary Collection makes a nice compact history of Brown's career, but bewilderingly was issued three years too early, in 2003).  

 Those interested in specific eras of his career may prefer the close focus of such sets as the eight-volume The Singles collections (although the third installment of this series covers a weak year of his early career in which he was in dispute with his early label King Records, and is thus uneven).