Thursday, February 4th 2010

By Corrigan Hammond

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

Directed by: David Leaf

Starring: James Brown

Comprised of three discs, I Got The Feelin’ explores James Brown’s legacy as both a live performer and as a leader within the African American community in the wake of the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X.

The first DVD is the brilliantly titled documentary The Night James Brown Saved Boston. The film is a documentary of how a sometimes reluctant Brown, then at the commercial peak of his career, was recruited by the city of Boston to perform a live televised concert from the Boston Gardens in the immediate aftermath of Martin Luther King’s assassination. The Night James Brown Saved Boston is a fast paced exploration of the various and often contradictory aspects of Brown’s personality—doing his part to calm racial tension, and anxious about the financial loss that assuming such a role might force him to absorb.

Disc two is, for the first time on DVD, the Brown’s actual televised Boston Garden’s concert. It is particularly interesting to watch the back and forth between Boston’s mayor and Brown as they introduce the show—as both men actively suppress their serious doubts about the projects viability as part of a desperate effort to calm tense emotions on the city’s streets.

The third disc is another iconic, previously unreleased live Brown set at New York City’s famous Apollo theatre. Although not as historically significant as the Boston Garden’s show, this is another high-energy, exciting performance from ‘the hardest working man in show business.’

This collection is a must have for anyone interested in either Brown’s music or the politics of the civil rights movement.