The Apollo Theatre Presents in Person The James Brown Show

My old schoolmate Geoff MacCormack brought this around to my house one afternoon, breathless and overexcited. “You have never, in your life, heard anything like this,” he said. I made a trip to see Jane Greene that very afternoon. Two of the songs on this album, “Try Me” and “Lost Someone,” became loose inspirations for Ziggy’s “Rock & Roll Suicide.” Brown’s Apollo performance still stands for me as one of the most exciting live albums ever. Soul music now had an undisputed king.