Live at the Apollo (1963 album)

This article is about the James Brown album. For the 1963 Jimmy McGriff album, see Jimmy McGriff at the Apollo.
Live at the Apollo
Live album by
James Brown and the Famous Flames
ReleasedMay 1963
RecordedOctober 24, 1962
VenueApollo Theater in Harlem
Genre
Length31:31
LabelKing (Catalog number K-826)[3]
ProducerJames Brown (original)
Harry Weinger (Polydor reissues)
James Brown live albums chronology
Live at the Apollo
(1963) 		Pure Dynamite! Live at the Royal
(1964)

Live at the Apollo is the first live album by James Brown and the Famous Flames, recorded at the Apollo Theater in Harlem in October 1962 and released in May 1963 by King Records. Capturing Brown's popular stage show for the first time on record, the album was a major commercial and critical success and cemented his status as a leading R&B star.

The album is included in Robert Christgau's "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981).[4] In 2000 it was voted number 248 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[5] In 2003, the album was ranked number 24 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time,[6] then was re-ranked at number 25 in 2012,[7] and then re-ranked at number 65 in a 2020 reboot of the list.[8] In 2004, it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. In 1998, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

  1. ^ Cosgrove, Stuart. Harlem 69: The Future of Soul.
  2. ^ Smith, RJ (March 15, 2012). The One: The Life and Music of James Brown. Penguin Books. p. 119. ISBN 978-1101561102. ... so staggeringly new it scarcely bore any connection to the music called rhythm and blues. Here was the new soul music.
  3. ^ "James Brown - James Brown Live At The Apollo". Discogs.com. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  4. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "A Basic Record Library: The Fifties and Sixties". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 0899190251. Retrieved March 16, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  5. ^ Colin Larkin (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 112. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
  6. ^ "Live at the Apollo ranked #24 in 2003". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2011-09-02. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  7. ^ "500 Greatest Albums of All Time Rolling Stone's definitive list of the 500 greatest albums of all time". Rolling Stone. 2012. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
  8. ^ "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 2020-09-22. Retrieved 2021-10-09.