Description
Offered for sale is a original U.S. stereo pressing of Showtime by James Brown.
About this copy: This copy of Showtime is 1964 U.S. stereo pressing on the Smash label.
The cover is VG+ with slight edge and corner wear.
The disc is VG+ with a couple of moderate sleeve scuffs and a few spindle marks on the labels, but no significant marks. It’s a fairly clean LP that plays well.
Background: James Brown was not only a good entertainer, but he was a smart businessman, too. Due to a loophole in his contract with King Records, Brown found a way to record simultaneously for Smash Records, though his titles for Smash didn’t generate the hits that his King LPs did.
Showtime, released in 1964, presents itself as a live album, though the cover never claims that it’s a live album. It’s not; it’s a “fake” live album consisting of new studio recordings with an overdubbed audience.
AllMusic.com gave Showtime this review:
A transition album. James Brown’s contract with King Records had a few more legs, and the Godfather of Soul was handicapped in what he could wax for Smash Records, his new label. Hence, an album of remakes enhanced — or marred — by overdubbed applause. Some apparently don’t have a problem with overdubbed applause, judging from the lofty prices record collectors ask and get for a copy. Brown does his best retooling on Louis Jordan’s “Caledonia,” “Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens,” and “Somebody Changed the Lock on My Door.”
| Country of origin: | U.S. |
| Size: | 12″ |
| Record Label: | Smash |
| Catalog Number: |
SRS 67054 |
| Year of Release: | 1964 |
| Format: | Stereo |
| Share: |       |
