Another spectacular, amazing, eye-opening career retrospective from James Brown, the man with a shitload of nicknames: "Soul Brother Number One," "the Godfather of Soul," "the Hardest Working Man in Show Business," "Mr. Dynamite," and every one of them earned in 50, yes I said 50 years in showbiz.

All the hits are here, from the beautiful, charmingly antique R&B balladry of "Please, Please, Please" ('58) to the hip-hoppish "Static" from '88 (though "Living In America" is strangely absent, due no doubt to licensing issues). Along the way we hear R&B changing into soul in '61's "Night Train," the birth of funk in '64 with "I Got You," the clipped rhythms of R&B chopped down to the coldest, tightest punch, and continued on "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" in '65, and "Cold Sweat" in '67.

We hear the funk hardening and the groove taking over when the Collins brothers (Bootsy on bass, Phelps on guitar) joined in '70 for "Sex Machine" and "Soul Power," and Brown powered through the '70s with groove classics "Hot Pants," "Get On the Good Foot," "My Thang," "Papa Don't Take No Mess" and "Get Up Offa that Thing" - Brown's athleticism, sense of drama, extraordinary voice (a rhythm instrument itself), arranging and producing abilities and instincts diminishing nary a whit along the way.

Now at 70, Brown still performs live (and in private, he has a 2-year-old), and is among the livingest of legends.

If you aren't familiar with Brown beyond the unavoidable hits, this 50-song collection is a great place to start.

I have two James Brown stories, one from the beginning and one from the tail end of his remarkable career. The first one is told by producer/talent scout Ralph Bass:

As talent scout and producer Bass combed the highways, byways and back alleys of 1950s black America, especially the South, for fresh talent. "I had to go out there and look and beat the bushes . . . you'd get a tip on somebody and go down to listen . . . We were in the ghetto. There were no rich kids who were singing . . . And I was fortunate to be able to recognize what was good and what was wrong."

Bass discovered Little Willie Littlefield (who sang the original version of "Kansas
City," "K.C. Lovin"), Guitar Lewis, Big Jay McNeely, Johnny Guitar Watson, and the Platters (Bass recorded the original version of "Only You"). But his greatest discovery for Federal was James Brown.

Bass told Lydon, "I was in Atlanta . . . and I heard a dub . . . it was so different that it knocked me out. A disc jockey and I drove to Macon in a pouring rainstorm. James was out on parole to his manager, a Macon promoter and club owner named Clint Brandly. I was told to meet Brandly by parking my car in front of a barbershop which was across the street from a railroad station, and when the venetian blinds went up and down, to come in."