Star Time

Star Time
Box set by James Brown
Released	May 7, 1991
Recorded	1956 – 1984
Genre	Soul, Funk
Length	4:44:38
Label	Polydor
Producer	Various
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Robert Christgau (A+) link Entertainment Weekly (A) link Mojo link Q June 1991 Rolling Stone link UNCUT link
James Brown chronology
I'm Real (1988) Star Time (1991) Love Over-Due (1991)

For the 1992 horror film see Star Time (1992 film)

Star Time is a 1991 71-track, 4-CD box set by James Brown. Its contents span most of the length of his career up to the time of its release, starting in 1956 with his first hit record, "Please, Please, Please", and ending with "Unity, Pt. 1", his 1984 collaboration with Afrika Bambaataa. It includes a few previously unreleased tracks.

The box set's title comes from the question Brown's announcer would traditionally ask audiences at the start of Brown's concerts: "Are you ready for star time?"

Star Time's liner notes, written by Cliff White, Harry Weinger, Nelson George, Alan M. Leeds and Brown himself, won a 1991 Grammy Award for Best Album Notes. The notes also include album and singles discographies and a one-page comic by Mary Fleener, a visual interpretation of the song "I Got You (I Feel Good)."

In 2003, the album was ranked number 79 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Track listing

Disc 1

1. "Please Please Please" (James Brown, Johnny Terry) – 2:43
2. "Why Do You Do Me?" (Bobby Byrd, Sylvester Keels) – 2:59
3. "Try Me" (Brown) – 2:30
4. "Tell Me What I Did Wrong" (Brown) – 2:20
5. "Bewildered" (Leonard Whitcup, Teddy Powell) – 2:21
6. "Good Good Lovin'" (Brown, Albert Shubert) – 2:18
7. "I'll Go Crazy" (Brown) – 2:05
8. "I Know It's True" (Brown) – 2:40
9. "(Do the) Mashed Potatoes, Pt. 1" (Dessie Rozier) – 1:39
10. "Think" (Lowman Pauling) – 2:46
11. "Baby, You're Right" (Brown, Joe Tex) – 2:58
12. "Lost Someone" (Brown, Byrd, Lloyd Eugene Stallworth) – 3:28
13. "Night Train" (Oscar Washington, Lewis Simpkins, Jimmy Forrest) – 3:38
14. "I've Got Money" (Brown) – 2:29
15. "I Don't Mind" [live] (Brown) – 2:29
16. "Prisoner of Love" (Leo Robin, Russ Columbo, Clarence Gaskin) – 2:24
17. "Devil's Den" (Ted Wright) – 4:48
18. "Out of the Blue" (Wright, Terry) – 2:15
19. "Out of Sight" (Wright) – 2:19
20. "Grits" (Nat Jones, Wright) – 3:58
21. "Maybe the Last Time" (Wright) – 3:02
22. "It's a Man's World" (Brown, Betty Jean Newsome) – 3:22
23. "I Got You" (Wright) – 2:27
24. "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag, Pts. 1, 2 & 3" (Brown) – 6:56

Disc 2

1. "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag, Pt. 1" (Brown) – 2:06
2. "I Got You (I Feel Good)" (Brown) – 2:45
3. "Ain't That a Groove" (Brown, Jones) – 3:31
4. "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" (Brown, Newsome) – 2:46
5. "Money Won't Change You" (Brown, Jones) – 6:01
6. "Don't Be a Dropout" (Brown, Jones) – 4:31
7. "Bring It Up (Hipster's Avenue)" (Brown, Jones) – 3:48
8. "Let Yourself Go" (Brown, Bud Hobgood) – 3:53
9. "Cold Sweat" (Brown, Alfred Ellis) – 7:30
10. "Get It Together" (Brown, Hobgood, Ellis) – 8:57
11. "I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me), Pt. 1" (Brown) – 3:29
12. "I Got the Feelin'" (Brown) – 2:39
13. "Licking Stick-Licking Stick" (Brown, Byrd, Ellis) – 4:52
14. "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud, Pt. 1" (Brown, Ellis) – 2:59
15. "There Was a Time" [Live] (Brown, Hubgood) – 4:59
16. "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose" (Charles Bobbit) – 3:10
17. "I Don't Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing (Open up the Door I'll Get It Myself)" (Brown) – 5:59

Disc 3

1. "Mother Popcorn" (Brown, Ellis) – 6:18
2. "Funky Drummer" (Brown) – 7:00
3. "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine" (Brown, Byrd, Ron Lenhoff) – 5:15
4. "Super Bad, Pts. 1 & 2" (Brown) – 4:26
5. "Talkin' Loud & Sayin' Nothing" (Brown, Byrd) – 8:59
6. "Get Up, Get into It, and Get Involved" (Brown, Byrd, Lenhoff) – 7:03
7. "Soul Power, Pts. 1 & 2" (Brown) – 4:25
8. "Brother Rapp/Ain't It Funky Now" [live] (Brown) – 7:44
9. "Hot Pants, Pt. 1" (Brown, Fred Wesley) – 3:06
10. "I'm a Greedy Man, Pt. 1" (Brown, Bobbit) – 3:36
11. "Make It Funky, Pt. 1" (Brown, Bobbit) – 3:34
12. "It's a New Day" [live] (Brown) – 3:48
13. "I Got Ants in My Pants, Pt. 1" (Brown) – 3:01
14. "King Heroin" (Brown, Bobbit, Dave Matthews, Manny Rosen) – 3:57

Disc 4

1. "There It Is, Pt. 1" (Brown) – 3:20
2. "Public Enemy #1, Pt. 1" (Brown, Bobbit, Henry Stallings) – 5:09
3. "Get on the Good Foot" (Brown, Wesley, Joseph Mims) – 4:07
4. "I Got a Bag of My Own" (Brown) – 3:44
5. "Doing It to Death" (Brown) – 5:14
6. "The Payback" (Brown, Wesley, John Starks) – 7:28
7. "Papa Don't Take No Mess, Pt. 1" (Brown, Wesley, Starks, Bobbit) – 4:22
8. "Stoned to the Bone, Pt. 1" (Brown) – 3:28
9. "My Thang" (Brown) – 4:37
10. "Funky President (People It's Bad)" (Brown) – 4:01
11. "Hot (I Need to Be Loved, Loved, Loved)" (Brown) – 5:03
12. "Get Up Offa That Thing (Release the Pressure)" (Diedre Jenkins, Deanna Brown, Yamma Brown) – 6:14
13. "Body Heat, Pt. 1" (Jenkins, D. Brown, Y. Brown) – 4:29
14. "It's Too Funky in Here" (George Jackson, Walter Shaw, Brad Shapiro, Robert Miller) – 5:39
15. "Rapp Payback (Where Iz Moses)" (J. Brown, D. Brown, Henry Stallings) – 4:36
16. "Unity, Pt. 1" (J. Brown, Khayan Aasim Bambaataa, Douglas Wimbish, Bernard Alexander, Keith LeBlanc, Robin Haplin) – 3:40

Other compilations

At the time of its release Star Time was the most comprehensive collection of James Brown's recordings ever issued. A series of Polydor compilations concentrating on specific periods of Brown's career superseded Star Time in terms of comprehensiveness by including additional songs, alternate takes, previously unreleased recordings, and longer, unedited versions of key tracks:

• Roots of a Revolution (2 CD; covers 1956-1964)
• Foundations of Funk: A Brand New Bag, 1964-1969 (2 CD)
• Funk Power 1970: A Brand New Thang (1 CD)
• Make It Funky - The Big Payback: 1971-1975 (2 CD)
• Dead on the Heavy Funk, 1975-1983 (2 CD)

Two other Polydor collections similarly anthologize Brown's instrumental recordings:

• Soul Pride: The Instrumentals (1960-69) (2 CD)
• Funky Good Time: The Anthology (2 CD; covers 1970-1976)

In 2006, Hip-O Select Records began a multi-volume reissue of James Brown's complete singles (both A-sides and B-sides) on CD. The volumes are only available through mail order. As of February 2008, five volumes have been released, covering the periods 1956-1960, 1960-1963, 1964-1965, 1966-1967, and 1967-1969.

See also

• 20 All-Time Greatest Hits!

External links

• Rolling Stone story
• Overview at MP3.com