James Brown By James Brown with Bruce Tucker (Sidgwick & Jackson, £12.95)
Cynthia Rose, The Wire, November 1987
JAMES BROWN is the Andy Warhol of sound — it's just not possible to imagine modern music without him. Nor could there be a more appropriate time to reconsider the complexity of his contribution: what with stars from hip-hop to Prince so audibly in his debt. James Brown is a riveting read not because it speculates — a la music crit in general — about why this should be. It's fascinating simply because the story it tells is so broad and so unique.
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