James Brown Shout And Shimmy

Personnel: James Brown (vocals).
On an album named after the R&B Top 40 title hit and featuring the 1961 Top Ten R&B hit "I Don't Mind," James Brown & His Famous Flames can be heard making music in the variety of styles -- blues, Little Richard-style rock, doo wop -- out of which they eventually would develop the James Brown funk sound of the mid-'60s. (Actually, the music is older than the copyright date, since King cobbled the LP together from non-charting singles and B-sides dating back to 1958.) It's a more primitive sound than they would later achieve, but remains infectious. [Shout & Shimmy was reissued in 1963 under the title Excitement -- Mr. Dynamite.] ~ William Ruhlmann

• Genre: R&B
• Format: Vinyl