Though James Brown and His Famous Flames had scored an R&B Top Ten hit in 1956 with "Please, Please, Please," and Brown's next nine singles for Federal Records flopped but the next, "Try Me," his third single of 1958, scored. That was when King Records (Federal's parent label) assembled this, Brown's debut album, out of some of those singles sessions. You can hear the sound of a group and its enthusiastic singer looking for a hit, sometimes in the rock & roll of "Chonnie-On-Chon" (1957) or the 1956 B-side "I Feel That Old Feeling Coming On," sometimes by remaking "Please, Please, Please" under another name, such as "I Don't Know" (1956), sometimes by tackling Coasters-like novelty material such as "That Dood It" (1958), sometimes by aping the smooth Sam Cooke , as on the 1958 B-side "That's When I Lost My Heart," and once by rewriting "My Bonnie (Lies over the Ocean)" as the 1958 B-side "Baby Cries over the Ocean." Only the two hits were really memorable, but the album presented the sound of a major star-to-be in search of his sound. (by William Ruhlmann)
Personnel:
James Brown (vocals)
Kenny Burrell (guitar)
Bobby Byrd (background vocals)
Edwyn Conley (bass)
George Dorsey (saxophone)
John Faire (guitar)
Ray Felder (saxophone)
David Fancis (drums)
Eddie Freeman (guitar)
Alvin Gonder (piano)
Edison Gore (drums)
Reginald Hall (drums)
Ernie Hayes (piano)
Bill Hollings (background vocals)
Sylvester Keels (background vocals)
Nashpendle Knox (background vocals)
Cleveland Lowe (saxophone)
Clarence Mack (bass)
Louis Madison (background vocals)
Carl Pruitt (bass)
Clifford Scott (saxophone)
Nafloyd Scott (guitar)
Wilbert Smith (saxophone)
Johnny Terry (background vocals)
Tracklist:
01. Please, Please, Please (Brown/Terry) 2.46
02. Chonnie-On-Chon (Brown/Byrds) 2.13
03. Hold My Baby's Hand (Brown/Scott/'Smith) 2.14
04. I Feel That Old Feeling Coming On (Knox) 2.45
05. Just Won't Do Right (Brown) 2.36
06. Baby Cries Over The Ocean 2.37
07. I Don't Know 2.48
08. Tell Me What I Did Wrong (Brown) 2.24
09. Try Me (Brown) 2.33
10. That Dood It (Toombs) 2.28
11. Begging, Begging (Dixon/Toombs) 2.54
12. I Walked Alone (Bergmann/Kastner/Parulolo) 2.44
13. No, No, No, No (Brown) 2.15
14. That's When I Lost My Heart 2.51
15. Let's Make It (Brown) 2.28
16. Love Or A Game 2.15
Alternate frontcover
ARMU 2263
ARMU 2263 (zippyshare)