Live at the Garden

AMG Review of Live at the Garden

Jason Ankeny
All Music Guide

While it boasts neither the landmark status of the two Live at the Apollo LP nor the scope and reach of JB's-era documents like Sex Machine or Love Power Peace, Live at the Garden captures James Brown live, and that's really all the recommendation you need. Recorded at New York City's Madison Square Garden in 1967, the album features Brown & His Famous Flames in peak form, delivering feverish, high-energy grooves almost mathematical in their symmetry and precision. The on-stage intensity is directly proportional to the audience frenzy, building to the kind of catharsis only Brown could achieve.