CHAPTER1DATA SHADOWS
Matter and all else that is in the physical world have been reduced to a shadowy symbolism. … The scientific answer is relevant so far as concerns the sense-impressions interlocked with the stirring of the spirit, which indeed form an important part of the mental content. For the rest the human spirit must turn to the unseen world to which it itself belongs.
ARTHUR EDDINGTON, 1929
On the evening of October 24, 1962, James Brown and the Famous Flames performed at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. It was a brief show by the standards of today's arena extravaganzas. They performed a dozen songs. None of them were new.
The concert recording was initially shelved. But, pressed by Brown's manager, King Records yielded and produced the album. Live at the Apollo was released the following year. It did incredible business. The album stayed on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart for over a year, helping launch James Brown to R&B superstardom. Listen to that album today; his voice, the band's syncopated kicks, and the screams of the crowd still thrust you into the energy of that Harlem night. The context that swirls around Live at the Apollo elevates it to legend. It is a time capsule of pure American rhythm and blues, bottled 15 months before Beatlemania landed and swept the United States. ...
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