DVD
When it comes to James Brown live albums, virtually every pundit around will send you to the Godfather of Soul’s 1963 groundbreaking juggernaut Live at the Apollo. Naming the definitive Brown concert film is much tougher — official videos really didn’t start to surface until the early 1990s. Like those old VHS tapes, Double Dynamite! documents Brown in the 1980s, two decades past his prime. The first hour is culled from a 1980 show at Studio 54 and despite poor lighting and clumsy camera work makes for a compelling view due to Brown’s terrifically sweaty performance. The second hour is from a so-so 1985 show at Atlanta’s Chastain Park.
(MVD) ***