I'm a little late with this posting, though mainly because I didn't have a blog yet. Anyways, this biography of James Brown, The One: The Life and Music of James Brown by RJ Smith (a senior editor for Los Angeles magazine and staff writer for Spin), was issued last month in March and has been on my wishlist since a month before it came out. I recently read a few critics' quotes, and they've got me excited:
"R.J. Smith, a Los Angeles-based music journalist and author of the new book The One: The Life and Music of James Brown, may have come closer than anyone to understanding how James Brown became James Brown."
"The imperatives of biography are to record, to correct and to carve out historical significance, and Smith’s lively account succeeds on all three fronts."
This New York Times review, "Say It Loud: Soul King Explained," is the best one I've read so far. It's the one that got me hyped to buy this in the first place. Janet Maslin, the author, talks about why The One was chosen for the title:
"For starters Mr. Brown’s theatrics will explain why 'The One' is this book’s title. It describes but doesn’t come from Mr. Brown’s stature. Instead it denotes his signature emphasis on the first beat in a four-beat measure. 'The upbeat is rich, the downbeat is poor,' Mr. Brown said, explaining that tactic in typically cryptic but catchy fashion."
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