Please, Please, Please

by James Brown, James Brown & His Famous Flames

Overview

James Brown and His Famous Flames scored an R&B Top Ten hit in 1956 with "Please, Please, Please," but Brown's next nine singles for Federal Records flopped. It was the next, "Try Me," his third single of 1958, that finally 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. ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	03/24/2023
Label:	Wax Time
UPC:	8435723700036
Rank:	28500

Album Credits

Performance Credits

James Brown & His Famous Flames   Primary Artist
James Brown   Primary Artist,Vocals,Lead Vocals
Bobby Byrd   Guest Artist,Vocals (Background)
Clifford Scott   Guest Artist,Sax (Tenor)
Kenny Burrell   Guest Artist,Guitar
Panama Francis   Drums
Eddie Freeman   Guitar
Ernie Hayes   Piano
Johnny Terry   Vocals (Background)
George Dorsey   Sax (Alto)
David "Panama" Francis   Drums
Ralph Bass   Director
Reginald Hall   Drums
John Faire   Guitar
Clarence Mack   Bass
Sylvester Keels   Vocals (Background)
Edison Gore   Drums
Wilbert Smith   Sax (Tenor)
Ray Felder   Sax (Tenor)
Cleveland Lowe   Sax (Tenor)
Louis Madison   Vocals (Background)
Bill Hollings   Vocals (Background)
Alvin "Fats" Gonder   Piano
Nafloyd Scott   Guitar
Nashpendle Knox   Vocals (Background)
Edwyn Conley   Bass
Carl Pruitt   Bass
Wilbert "Lee Diamond" Smith   Sax (Tenor)
John B. Brown   Sax (Alto)
J.W. Archer   Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

Bobby Byrd   Composer
Bob Marley   Composer
Knox   Composer
James Brown   Composer
Johnny Terry   Composer
Rudy Toombs   Composer
Rosemary McCoy   Composer
Gary N. Mayo   Digital Remastering
Wilber Smith   Composer
Rose Marie McCoy   Composer
Ralph Bass   Producer
Mitchell Kanner   Reissue Package Design
Andy Gibson   Producer
Nafloyd Scott   Composer
Scott Addison   Composer
Nashpendle Knox   Composer
Julius Dixon   Composer
Trevor Smith   Composer