Love Power Peace: Live at the Olympia, Paris 1971

James Brown's status as one of the hottest live performers translated into a string of absolutely massive in-concert albums, but none are better than this outrageously funky outing. This is the only live CD available with Bootsy Collins and the original JB's posse, and Brown leads the incendiary ensemble through an airtight set. Only "Georgia on My Mind" reaches for the dimmer switch, but the point by then is immaterial coming after the ridiculous onslaught of "Brother Rapp" and "Ain't It Funky Now"--try to find the impossible seam between those two tracks. A hazardous slipstream of soul! --John Corbett