Rolling Stone Australia — July 2017

¥LIKE SO MUCHofJanisJoplin’scareer,thetourtosupportCheap

Thrills,her1968albumwithBigBrotherandtheHoldingCompany,

wasatriumphwroughtfromchaos.Ontheeveofthetour,thesinger

announced she was leaving the band, leading to screaming fights with

someofthemusicians.Yetthatverytension–combinedwithgruel-

ling album sessions that tightened what, as drummer Dave Getz ad-

mits,“wasn’tatightband”–madeforarivetingfarewell.Thecom-

binationofherwild-childraspandBigBrother’swailingbluesrock

provedtransformative.“Bytheendof’68,”saysGetz,“Idon’tthink

therewasasingerinrock&rollwhocouldtouchher.” DAVID BROWNE

¥“ELVIS WAS HARDLYever nervous,”

says drummer D.J. Fontana, re-

membering the NBC special that re-

launched Presley’s career after years

inHollywood.“Buthewasthen.”The

highlight: an intimate sit-down set

with his band, Fontana and guitar-

ist Scotty Moore, that was almost

like catching Elvis at the Louisiana

Hayride back in 1954. “Performing

withElviswasamazing,”remem-

bers Darlene Love, who sang back-

upforPresleyontheshow,“because

we didn’t really know what to expect

from him.” K.G.

¥ERIC CLAPTONended Cream in

1968 after only two years, burned

out and sick of keeping the peace

between bandmates Ginger Baker

and Jack Bruce. But even as they

were breaking up, Cream pushed the

boundaries.“Ithadnothingtodo

with lyrics or ideas,” said Clapton. “It

was much deeper, purely musical.” At

Madison Square Garden, they played

a wild, nearly 20-minute “Spoon-

ful”. At San Francisco’s Fillmore,

they played under the venue’s psyche-

delic light shows as Clapton, Baker

and Bruce soloed simultaneously. As

RogerWaters,whosawthematthe

time, put it, “It was an astounding

sight and an explosive sound.” K.G.

ELVIS

CREAM

BIG BROTHER AND

THE HOLDING COMPANY

AIREDDECEMBER 3, 1968 1968 FAREWELL TOUR

COMEBACK SPECIAL

“ T he s how w e nt on ju s t a s it h a d i n

all the other places we had played,”

says trombone player Fred Wesley.

“It was a regular show.” Of course,

in 1968, the “regular show” meant

a display of raw energy and dy-

namic power unlike anything else

in music. Dressed in a black suit,

hair in a tight pompadour, Brown

moved with lightning quickness,

his screams rattling the rafters, as

he drove the band through his hits.

They did “I Got You (I Feel Good)” in

a double-time blur, and “Cold Sweat”

featured an incredible solo show-

case for “funky drummer” Clyde

Stubblefield.

Still, Wesley, who had only recent-

ly become a part of Brown’s band,

remembers a palpable sense of fear

among the band members, and ten-

sion in the arena: “We didn’t know if

there was a war against black people,

or if a race war was happening. As we

got to the stage, we were still wary

about what might happen.”

But what ended up impressing

him most was what amazed him

about James Brown every night:

his ability to hold and command a

crowd. As the set reached its climax

during Brown’s dramatic “cape act”,

young fans began rushing the stage,

and white police officers ran in to

restore order. Shoving ensued, and

the moment of mayhem many had

anticipated seemed to have finally

arrived.

But Brown quickly interceded.

“You’re not being fair to yourself

and me or your race,” he told the

crowd. “Now, are we together, or

we ain’t?” Turning to Stubblefield,

he ordered, “Hit the thing, man”,

and the band launched into a furi-

ous version of “I Can’t Stand Myself

(When You Touch Me)”. Brown was

even joined onstage by Mayor White,

whom he announced as a “swinging

cat”. Brown exited the stage shak-

ing hands with the people up front,

as much like a political leader as a

soul star.

In the weeks to come, requests for

Brown to appear elsewhere poured

in, including one to travel to Wash-

ington, D.C., to speak to rioters. In

August that year, he’d release his

monumental message record, “Say It

Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud”. “I

was able to speak to the country dur-

ing the crisis,” he later said, “and that

was one of the things that meant the

most to me.” Almost 50 years later,

Ellis is still moved by the moment.

“I’m proud to have been part of that,”

he says. “I’m pleased that it came off

the way that it did.” JON DOLAN

1968

AMERICAN TOUR

July, 2017 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 49

GETTY IMAGES

THREE

ESSENTIAL

JAMES

BROWN

LIVE

ALBUMS

Live at the

Apollo

1963

Maybe the

best live LP

ever: Brown’s

1962 set runs

from raw

heartache to

breakneck

soul, blasting

through a

nine-song

medley along

the way. A

mix of

precision and

energy few, if

any, artists

matched

onstage.

Love, Power,

Peace

1992

Live in Paris

in 1971, at the

height of his

funk powers.

Say It Live

and Loud:

Live in Dallas

08.26.68

1998

Recorded

the month

he released

“Say It Loud –

I’m Black and

I’m Proud”.

Joplin

in 1968