Star Time  by James Brown

In 1991, Polydor Records released the box set titled Star Time, a quadruple CD-box set that gathered 71 songs by James Brown from 1956 to 1984. From Please, Please, Please to Unity Pt. 1, Brown's collaboration with Afrika Bambaataa, born in 1957 (!) In Star Time, apart from the classic hits (in studio and live performances) of the great funk songwriter and performer, there are also many tracks that had not been released or were hard to find. The title Star Time comes from the phrase James Brown says to the audience in the legendary Live at the Apollo in 1963: "Are you ready for star time?"

Each CD of the four in the collection has its own title and is in chronological order. Thus, the first CD is titled Mr. Dynamite and contains 24 songs from 1956 to 1965, the second CD is called The Hardest Working Man In Show Business with 17 compositions from 1965 to 1969, followed by the third CD titled Soul Brother No. 1 with 14 songs recorded between the years 1969 and 1972, and the epic collection concludes with the fourth CD, titled The Godfather Of Soul, containing 16 songs from 1972 to 1984. The total duration of the four CDs approaches 295 minutes of music (!)

Star Time was a huge gift to the friends of James Brown and funk music. If someone wants to start engaging with this type of music or this particular artist, they have found the best way.