The Experimental Years in Brown’s ‘Roots’

It’s easy to measure James Brown’s commercial dominance in soul music.

In a rating system that gives 100 points to every No. 1 soul single, 99 points to every No. 2 soul single, etc., Brown leads his nearest rival by more than 3,000 points.

In the point system detailed in researcher Joel Whitburn’s book “Top R&B; Singles,” Brown--on the basis of 114 singles on the R&B; charts through last June--amassed 11,872 points. That’s 3,000 points more than runner-up Aretha Franklin’s 8,731. Close behind: Ray Charles, the Temptations, Louis Jordan, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye.

Brown’s creative influence can’t be measured as neatly by statistics. His stamp as a singer, record-maker and performer, however, can be found in the work of countless artists--all the way through Michael Jackson, Prince and the latest rap artists.

Though Brown--who is serving a six-year prison sentence in South Carolina for failing to stop for a police car--didn’t break into the pop Top 10 until “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” in the summer of 1965, he had been gaining an audience on the soul-music scene since “Please, Please, Please” was released in 1956.

Those early, pre-”Brand New Bag” years are spotlighted in “Roots of a Revolution,” a 40-song, 110-minute, two-disc set just released in CD only by PolyGram Records. The album, on the Polydor label, adds eight bonus tracks to a collection previously available in Britain on vinyl and cassette. It also comes with an illustrated 28-page booklet that details Brown’s early years on the King and Federal record labels.

Much like Elvis Presley’s essential “Sun Sessions” album that demonstrates how Presley’s style evolved in the young singer’s pre-”Heartbreak Hotel” days in Memphis, “Roots of a Revolution” shows how Brown--who was born in 1933--experimented with various musical styles of the day in his early recording years.

From 1956 to 1958, Brown moved from the conventional rhythm and blues of “No, No, No, No” and straight-ahead blues of “Why Does Everything Happen to Me?” to the Little Richard-like vitality of “Chonnie-On-Chon” to the Coasters/Robins novelty of “That Dood It.”

By the end of the decade, however, there was a greater confidence in Brown’s recordings as he began showing the individual vision that would eventually earn him the title Godfather of Soul. Several of these tracks made the soul charts in the early ‘60s, and a few (including “I Don’t Mind” and “Prisoner of Love”) spilled over into the pop charts.

The CD is part of PolyGram’s Sound Savers budget line, which means it should be available in most stores for $20 to $23.

Meanwhile, PolyGram has some other historical collections on the way in CD. Five Chuck Berry albums from his Mercury Records years, including “Live at the Fillmore” (where Berry was backed by the Steve Miller Band), are due April 18. A retrospective featuring Roy Orbison singles recorded for MGM Records between 1965 and 1973 is also due that day, while a 40-song Brook Benton “greatest hits” package is planned for May 9.

CULT FAVES: Alice Cooper’s first two albums, “Pretties for You” and “Easy Action,” are the first releases in Enigma Records’ new Enigma Retro CD and cassette series. Steve Levesque, manager of press and artist relations for Enigma, said the series aims to present out-of-print albums or previously unreleased recordings by “superstar or cult” artists.

Due April 19 on Enigma Retro: Captain Beefheart’s “Lick My Decals Off, Baby,” the GTO’s “Permanent Damage” and Ted Nugent’s “Call of the Wild” and “Tooth, Fang and Claw.” Coming in May: CDs spotlighting Lenny Bruce and Lord Buckley. All these albums are from Bizarre/Straight/Discreet Records catalogue.