Idolator Demands: Bring Back “The T.A.M.I. Show”!

Michaelangelo Matos | August 20, 2008 4:00 am

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This past weekend I picked up I Got the Feelin’: James Brown in the ’60s, a three-DVD set on Shout! Factory featuring a documentary about Brown’s legendary Boston concert the night of Martin Luther King’s murder, footage of that same show, and Man to Man, a 1968 TV special shot in concert at Harlem’s Apollo Theater, with which Brown had some familiarity. The latter occupies the third disc of the set, which also includes a version of “Out of Sight” Brown performed for the 1964 film The T.A.M.I. Show.

I’ve written about The T.A.M.I. Show here before, and as I noted in the comments there, the Beach Boys’ footage from the movie was put out (without much fanfare) as bonus video with a group best-of. Now “Out of Sight” has joined it–and it’s even more remarkable than I’d remembered, mostly because it’s the brightest, cleanest print they could get. The title at the end of the performance thanks Dick Clark Productions. I’d like to thank them, too: for dragging their fucking asses on releasing, in full, one of the greatest rock movies ever made.

I realize music rights are a hassle, especially in a movie with so many different artists. (The Miracles, the Rolling Stones, Jan & Dean, Lesley Gore, Chuck Berry, countless others.) Nevertheless, there’s no reason the full J.B. performance shouldn’t have been on I Got the Feelin’. Sure, “Out of Sight” is great. It’s also about a third of the full performance, which climaxes with an absolutely titanic “Please, Please, Please.” I’ve never seen a more thrilling musical performance on film, and I’ve seen the rest of I Got the Feelin’: James Brown in the ’60s. Dick Clark Productions, get moving.

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