Roots of a Revolution is the first of several James Brown era overviews released by Polydor Records in the mid-1990s. Expanding on the 1984 double LP compilation of the same name it covers 1956 to 1963, but omits some of Brown's big hits from that time period, which can be found on Star Time. Most of the songs were recorded by Brown with his original vocal group, The Famous Flames, who received label credit on the LP version.