Twenty CDs to start you off on your journey into the wonderful musical world of Rhythm and Blues. They supplement those highlighted in the R&B Artists category and together form a pretty good primer. There are a few compilations included in the list, to which some may object. Very often though, it is at le inast initially the best way to sample an artist’s work! The list also attempts to incorporate a variety of styles – otherwise you may well have seen ten Bobby Bland albums in the collection. With one or two notable exceptions, I’ve tried to list only those CDs that are relatively easy to obtain in the UK, but this type of music is generally so poorly served by the record labels that they often go out of print. If that’s the case (and it’s spotted) then the list will be updated to reflect what is available.
One of the most satisfying later (relatively) Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown discs of all and an excellent introduction for the R&B fan. Typically unclassifiable set, everything from zydeco, country, a little jump blues and lots of trademark fiddle and his unique guitar playing. There is a particularly fine instrumental version of ‘Unchained Melody’, which showcases his inventive guitar style to very good effect. Once you hear this you’re bound to want more, and I don’t think there is much you can buy that doesn’t have something of merit.
The Clovers combined quartet harmony, the big dance beat of the R&B jump bands, and the rawer sounds of urban blues into an exciting new blend that caught on and put them consistently at the top of the R&B charts in the early ’50s. The way they did it, and the sheer quality of their vocals and arrangements helped to lay the foundation for the soul music to come. They represent any number of R&B vocal groups of the 50s and early 60s, but they did it better than most. These “Best Ofs” tend to drift in and out of print but you should always find one available.
For over forty years the Dells were regarded by critics and R&B buffs alike as one of the greatest exponents of the soul group craft, although their sales have never measured up to this kind of critical acclaim. Few groups have survived the musical changes over such significant time periods the way the Dells did – through 50s doo-wop, 60s soul and the lush orchestral sounds of the 70s, the group has consistently produced harmony singing of the highest quality. “Standing Ovation” is a great 2CD introduction to the group.
Had to be something here from Motown other than the compilation and so I’ve gone for Marvin Gaye. Smokey Robinson or the Temptations would have been equally fine choices but “What’s Going On” was such an influential record and such a departure for the label (Berry Gordy was less than enamoured) that it deserves its place in the list. Fundamentally a great soul record but it also changed the musical landscape, especially for Motown. One of the most critically acclaimed soul albums of all time and it nearly didn’t get released.
He’s never received the accolades given to the likes of Sam Cooke or Clyde McPhatter, but Little Willie John ranks as one of R&B’s most influential performers. His muscular but quite high timbre and enormous technical and emotional range belied his early age (his first hit came when he was 18), but his mid-’50s work for Syd Nathan’s King label would play a great part in the way soul music would develop. Everyone from Cooke, McPhatter and Brown to Jackie Wilson, B.B. King and Al Green has acknowledged a debt to this pioneer.
Dan Penn is one of the great songwriters in the soul and R&B idioms. In this Primer he represents all the other unsung heroes – it could as easily have been someone like the wonderful Eddie Hinton but Penn will do just fine. Although he recorded an album in the 70s, this is the record to get if you want to hear a songwriter and musician at the height of his powers. An understated triumph, Penn reworks a number of his greatest songs (including ‘Do Right Man’ and ‘Dark End Of The Street’) and adds a couple of new ones. Worth its place in a Primer.
Flirtations with commercial soul (and not too shabby soul at that) seems to have blinded some to Lou Rawls skills as a blues interpreter. However, this album holds the potential to put such thoughts to rest. On this album, Rawls gives the blues an authentically sophisticated turn. Joe Williams, Cornell Dupree and other stellar roots musicians give their all on the set. Ok, it’s not John Lee Hooker but it’s none the worse for that. This is a polished set of standards, sophisticated, understated but still genuine blues (and what a voice).
A combination of circumstances led to Otis Redding’s canonisation as the greatest of soul singers – it has to be said that the Primer has never really shared that view. However, it would simply be churlish (and unjustified) not to include him in any introductory collection and he would be on most peoples lists of artists to include in a Primer. This mid priced 2 CD compilation should suffice and has all the hits and more. It’s a fine retrospective and a worthy addition to any R&B collection. And there is plenty of material in print for those who want more.
The great Charlie Rich is known primarily as a country singer and the purveyor of smooth hits such as ‘The Most Beautiful Girl In The World’ and ‘Behind Closed Doors’ (although there were bluesy overtones to much of his earlier material). But he was always a great country blues singer at heart and in 1992 he produced the smoky jazz blues classic “Pictures and Paintings” with the help of the writer Peter Guralnick. This is how I hope he will be remembered. His last recording and a classic.
Howard Tate’s “Get It While You Can – The Legendary Recordings“ is a little bit of a lost classic as far as 60s soul compilations are concerned (partly because it’s very difficult to get hold of in the UK). If you’ve not heard Tate himself, you may have heard the songs – ‘Look at Granny Run Run’ (Ry Cooder), ‘Ain’t Nobody Home’ (B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt), ‘Get It While You Can'(Janis Joplin) are all on this set, produced by Jerry Ragavoy. If you can find it, get it. His later material is fine enough, but this is the pinnacle.
The best single-disc collection available of Joe Turner’s seminal 1950s Atlantic sides. Most of the essential stuff is here. The world-weary blues ballads such as ‘Chains of Love’ and ‘Sweet Sixteen’. The rockers which influenced a generation (not to mention giving Bill Haley a career) such as ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll’, ‘Flip Flop and Fly’, and ‘Boogie Woogie Country Girl’. And the odd jump blues which harks back to the best of Turner’s earlier recordings. A direct link between early blues, definitive, orthodox R&B and the birth of rock and roll.
Phillip Walker is a bluesman unafraid to showcase a variety of styles and his rare forays into the studio are always an eclectic pleasure. “Walking Girl Blues” is possibly the Primer favourite but as that now appears to be tricky to get hold of and you should have a little PW in your starter collection, “Blues” is also a fine album if you can find it but the one listed is a compilation and none too shabby and includes the original version of ‘Don’t Be afraid Of The Dark’, later recorded to rather more commercial acclaim by Robert Cray.
T-Bone Walker has to be in the list of essential recordings for an R&B Primer. There is no doubt that T-Bone was a truly great player. His music is timeless in its appeal and fans of jazz, blues and r&b will all find music to admire and enjoy. He’s one of the all time greats, an innovator and significant influence on just about every blues guitarist who followed. The recommendation is a single CD release but you could just as easily pick up the 2CD “Papa Ain’t Salty” retrospective as an alternative.
Chuck Willis was a great songwriter and should be remembered as more than the ‘King of Stroll’ (which, to be honest, is a moniker he probably gave himself to cash in on the success of ‘C.C. Rider’). He produced a number of fine recordings for the Atlantic label all of which can be found on the Razor and Tie Anthology “Stroll On: The Chuck Willis Collection”. This is a superbly put together collection. ‘It’s Too Late’, ‘Betty And Dupree’, ‘What Am I Living For’, ‘C.C. Rider and ‘Hang Up My Rock And Roll Shoes’ are all on here.
Bobby Womack is often referred to as the last of the great soul men. He has recorded consistently since the early 60s and has produced some truly excellent recordings along the way. A great writer and performer, the 2CD retrospective “The Essential: The Last Great Soul Man” picks up most of the cream of the crop, including tracks from his 70s ‘comeback’ albums “The Poet” and “The Poet 2”. “Check It Out” is an alternative 2CD compilation covering much the same material.
Eight CDs of pure Atlantic label class. Everything from the 1940s R&B of Tiny Grimes, Ruth Brown, Joe Morris and Joe Turner right through to the 1970s of Roberta Flack, the Spinners and King Floyd. And along the way, Aretha, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, Joe Tex, Otis Redding, Eddie Floyd, Jimmy Hughes, Don Covay, Lavern Baker, Solomon Burke….the list is, almost genuinely, endless. Some would point to Stax as the definitive soul label, but if you want to hear thirty years of stellar R&B performances, then look no further. Essential.
While Chess Records‘ legacy as a dominating and shaping force on rock & roll is reasonably well chronicled, you don’t really get the full range of it until you’re ultimately confronted with the music itself. This is a two-disc, 48-track introduction drives that point home with track after track of stellar performances. This is a fine history of the revered Chess label’s output, aimed at the non-enthusiast, and it works very well on that level – a perfect Primer and a fine way to hear many of the great Chess artists for the first time.
There had to be a little Doo Wop in an R&B primer so here it is. Well, actually, it’s quite a bit of Doo Wop, the Doo Wop Box with 101 tracks over 4 CDs. A very well put together Box Set with a great choice of tracks, it’s also accompanied by a very informative booklet giving the low down on the songs, recording details and the make up of the various groups. Rhino is a label well known for the quality of its reissues and this is no exception. The only two issues I have with it is that it’s very expensive and now quite difficult to get hold of in the UK.
Motown has often been decried in R&B circles as the watered down equivalent of the real soul coming out of the Stax and Muscle Shoals studios of the South around the same time. The music was undoubtedly lighter and poppier but take a listen to this Box Set of the best of Motown and you’ll hear track after track of great music. Wonderful songwriting, great singers (the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops etc.), hugely influential. This set is the best way to hear it all, this is when the label was at it’s peak and there is very little filler.
The problem with popping a Stax anthology into a Primer is that many of its best and certainly more commercial recordings were licensed to Atlantic and are therefore included in the Atlantic Box – and if you have to choose I’d always advise the Atlantic set. However, as a testament to the creativity that existed in Memphis in the early 60s and as a record of one of the most influential studios in music history, this is still an essential addition to a ‘starter collection’. There is a 9CD Box Set covering the 1958-68 period, but that’s complete overkill for a Primer, and this 2CD collection will more than suffice.
