The roots off all modern popular music, both white and black, is heard hear on these recent anthologies. And, you can’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’re from, so take a listen at the early years of todays’ sounds.
The Godfather of Soul, aka, James Brown, has his early R&B years brought together on this sizzlilng single disc. His church background is brought up front as he preahes on’Don’t Let It Happen To Me”, while his first big hit’s “I’ll Go Crazy” and “Think” feature the tenor sax work of the formidable team of James C. Davis and St. Clair Pinkney”. Brown’s patented delivery is featured with his Famous Flames on “Shout And Shimmy” and the super charged “Night Flying”, and he’s already creating dance crazes on ‘ Mashed Potatoes USA”. Dy-no-mite!
The year 1953 was just before the likes of Elvis Presley, Bill Haley and the Comets, Little Richard and Chuck started this new thing called “rock and roll”, so what you get on this four disc, 91 song anthology are the black roots that grew into the full head of hair of sound of the Baby Boomer generation. You’ve got the crème of the doo-wop era with rich vocals and harmonies by the likes sof The Clovers (“I Played The Fool”, “Crawlin”), The Du Droppers (“I Found Out”) or Sonny Til and the Orioles (“Cryin’ In The Chapel”). Bluesers like BB King inspires a generation of white adolescents with songs like “Please Hurry Home”, while earthy vocalists such as Big Joe Turner (“Honey Hush”), Ruth Brown (“Mind Your Ways”) or Big Maybelle (“My Country Man”) growled out the jumping jive. Jazzers like Dinah Washington (“Fad Daddy”), Nat King Cole (“Pretend”) , Illinois Jacquet (“Port of Rico”) King Pleasure (“Red Top”) find a crossover niche in the juke boxes, and Protorockers such as Big Mama Thornton gives us the first version of “Hound Dog”, Fats Domino starts his run of hits with “Goin To The River” and Lloyd Price sets the stage with “Ain’t That A Shame” and “Oooh, Oooh, Oooh”. The last hurrah before white adolescents in bobby socks bowdlerized rhythm and blues.