The 115 songs on this sumptuous 4 disc collection successfully argue that the high water mark of American music of the early 1960s was not in white American pop like Fabian and Bobby Rydell, but in the black R&B charts. The Kennedy years started off with a healthy mix of soul groups, black nightclub singers and wonderfully earthy bands and vocalists.
Not to mention, the airwaves of the R&B charts also had room for a bit of the white singers, with Brenda Lee cooing through a hip “Sweet Nothin’”, Bobby Darin swinging like a Rat Packer on “Beyond The Sea” and Percy Faith bringing in the iconic instrumental “Theme From A Summer Place”. Some of the best female vocalists of all time were on the charts, including a young Aretha Franklin (“Today I Sing The Blues”), Dinah Washington “(Baby (You Got What It Takes)”), Ella Fitzgerald (“Mack The Knife”) and Etta James (“My Dearest Darling”). Vintage blues by BB King on “Partin’ Time” and “Sweet Sixteen” are juke box jumpers, while Doo Wop hits and novelties such as “Alley Oop”,m “Shimmy , Shimmy Ko Ko bop” and “Save The Last Dance For Me” were big hits for teenagers.
The artists that stick the longest are a young James Brown who sizzles through “I’ll Go Crazy” and Jackie Wilson, who’s wide vocals range and dynamics are riveting on “Doggin’ Around” and “I Am The Man”. Of course, Elvis is in the mix as well, appealing to just about every demographic in the world at the time with “Return To Sender” and Ray Charles debuts his classic “Georgia On My Mind”. When did a year since produce such a wide swath of timeless masterpieces?