Rhino’s ‘R&B Box’ only creates the blues
By Michael Tatum
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Rhino’s The R&B Box could be the leading reissue label’s
most ambitious project to date. Beginning with Louis Jordan and the
jump blues of the ’40s, and ending with the seamless balladry of
the ’70s combo The Spinners, the anthology aims to definitively
trace the evolution of the music known as rhythm and blues.
But perhaps it’s the very ambition and breadth of scope implied
by this undertaking that sinks this six-CD collection. Spanning a
little more than three decades in seven hours, this sprawling
anthology bites off far more than it can chew.
The various problems with the set lie in the track selection.
First, most of the best genre-oriented box sets (Island’s four-CD
Tougher Than Tough, which explores reggae and other Jamaican music,
springs to mind) skip the overplayed tracks, don’t depend too
strongly on major artists and focus on lost gems by minor, unsung
heroes and heroines.
Leaving Otis Redding, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and Little
Richard out of The R&B Box would be unthinkable, but R&B
afficionados should already have their featured tracks  as
well as plenty of others included in the set – sitting on their
shelves. For every one-hit wonder like Eddie Floyd (the classic
"Knock On Wood"), there are 10 tracks by more consistent artists
(Smokey Robinson, the Temptations, Sam and Dave, etc.), all of whom
have their own essential anthologies. Many of these tracks can also
be found on Rhino’s far superior Doo Wop Box. Owning these tracks a
second time at a retail price of $74.98 is simply a waste.
Second, the set’s compilers have a narrow view of what can be
considered R&B. In his liner notes, Billy Vera notes that what
came after the Spinners’ "I’ll Be Around" "had very little to do
with soul or R&B."
Granted, the disco stylings of Donna Summer, the out-there funk
of Parliament, and the hard hitting rap of Grandmaster Flash (to
name but a few R&B offshots that came after 1971) were far
removed from, say, Louis Jordan’s "Five Guys Named Moe."
But people said the same thing about Motown thirty years ago.
Contrary to what the compilers of this collection would like you to
believe, R&B didn’t die in 1971, it just put on a different set
of clothes. And even if it did, how to explain defenders of the
faith Al Green and Ann Peebles, both of whom are inexplicably left
out?
No matter how much staunch traditionalists like Billy Vera claim
otherwise, rap, disco and funk deserve just as much a part of the
R&B story as Marvin Gaye. Leaving these crucial genres out
amounts to nothing more than generational chauvinism.
And another thing  where are all the white artists? The
compilers Rhino’s Doo Wop Box, while not denying that doo wop was a
creation of African-American teens on street corners, spent most of
the latter half of the box acknowledging the contributions of the
white singing groups (Dion and The Belmonts, The Tokens) of the
so-called Doo Wop revival of the late ’50s and early ’60s.
Here however, there’s no room for the palefaced. What about the
Rascals’ "Good Lovin’" or "Groovin’?" They were considered to be
the finest blue-eyed R&B group, after all. Or how about the
Spencer Davis Group’s "Gimme Some Lovin’," which featured a classic
Steve Winwood vocal that many likened to Ray Charles. How about Joe
Cocker?
The problematic R&B Box is more trouble than it’s worth. For
an honest, comprehensive, R&B education, start with Ray Charles
three-CD The Birth Of Soul, James Brown’s four-CD Star Time!,
Aretha Franklin’s two-disc 30 Greatest Hits, and Otis Redding’s
classic 1965 studio album Dictionary Of Soul. Then start
exploring.
The R&B Box (Rhino Records), suggested retail price
$74.98.