Soul Spectacular! The Greatest Soul Hits of All Time [Box set]

Amazon.com
Nothing's ever topped the golden age of soul for party music, and this four-CD set offers the distilled essence of the good times from those difficult years. Where Rhino's Beg, Scream & Shout! and Can You Dig It? compilations are thoughtful, wide-reaching surveys of the range of soul music in the '60s and '70s, respectively, Soul Spectacular! has exactly one thing on its track listing: mammoth crossover hits that add up to one blockbuster of a party. Of its 90 tracks (all presented in their original single versions), 47 were No. 1 and 15 topped the Pop and R&B charts. As such, the poles the set revolves around are Detroit (the Apollonian glories of Motown and Hot Wax: refined, orchestrated, and quality controlled) and Memphis (the Dionysian thrills of Stax, Volt, and the scene around them: raw jams that sounded like they'd been caught on tape by happy accident), but every other place in the country that was capable of turning out a national smash is represented, too. The '60s, for these purposes, extend back to definitive 1959 hits by Ray Charles and Barrett Strong; the '70s of soul peter out sometime around 1974, with a final appearance courtesy of the Manhattans' aptly named "Kiss and Say Goodbye," from 1976. By then, the vocal intensity of soul was taking a back seat to the new and slicker beats of funk and disco. But Soul Spectacular! is also a tribute to an era of independence and innovation, the years when tiny labels (their names like found poetry: Nola, Arctic, Par-Lo, Ovide, Bamboo) could make the whole country dance for a few weeks, if only because they found a groove nobody had discovered before. --Douglas Wolk

Product Description
Subtitled - The Greatest Soul Hits of All Time featuring 90 classic soul hits on 4 CD's (cross-licensed from many labels). Over half of them number 1's. Artists include Ray Charles, Marvelettes, Dobie Gray, Solomon Burke, Aretha Franklin, Bar-Kays, Four Tops, Martha & the Vandellas, The Impressions & more. Rhino Records. Four standard jewel cases housed in a box (12 x 6 x 1 1/4). 2002.

Soul Spectacular! The Greatest Soul Hits of All Time,Various Artists,Rhino / Wea,Beach,Box Sets (Audio Only),Chicago Soul,Country-Soul,Deep Soul,Disco,Doo Wop,Funk,Girl Group,Instrumental Rock,Memphis Soul,Motown,Northern Soul,Philly Soul,Pop,Pop-Soul,Pop/Rock,Quiet Storm,R&B,Smooth Soul,Soul,Soul/R & B Collections,Soul/Reggae/Rhythm & Blues,Southern Soul,Uptown Soul,Urban

Average customer rating:

No Sam or Stevie?
Rhino 4CD Soul Box Familiar , "Spectacular" Starter Set
A True Spectacular Even Without Mr. Cooke!
Brilliant, Cooke or no Cooke
for one reason only

Soul Spectacular! The Greatest Soul Hits of All Time
Various Artists
Manufacturer: Rhino / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00005Y1NY
Release Date: 2002-02-19

Tracks:

Whats I Say Parts I & II - Ray Charles
Money (Thats What I Want) - Barret Strong
Please Mr. Postman - The Marvelettes
I Count The Tears - The Drifters Featuring Ben. E. Kinf
Last Night - Mar-Keys
Twist And Shout - The Isley Brothers
Stand By Me - Ben E. King
Any Day Now (My Wild Beautiful Bird) - Chuck Jackson
Its Gonna Work Out Fine - Ike & Tina Turner
Youll Lose A Good Thing - Barbara Lynn
Do You Love Me - The Contours
Green Onions - Booker T. & The MGs
Youve Really Got A Hold On Me - The Miracles
Hello Stranger - Barbara Lewis
Just One Look Doris Troy
The Monkey Time - Major Lance
Heat Wave - Martha & The Vandellas
Cry Baby - Garnet Mimms & The Enchanters
Its All Right - The Impressions
Walking The Dog - Rufus Thomas
My Guy - Mary Wells
My Girl - The Temptations

Tracks:

Where Did Our Love Go - The Supremes
Shotgun - Jr. Walker & The All Stars
The In Crowd - Dobie Gray
Hurt So Bad - Little Anthony & The Imperials
Got To Get You Off My Mind - Solomon Burke
Yes, Im Ready - Barbara Mason
Sitting In The Park - Billy Stewart
I Cant Help Myself - Four Tops
In The Midnight Hour - Wilson Pickett
Rescue Me - Fontella Bass
(I Got You) I Feel Good - James Brown
Seesaw - Don Covay & The Goodtimers
Cooljerk - The Capitols
Barefootin - Robert Parker
When A Man Loves A Woman - Percy Sledge
Sunny - Bobby Hebb
B-A-B-Y - Carla Thomas
Knock On Wood - Eddie Floyd
But Its Alright J.J. Jackson
Love Is A Hurtin Thing - Lou Rawls
Tell It Like It Is - Aaron Neville
The Dark End Of The Street - James Carr

Tracks:

Sweet Soul Music - Arthur Conley
Respect - Aretha Franklin
Tramp - Otis & Carla
Show Me - Joe Tex
Soul Finger - Bar-Kays
Gimme Little Sign - Brenton Wood
Im Your Puppett - James & Bobby Purify
(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher - Jackie Wilson
Soul Man - Sam & Dave
Memphis Soul Stew - King Curtis
Tighten Up - Bell & The Drells
Expressway To Your Heart - Soul Survivors
Boogaloo Down Broadway - The Fantastic Johnny C
(Sittin On) The Dock Of The Bay - Otis Redding
La-La-Means I Love You - The Delfonics
Cowboys To Girls - The Intruders
Slip Away - Clarence Carter
Youre All I Need To Get By - Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
Love Makes A Woman - Barbara Acklin
Whos Making Love - Johnnie Taylor
I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye
Soulful Strut - Young-Holt Unlimited
Rainy Night in Georgia - Brook Benton

Tracks:

I Want You Back - The Jackson 5
Turn Back The Hands Of Time - Tyrone Davis
Backfield In Motion - Mel & Tim
Give Me Just A Little More Time - Chairmen Of The Board
Band Of Gold - Freda Payne
O-o-h Child - The 5 Stairsteps
Want Ads - Honey Cone
Groove Me - King Floyd
Respect Yourself - The Staple Singers
Treat Her Like A Lady - Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose
In The Rain - Dramatics
Lets Stay Together - Al Green
Betcha By Golly, Wow - The Stylistics
Oh Girl - Chi-Lites
Back Stabbers - OJays
One Of A Kind (Love Affair) - Spinners
If You Dont Know Me By Now - Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes
Me And Mrs. Jones - Billy Paul
Midnight Train To Georgia - Gladys Knight & The Pips
Lookin For A Love - Bobby Womack
Sideshow - Blue Magic
Kiss And Say Goodbye - Manhattans

Amazon.com

Nothing's ever topped the golden age of soul for party music, and this four-CD set offers the distilled essence of the good times from those difficult years. Where Rhino's Beg, Scream & Shout! and Can You Dig It? compilations are thoughtful, wide-reaching surveys of the range of soul music in the '60s and '70s, respectively, Soul Spectacular! has exactly one thing on its track listing: mammoth crossover hits that add up to one blockbuster of a party. Of its 90 tracks (all presented in their original single versions), 47 were No. 1 and 15 topped the Pop and R&B charts. As such, the poles the set revolves around are Detroit (the Apollonian glories of Motown and Hot Wax: refined, orchestrated, and quality controlled) and Memphis (the Dionysian thrills of Stax, Volt, and the scene around them: raw jams that sounded like they'd been caught on tape by happy accident), but every other place in the country that was capable of turning out a national smash is represented, too. The '60s, for these purposes, extend back to definitive 1959 hits by Ray Charles and Barrett Strong; the '70s of soul peter out sometime around 1974, with a final appearance courtesy of the Manhattans' aptly named "Kiss and Say Goodbye," from 1976. By then, the vocal intensity of soul was taking a back seat to the new and slicker beats of funk and disco. But Soul Spectacular! is also a tribute to an era of independence and innovation, the years when tiny labels (their names like found poetry: Nola, Arctic, Par-Lo, Ovide, Bamboo) could make the whole country dance for a few weeks, if only because they found a groove nobody had discovered before. --Douglas Wolk

Album Description

Subtitled - The Greatest Soul Hits of All Time featuring 90 classic soul hits on 4 CD's (cross-licensed from many labels). Over half of them number 1's. Artists include Ray Charles, Marvelettes, Dobie Gray, Solomon Burke, Aretha Franklin, Bar-Kays, Four Tops, Martha & the Vandellas, The Impressions & more. Rhino Records. Four standard jewel cases housed in a box (12 x 6 x 1 1/4). 2002.

Customer Reviews:

No Sam or Stevie?.......2006-03-02

I ain't dropping stars for this one because it is absolutely brilliant as far as I am concerned. Love every track from head to toe BUT not only is there no Sam Cooke but there's no Stevie Wonder either. So maybe the title should have been 'The Greatest Soul Hits of all Time without arguably the 2 MOST influential Soul artists of all Time' certainly 2 of the top 5 eh? Aretha, Ray and Otis are here. Anyway back to the set and it is a fantastic list of brilliant, well known and some hidden, gems! Production is good - sounds like the originals to me! 'Cept they don't have that little crackle that my record player used to create! If you wanna buy this and are just checking the reviews to tip the scales - I say DO IT! You WILL love it, but you might just wanna get a Sam & Stevie best of set to go with it.

Rhino 4CD Soul Box Familiar , "Spectacular" Starter Set.......2004-12-23

If Rhino's 4CD "Soul Spectacular" had been released in the mid-1980s it may have stood with Clapton's "Crossroads" and Bob Dylan's "Biograph" as among pop's essential box sets. Success of films like "Dirty Dancing" and "The Big Chill" returned many of these songs to public awareness as baby boomers recognized them as part of the idealized soundtrack of their lives. As Ben Edmonds says in the liner notes, "This music isn't simply of its time; it embodied it." This was a far cry from music critic Dave Marsh once wondering in the mid-1970s if Wilson Pickett and other soul giants would one day be available only on bootlegs.

But the more than 20 years since have seen these songs anthologized countless times on soundtracks,hits and anthology collections (yours truly once owned every one of these songs in one recorded format or another) and played daily on oldies radio. (Barbara Mason's grand 1965 original, "Yes I'm Ready," far from the biggest hit here, has aired more than one million times.)

This collection's best and worst point is its familiarity. Even casual pop music fans know the signature songs of the Temptations, Mary Wells, Percy Sledge, Ben E. King and others here. No choice is a glaring misstep but some are questionable: why "I Count the Tears" from the Drifters instead of 1964's more popular "Under the Boardwalk" or 1959's more influential "There Goes My Baby?" Why James Brown's now-cliched "I Got You (I Feel Good)" over "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," one of music's most aggressive, important singles? Let alone essential performers (Sam Cooke? The Dells? Jerry Butler?) left out altogether. Motown, pop culture's most active recycling plant, whips through 1962-3 songs from the Miracles, Vandellas and Supremes; only three Motown hits are heard across discs 2-3.

Those two middle discs are the set's best as they zip through a variety of styles: Muscle Shoals soul (Sledge, Brook Benton) Philadelphia (Fantastic Johnny C, Intruders, Delfonics), Chicago (Barbara Acklin, Billy Stewart) and, of course, Memphis and Detroit giants. Each artist is represented by one song except Marvin Gaye and Otis Redding, featured on solo and duet track each. The liner notes tell little more than oft-told tales of Stax and Motown's records respective founding.

"Soul Spectacular" is just that; 90 clear-sounding classics worth playing at any party or road trip without a dud in the bunch (at least until deep into disc four with one too many smooth Philadelphia International ballads in a row.) It's a first-class soul starter set, with greatest hits sets from any major individual artist listed an essential buy.

A True Spectacular Even Without Mr. Cooke!.......2004-06-30

It is truly one of the best collections I have ever seen/heard!
Ok, it doesn't include Sam Cooke, but hey, you can't have everything! It has NEARLY everything BUT Sam Cooke!
Rhino obviously couldn't obtain the rights to Sam's music, but they have done a great job of obtaining some of the best of the Stax/Volt, Atlantic, Motown and other great Soul Recording Labels!
Several of these tunes have been PLAYED TO DEATH by 'Oldies' radio formats-- MOST OF THE MOTOWN STUFF--, but there are many gems in this set of CD's amongst the 'standards'--Gems like CRY BABY by Garnett Mimms, WALKING THE DOG by Rufus Thomas, MEMPHIS SOUL STEW by King Curtis, LOVE IS A HURTIN' THING by Lou Rawls, and oh so many more! There are 88 songs to choose from, and if you want a decent collection of Soul & R&B oldies, this is it!
I am a bit of a musicologist and
have studied this music for 20 plus years, and I must say that this is a very groovy 4 CD set for Musical Novices and Experts alike! I'm impressed!
I didn't rate it 5 stars because I agree that leaving Mr. Cooke out is not cool!

Brilliant, Cooke or no Cooke.......2002-05-18

Often when a particular artist is not included in a collection it is because rights were not available for use of his/her recordings. That aside, this box set could not have a more accurate title -- it is spectacular in every sense. The PBS tie-in concert is a fund-raising staple for good reason -- 40 years of brilliant music performed by some of the greatest entertainers of the century. See it, hear it, buy it, love it!

for one reason only.......2002-05-08