Shades R&B; Primer - A Starter Collection

Twenty CDs to start you off on your journey into the wonderful musical world of Rhythm and Blues. There are a high number of compilations included in the list, to which some may object. Very often though, it is the best way to sample an artist's work and you can always move on and investigate in depth if you like what you hear - in fact, that's the whole point! The list also attempts to incorporate a variety of styles - otherwise you may well have seen ten Bobby Bland albums in the collection. 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 the Shades site spots it) then the list will be updated to reflect what is available.

N.B. Everywhere you see the "Buy It On-line" link at the end of the overview to a CD, you can click on the link to go and buy that particular recording on the amazon.co.uk site.

The final album from soul-country vocalist Arthur Alexander. It was like all his work - simple, unsophisticated, and sung with an earthy, direct intensity. It includes re-workings of some of his earlier hits and a few great new recordings. The album showcases both his vocal and songwriting abilities and proves just how great soul has to come straight from the heart. Unfortunately, he died just as this album was gaining some attention. The one to get is the 'final chapter' edition with a number of bonus tracks included....Buy It Online...		Arthur Alexander Lonely Just Like Me

A compilation of Duke sides from what most would argue, probably fairly, is Bland's peak decade (1959-1969). This is an excellent single CD retrospective, containing most of his biggest R&B hits ('Turn On Your Love Light', 'Stormy Monday Blues', 'Call On Me', 'Ain't Nothing You Can Do'), as well as a number of lesser known cuts. Although this is probably his best period, anything you find is worth hearing. There are more comprehensive anthologies, but this is an excellent way for the initiated to get acquainted with the great man...Buy It Online...		Bobby Bland The Voice

One of the most satisfying later (relatively) Brown discs of all and an excellent introduction for the R&B fan. Nothing but swinging, horn-abetted blues adorn this album, as Gate pays tribute to influences such as T-Bone Walker (covering 'Strollin' with Bones'). Brown's own numbers are equally fine - 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 on it...Buy It Online...		Gatemouth Brown Alright Again

A 2CD anthology (and cheap as well) but an essential purchase for the R&B newcomer. It fits well within a Primer because Charles was such an influential figure and made such wonderful music, especially during his time at Atlantic, that there's a history to be found here as well as fine sounds. Reasonably well put together this anthology will show those new to Ray's work what all the fuss was about. If you can run to it, and you can find it, then get the "Birth Of Soul" Box Set, you will be well rewarded. But for those who can't, this is great...Buy It Online...		Ray Charles Definitive Collection

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...Buy It Online...		Clovers Platinum Collection

An 86-track, four-disc box set that covers Aretha Franklin's Atlantic career. Over the course of the set, all of Aretha' best-known songs, including all of her Top 10 pop and R&B singles, are included. For fans who only know the singles, the set is primarily notable for the wealth of album tracks and forgotten singles that are included - The Queen of Soul should be one the cornerstones of any soul collection...Buy It Online...		Aretha Franklin Queen Of Soul

A definite move to make his music more accessible. The whole album has the usual strong thread of Larry's view of life with strong songwriting again at the fore, especially the haunting 'Strangers Blues' and 'Do Your Personal Thing' ('PMS' we could have probably done without lyrically, although strong musically). Of the others 'Out In The Country' stands out and is an ironic twist on finding peace of mind out of the heat of the city! A fine introduction to Garner's eclectic style...Buy It Online...		Larry Garner Standing Room Only

He's never received the accolades given to the likes of Sam Cooke, Clyde McPhatter or James Brown, 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 his debt to this most overlooked of rock and soul pioneers. The "Very Best Of" shows why ...Buy It Online...		Little Willie John The Very Best Of

"King Of The Blues" (the MCA 4CD Box Set) would be the normal recommendation but it appears now to be increasingly difficult to get hold of....so a 2CD introduction will have to suffice and this one is pretty good. Fine balance of material. Traditionalists have usually balked at the pop material of the early 70s but that and the Crusaders liaisons are worthy of reappraisal. This is a fine primer for the uninitiated but it's criminal that the Box Set isn't still in the catalogue (although it's rumoured that another will be out shortly)...Buy It Online...		B.B. King Definitive Greatest Hits

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. Definitely worth its place in a Primer...Buy It Online...		Dan Penn Do Right Man

Flirtations with commercial soul (and not too shabby soul at that) seems to have blinded some to 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. This is a polished set of standards, sophisticated, understated but still genuine blues (and what a voice)...Buy It Online...		Lou Rawls Portrait Of The Blues

A combination of circumstances led to Redding's canonisation as the greatest of soul singers - you will know if you've read the artist entry for Otis that the Primer has never 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 people's 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...Buy It Online...		Otis Redding The Very Best Of

A great compilation which spotlights the voice that gave us the original version of 'When a Man Loves a Woman'. Lesser-known hits like 'It Tears Me Up', 'Take Time to Know Her', and 'Warm and Tender Love' are equally wonderful. Can anyone listen to 'True Love Travels On A Gravel Road' and not be moved. They're all on this fine single CD compilation. Great liner notes and packaging - absolutely essential in any Primer - this is the man whose greatest hits Jerry Wexler said was "the best 'Best Of' to be found in soul music"...Buy It Online...		Percy Sledge It Tears Me Up

The best single-disc collection available of 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...Buy It Online...		Big Joe Turner Very Best Of

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" gets the nod as it has the original version of 'Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark'. He also has very specific views about the current state of the blues, which you can read in a Shades interview here. Fine stuff...Buy It Online...		Phillip Walker Blues

T-Bone 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. But his musical legacy is also incredibly enjoyable, full of humour as well as invention. 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...Buy It Online...		T-Bone Walker T-Bone Blues - Essential Recordings

Eight CDs of pure 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 (and you can pick up each CD individually, should you so wish). Essential...Buy It Online...		Various Artists Atlantic R&B 1947 - 1974

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. An essential piece of pop music history and a fine companion to the Atlantic Box listed above...Buy It Online...		Various Artists Chess Pieces

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. Also goes some way to making up for the fact there are no Motown artists included within the starter collection in their own right....Buy It Online...		Various Artists Hitsville USA

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 ...Buy It Online...		Various Artists 50th Anniversary Celebration