MOG

The CD era has generally treated R&B music like dirt. In the beginning you couldn't get anything and there were very few big roll outs of catalog or impressive box sets for quite a few years. When Rhino started to drop the Soul Hits of The 70's volumes in the late 80's, many giagantic soul smashes were making their first appearance on CD. Only toward the end of the 90's did the geniuses in labeland realize what they had in their vaults and that there were many willing customers, or at least me. Finally, as the CD era stumbles toward it's death, record labels are giving R&B music the tratment it deserves. The treatment Rock acts have been getting since the CD struck the black gold the Clampett's of Madison and Sunset had prayed for. Of course the best stuff is not even available at retail stores. With every Beatles single having been packedged this way and that, and Elvis sucked dry, somebody has decided to open the vault on the two greatest single makers in all of American Pop Music..Motown and James Brown. Hip-O Select (aka Universal, and only available on line)is up to Vol.6-1966(32 CD's to date)in The Complete Motown Sigles series. Each volume presents, in ultra-beautiful 45 book style (with a real bonus vinyl 45), every Motown(including associated labels) A + B side from a given year. There are 100's of rare photo's, essays, complete track by track notes, complete session notes, and basically everything you could ever want from an archival package. Thank God. Of course there's no TV special and there's only 7500 made of each box, but you get the idea, finally, that Motown was a huge part of, not only music, but of the entire cultural fabric of this country. And this is how it should be. Just recently another series has started with the same obsessive completiveness we usually only see for Rock Gods and Jazz Folk: Hip-o Select is releasing the complete run of all James Brown's singles. I just received Volume 2 this week. I have a ton of James Brown stuff and many repeats to the tracks on volume 2 (Same deal as Motown-every A+B side with James' name on it), but I need these CD's. Mastering:Crisp,never before on CD material:yes, track by track notes:you betcha. A package and re-issue series that gives a hugely influential artist his proper respect: yes,sir. We're not talking about The Police, or the Velvet Underground here, this is James Brown. It is about f..ing time.