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Chess Rhythm and Roll MCA/Chess CHD 4-9352. Universal City: Chess/MCA Records, 1994. Four discs. $39.95.
The King R & B Box Set. King KBSCD 7002. Nashville: King Records, 1995. Four discs. $42.95.
The R & B Box: 30 Years of Rhythm and Blues. Rhino R2-71806. Los Angeles: Rhino Records, 1994. Six discs. $59.95.
No single term can accurately describe the dynamic, rhythmic, rocking music that pervaded black American communities from 1945 through 1975. Rhythm and blues (R & B) is the most commonly applied descriptor, though. The difficulty ethnomusicologists experience in deciphering the roots and branches of early R & B (blues, jazz, gospel, big band, and so on) and then in explaining their transformation into middle and late R & B (doo-wop, rock and roll, soul, and so on) is understandable. The amount of recorded music produced, the diversity of artists who composed, played, and sang R & B tunes, and the inability of music critics, journalists, or record companies to categorize either performers or performed material sustains the mythic nature of the R & B floodtide. The three box sets reviewed here provide valuable insights. But they do not tell the whole story. No collection ever will. Chess Rhythm and Roll highlights 99 songs. This retrospective of rock and roll and R & B traces the vinyl progeny of Leonard and Philip
Chess's Chicago-based label (originally "Aristocrat") from 1947 to 1967. Coverage ranges from the ridiculous-the Five Blazes, Clarence Samuels, and the Dozier Boys-to the sublime-Chuck Berry, the Dells, and Etta James. The collection taps numerous classic tunes ("Rocket 88," "Sincerely," "I'll Be Home," "Ain't Got No Home," and "Suzie Q") and various rockin' dudes (Bo Diddley, Jimmy McCracklin, Little Milton, and the Moonglows). It features pathos, humor, social commentary, instrumental wizardry, and group harmony. The key player for the...