What It Is: Funky Soul & Rare Grooves

Disc 1
1	Spreadin' Honey / The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band 2:25
2	Soul Finger / The Bar-Kays 2:21
3	The Shadow of Your Smile / Jack McDuff 3:55
4	Gangster of Love, Pts. 1 & 2 / Jimmy Norman 4:10
5	The Memphis Train / Rufus Thomas 2:33
6	Get out of My Life Woman / Grassella Oliphant 2:44
7	Live Right Now / Eddie Harris 2:49
8	Pig Snoots, Pt. 1 / Natural Bridge Bunch 2:36
9	Soul Sound System / Freedom Sounds 5:34
10	Snatching It Back / Clarence Carter 2:41
11	Stoned Soul / Artie Christophher 1:56
12	Getting the Corners / TSU Tornadoes 2:27
13	Sexy Coffee Pot / Tony Alvon & The Belairs 2:28
14	Don't Come Around Here Anymore / Mark Putney 2:44
15	Keep on Dancing / The Commodores 2:39
16	Right on Brother, Pt. 1 / South Shore Commission 2:40
17	Pop, Popcorn Children / Eldridge Holmes 2:53
18	It's Your Thing / Cold Grits 2:52
19	It's All in Your Mind / Soul Angels 2:49
20	Funky John / Johnny Cameron & the Camerons 2:48
21	Help Me Make Up My Mind / Joyce Jones 2:45
22	Rock Me Baby / Lou Johnson 2:15
23	Sing a Simple Song / Noble Knights 2:57
24	Do You Dig It / Titus Turner 2:13
25	Funky Canyon / Phil Moore Jr. 2:38
26	Jan Jan / Fabulous Counts 2:17
27	Tampin / The Rhine Oaks 3:02
Disc 2
1	Gossip / Cyril Neville 2:38
2	Somebody in the World for You / The Mighty Hannibal 2:55
3	Stanga / Little Sister 3:42
4	Jumpin' Jack Flash / Ananda Shankar 3:40
5	The Deacon / Brute Force 4:32
6	Sookie Sookie / Don Covay & the Jefferson Lemon Blues Band 2:44
7	Right On / Clarence Wheeler & the Enforcers 4:41
8	(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below We're All Going to Go / Curtis Mayfield 3:28
9	Stepping Stones / Johnny Harris 5:24
10	I'm Just Like You / Gix 3:08
11	Funky Thing, Pt. 1 / Unemployed 3:06
12	Messie Bessie / Shirley Scott 4:19
13	Fairchild / Willie West 3:20
14	Cold Bear / The Gaturs 2:55
15	I Can't Get Next to You / Mongo Santamaría 2:44
16	Feelin' Alright / Lulu 3:02
17	Soul Bowel / The Memphis Horns 3:21
18	Tuane / Hammer 3:07
19	Take It off, Pt. 2 / Johnny Tolbert & De Thangs 3:17
20	Seeds of Life / Harlem River Drive 5:09
21	Engine Number 9 / Wilson Pickett 2:50
Disc 3
1	Hard Times / Baby Huey & the Baby Sitters 3:21
2	What So Never the Dance, Pts. 1 & 2 / Houseguests 3:59
3	Headless Heroes / Eugene McDaniels 3:34
4	Spinning Wheel / Wade Marcus 3:58
5	Bad Tune / Earth, Wind & Fire 4:42
6	Mr. Cool / Rasputin's Stash 3:34
7	Don't Cha Hear Me Callin' to Ya / Junior Mance 5:09
8	Hang on in There / Stovall Sisters 3:16
9	Funky Nassau, Pt. 2 / The Beginning of the End 2:00
10	Whatever's Fair / Mark Holder & the Positives 2:42
11	Face It / Ed Robinson 2:25
12	Wah Wah Man / Young-Holt Unlimited 3:47
13	Rock Steady / Aretha Franklin previously unreleased / Alternate Mix 4:32
14	Won't Nobody Listen / Black Haze Express 4:17
15	Goin' Down / Allen Toussaint 2:59
16	Suavecito / Malo 3:27
17	You Gotta Know Whatcha Doin' / Charles Wright 3:58
18	Mo Jo Hanna / Teri Lynn 3:26
19	Ridin' Thumb / King Curtis 3:10
20	Almendra / Macondo 3:46
21	Nuki Suki / Little Richard 5:30
Disc 4
1	Getting Uptown (To Get Down) / United B 2:46
2	8 Days on the Road / Howard Tate 2:40
3	Moon Shadow / Labelle 4:25
4	Let It Crawl / Society's Bag 2:37
5	Wanaoh / Black Heat 3:54
6	If It Was Good Enough for Daddy / Clarence Reid 3:05
7	Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky / Claudia Lennear 3:46
8	Cosmic Sea / Mystic Moods Orchestra 2:37
9	Kissing My Love / Cold Blood 6:06
10	Flute Thing / Seatrain 3:23
11	Chug Chug Chug-A-Lug (Push N' Shove), Pt. 2 / The Meters 3:29
12	Funky to the Bone / Freddi & Henchi & the Soulsetters 2:42
13	Try It Again / Bobby Byrd 3:36
14	Teasin' / Cornell Dupree 3:55
15	(Everybody Wanna Get Rich) Rite Away / Dr. John 2:44
16	Chicken Heads / Oscar Brown Jr. 2:40
17	Rien Ne Va Plus / Funk Factory 5:18
18	Cajun Moon / Herbie Mann 3:08
19	Improve / Darrow Fletcher 2:51
20	Riding High / Faze-O 5:21
21	Four Play / Fred Wesley & the Horny Horns 3:34
22	California Dreamin' / Eddie Hazel 4:04

Barnes & Noble

Housed in a 45-sized box of hand-assembled chipboard (if you don't get the implication of this musty '60 packaging material, this set is not designed for you), this four disc, 91-track tour through the freaky underside of black pop is simply a collector's dream. Arranged chronologically from 1967 (the Watts 103rd St. Rhythm Band's "Spreadin' Honey") to 1977 (P-Funk alum Eddie Hazel's damaged rendition of "California Dreamin'), the box is a self-conscious exploration of also-rans. It's an alternative history, told from the ground up, of the often repeated metamorphosis of rhythm & blues to soul to funk and disco. As soul scholar Oliver Wang sees it in his liner notes (just part of a photo- and typography-rich 82-page book), this is the sound of hundreds of struggling acts on flimsy labels, aiming for a gig on the chitlin'circuit or a few minutes of AM radio. As such, it's nearly impossible to argue with the rarities and obscurities within; only a scrooge of a collector would fault the alternate takes (including Aretha Franklin's "Rock Steady") or other possible inclusions. The remastering is a dream, without a trace of the accumulated mold or coffee grounds that must have been unearthed with the tracks' discovery. The sequencing, too, is a joy, just made for a long car trip or, of course, a house party -- rife with instrumentals, funky breaks, call-and-response shouters, and novelties (see "Pig Snoots, Pt. 1"). The set's overarching theme holds up, showing how all the usually cited social pressures (civil rights, urban poverty, and black militancy) were but one facet of the move from R&B toward the harder, darker, and deeper sound of funk. Fuzzed-guitars show up by 1969 with the Southshore Commission's "Right On, Pt. 1"), and tempos slow noticeably in the wake of Sly Stone's 1971 There's a Riot Goin' On. Funk was also a response to the marketplace and the constant competition among smaller labels to provide party music and maybe a regional hit. By 1972, even Little Richard was in on the act. Another winner from the team at Rhino, this box offers hours of soul-catalyzing enjoyment, suitable for beginners but especially geared to that most disdainful music snob you love. Mark Schwartz

All Music Guide

A righteous undertaking of great magnitude, What It Is! Funky Soul and Rare Grooves trawls through a decade-long stretch of the Warner-distributed archive -- taking in the catalogs of Warner Bros., Atlantic, Reprise, Atco, and smaller nodes like Cotillion, Curtom, Alston, and Jonie -- and pulls up 80 soul/funk truffles, almost all of which were left for dead shortly after release. While many of these cuts have been repurposed as vital ingredients of hip-hop tracks, which has in turn fostered a voracious collector's market (it would cost a fortune to collect these songs in their original formats of release), the box is a leagues-deep trawl through an otherwise forgotten past. There are few well-known names on these four discs, but even they tend to be represented by selections that are not obvious. Curtis Mayfield's "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below We're All Going to Go" is likely the best-known inclusion, and after a substantial number of cuts that can't be considered truly rare, there's a sudden drop into (sweet, sweet) oblivion -- unless you're of the small minority whose spines tingle at the sight of names like Grassella Oliphant and Rasputin's Stash. The chicken-scratch guitars, wild Hammond B-3 runs, group chants, and blaring horn punches are served by the dozens, but the box also illustrates an evolution that took place through the '70s. Since the sequencing is, for the most part, chronological, those changes are all the more perceptible. Funk Factory's "Rien Ne Va Plus" and Faze-O's "Riding High" churn and float slowly, steeped in synthesizers, electric pianos, and studio effects, while legions of artists have attempted to replicate the sound and spirit of Stanga's "Little Sister" and 6ix's "I'm Just Like You" -- two songs graced by the hands of Sly Stone in tripped-out, otherworldly There's a Riot Goin' On mode. It's not one big party, either. Check Baby Huey & the Baby Sitters' harrowing "Hard Times" (written and produced by Mayfield), where the poor and paranoid protagonist subsists on Spam and Oreos and keeps his curtains drawn so he won't see those who peer in on him. The themed playlists and imaginary compilations hiding within this compact box are innumerable, bound to take the average overthinking funk freak to new levels of nerd-dom. There are region-specific sets to be made, as well as sets with possible titles like Latin Funk and Flute Funk and The Early Arrangement and Production Work of the Late Arif Mardin, in addition to a remarkable batch of covers, a tight collection of instrumentals, and a not-very-exclusive list of tracks that have been sampled throughout the years. The accompanying booklet could be sold separately, as it contains scads of seldom-seen photos and scholarly track-by-track notes. Rhino also deserves applause for resisting the urge to house these discs in a massive synthetic afro or an oversized wah-wah pedal. You can snugly tuck this thing between your arm and chest and sense its power run through your whole body. Bring on a second set that extends past the disco era and involves the likes of Slave, Mass Production, Brides of Funkenstein, and Dinosaur. Andy Kellman

Rolling Stone

What it is: nonstop late-Sixties-and-Seventies party time from the deep recesses of these major-label catalogs. David Fricke

Los Angeles Daily News

Rhino's latest compilation box is certainly one of its greatest.