Rhythm, Love and Soul Various Artists Shout, 2003   Buy it online Reviewed by Mark Gallo	I was a DJ at one of the hippest clubs in Detroit (Aorta) from 1978 to 1983 and just about everything on Rhythm, Love and Soul was part of the repertoire. Recently featured as a premium on Public TV, this box is a major walk down memory lane for those of us who came up around the same time; but you sure don't have to be "old" to appreciate classic, timeless music. This maiden voyage for Shout!, the new label founded by Richard Foos who launched Rhino Records out of his Los Angeles record store a quarter century ago, is a star-studded affair. If this is a taste of things to come, Shout! is going to be every bit the major player that Rhino continues to be five years after Foos sold it to Warner Brothers. Subtitled The Sexiest Songs of R&B, Rhythm, Love and Soul is one of the best such collections to ever grace these ears. Produced by Richard Foos, Garson Foos and T.J. Lubinsky, with liner notes from Bill Dahl in an impressive photo-filled booklet, it covers the subject splendidly. No mere collection of love songs, it does, however, make a pretty impressive set of make-out songs. Consider the breadth of the collection: from Philly soul to Motown to the East and West coasts and down to Florida. Brook Benton from South Carolina, the Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose from Ft. Lauderdale, Percy Sledge from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, the Commodores from Tuskegee, Alabama, the Jackson 5 from Gary, Indiana and Aaron Neville and Johnny Adams from New Orleans. This is about American Rhythm & Blues. And it's a winner top to bottom. Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose open the proceedings with "Too Late to Turn Back Now" ("I believe I believe I believe I'm fallin' in love") -- and the hits keep coming. The Stylistics' first big hit, "You Are Everything," Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band's lush "Love Land," Martha Reeves and the Vandellas' great "My Baby Loves Me" from 1966, the Dells' "Oh What A Night" and my favorite slow dance number of all time, the Flamingo's classic 1959 version of "I Only Have Eyes for You." This is the stuff that matters. No fluff in sight, everything here is classy and classic. Little Anthony & The Imperials ("Goin' Out Of My Head"), the Drifters ("This Magic Moment"), The Three Degrees, Barbara Lewis ("Make Me Your Baby"), the Miracles' great "Ooh Baby Baby," Love Unlimited, the Temptations ("Just My Imagination"), Billy Stewart, Isaac Hayes, Al Wilson, Wilson Pickett ("I'm In Love"), Heatwave, Billy Paul's Grammy winning "Me and Mrs. Jones" and Solomon Burke round out the first disc. Each of the three 20-song discs are strong enough to stand alone, making it all the more exciting to have three in one handy boxed set. The second volume kicks off with Smokey Robinson's "Being With You" and runs through Brook Benton's "It's Just A Matter of Time," the Platters' "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" and Edwin Starr's "Twenty-Five Miles." Add the Chi-Lites, Bloodstone, Percy Sledge ("When A Man Loves A Woman," of course), Gladys Knight & The Pips and Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes' "If You Don't Know Me By Now," with Teddy Pendergrass on heart-melting vocals. Al Green ("I'm Still In Love With You"), James Brown, Aretha ("A Natural Woman"), the Delfonics, Luther ingram, Otis Redding ("I've Been Loving You Too Long"), the Four Tops, the Emotions, and Tyrone Davis also check in and the Fifth Dimension's recently defected Billy Davis & Marilyn McCoo close the volume. The final set starts with the Spinners ("Could It Be I'm Falling In Love") and closes with Peaches and Herb ("Reunited"). In between are more classic R&B tunes than you can shake a turntable at: the Supremes ("I Hear A Symphony"), Lou Rawls, Barry White, Earth, Wind & Fire ("Reasons"), Eddie Holman, Tommy Edwards, Smokey & The Miracles, James Carr, Jackson 5 (with young Michael's gorgeous vocals on "I'll Be There"), Gloria Gaynor, Marvin Gaye's superbly rendered "Let's Get It On," The Persuasions, Aaron Neville ("Tell It Like It Is"), Bill Withers' wonderful "Lean On Me," Dobie Gray's "Drift Away" (gimme the beat boy to thrill my soul/I wanna get lost in your rock and roll and drift away"), Teddy Pendergrass, the Temprees, and blues great Johnny Adams. There have been other impressive soul collections, but never one that covered the full spectrum and drew from every major record company catalog. If you weren't there to enjoy this music in the 50s and 60s and 70s and 80s, man what a time you missed! It's never too late to get the hippest R&B of all time into your collection, though. If you buy one historic collection of music this year, you can do no better. | May 2003   Mark Gallo is a long-time freelance music journalist whose byline has appeared in over 30 publications in the past 25 years. He has also been a DJ, publicist and archivist/researcher. When not writing about music he is a social worker.