Top Ten Oldies Reissues: 2007

The success of the Jersey Boys juggernaut has of course turned the spotlight back on Frankie Valli and his Garden State vocal heroes, but this 3-CD, 1 DVD box set is an embarrassment of riches all the same: 76 songs, including all the chart hits, Frankie's solo work, the Seventies comeback smashes, album tracks like the original version of the Tremeloes' "Silence Is Golden," novelties like their tenure as the Wonder Who? and a dozen vintage videos to boot! Essential for any fan of vocal groups, past or present.

It was actually released in late '06, but this four-disc set (spanning 94 tracks!) took a while to slow-burn itself into the public's mind, eventually garnering a Grammy nomination for its clever sequencing and deep, deep funk archivism. You already know some of these acts -- Labelle, Earth Wind & Fire, The Meters, even Little Richard (!) but it's guaranteed that only rare-groove black belts have heard the obscure singles and forgotten album tracks resurrected here. Worth it just for Aretha's chopped and channeled remodel of "Rock Steady."

It may finally be time to reassess how we feel about the most notorious half of R&B's most notorious duo, at least musically: the booklet that accompanies this Time-Life 3-CD overview certainly doesn't shy away from cataloguing the recently-deceased Ike's many crimes against his (much) better half. Fortunately, the primal and unspeakably influential R&B here makes the case for his talent just as well, including a complete reissue of 1969's live [i]In Person[/i] disc, which documents a show so hot the [i]Rolling Stones[/i] had to calm the crowd down.

As an important and often-ignored story about the early history of rock and roll, The Definitive Collection is priceless. Whether or not you enjoy it quite as much as a playlist will depend largely on your innate love of Chicagoland R&B, blues, and gospel... but if you love that kind of thing, you'll want this.

Bo Diddley purists will be glad to be able to trade in several of their old compilations at once, historians will rejoice at hearing the birth of "The Originator," and newbies can cheaply and easily get into the back catalog of one of rock's most unique characters. Also essential for Chicago blues fiends.

As part of Stax's determination to mine new gold from its storied vaults, Live At The Bohemian Caverns is a welcome revelation... but you won't be forced to rethink Carla, Rufus, or the label in the long run. It is nice to see her jazz chops, though.

The ladies of rock and roll, like their more mundane counterparts, didn't get to do much in the Fifties and Sixties except wait for love, enjoy it while they had it, and then mourn its brevity. But wait! This model of archivism exhumes several classic ultra-rarities from the vaults, all of which directly answer the men's more famous hit singles. A sampling of these 20 vintage non-hits from the girl-group era tells the story: "Tell Tommy I Miss Him," "He'll Have To Stay," "Yes, I'm Lonesome Tonight," and "Gary, Please Don't Sell My Diamond Ring."

The conventional wisdom, which we can thank the US Postal Service for, is that there are two Elvises: the Fifties rockabilly rebel and the bloated Seventies joke. But any serious fan of the King knows that's an unfair simplification -- for one thing, there's an enormous difference, in both quality and form, between his "Comeback" gigs at the International Hotel in Vegas and his later heartland tours. The latter came to feel like caging a formerly wild animal and dragging it from town to town in a sideshow tent. But the Vegas years were a show, and it's this impression Elvis: Viva Las Vegas correctly leaves you with.

A primer that does in two discs for Stax/Volt what the immortal Atlantic Rhythm and Blues set did in seven -- craft an essential primer for soul fans, make a simultaneous case for an entire label's legacy, and justify its modus operandi. The milestones are all here (Otis, the Thomases, Booker T., Sam and Dave), but with their rawest, not the most popular, claims to fame. Not to mention the joy of discovering Frederick Knight's sublimely goofy "I've Been Lonely For So Long" or William Bell's smoking "I Forgot To Be Your Lover."

The "poor man's Dusty Springfield" never gets the respect she deserves as a talented singer-songwriter bucking the boy's club of Sixties and Seventies labels to emerge with hits from "Put A Little Love In Your Heart" to Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes." And this nearly-lost album from the Summer of '74, which finds her composing originals in the style of legendary songsmith Jimmy Webb and backed by the cream of the crop of L.A. musicians, also deserves another look.