Soul Spectacular! The Greatest Soul Hits Of All Time CD

Digitally remastered by Dan Hersch and Bill Inglot (DigiPrep).

If you've been collecting records for any length of time -- from two months to two decades -- chances are you already own a good chunk of the 88 songs on Rhino's 2002 four-disc box set, Soul Spectacular! The Greatest Soul Hits of All Time. If you're just assembling your collection, you may only have a handful of the songs here, so this cornucopia of classic singles, ranging from Ray Charles' "What'd I Say" to the Manhattans' "Kiss and Say Goodbye," may be a good foundation for your soul collection, since most songs here are stone-cold classics (although it must be said that it loses steam toward the end of the set, as it gives way to second-tier songs and artists). That said, if you have a record collection that's fairly large (at least 100 CDs) and an interest in soul, you WILL have almost everything you're interested in; if not, you know them well enough and you might not need them in your collection. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the entire collection is so predictable it's hard not to wonder what the point of this collection is. After all, this collection is so predictable that even the great songs seem sorta blah, because this plays as the most predictable oldies station ever. Again, if you're just looking for these hits, it's not a bad choice -- these are good, clean masters and great songs -- but otherwise there's not much use to this collection for seasoned collectors, since the liner notes aren't particularly detailed and you know pretty much every song by heart. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Subtitled - The Greatest Soul Hits of All Time featuring 90 classic soul hits on 4 CD's (cross-licensed from many labels). Over half of them number 1's. Artists include Ray Charles, Marvelettes, Dobie Gray, Solomon Burke, Aretha Franklin, Bar-Kays, Four Tops, Martha & the Vandellas, The Impressions & more. Rhino Records. Four standard jewelcases housed in a box (12 x 6 x 1 1/4). 2002.

Recorded between 1959 & 1976. Includes liner notes by Rob Bowman.

Audio Remasterers: Dan Hersch; Bill Inglot.

Liner Note Author: Leigh Hall.

Unknown Contributor Roles: Sheryl Farber; John Austin.

Compilation producers: Richard Foos, Garson Foos, Patrick Milligan, T.J. Lubinsky.