Various Artists: Beg, Scream & Shout: The Big Ol' Box Of '60s Soul

Just when it seems that box sets have been done to death, along comes something like Beg, Scream & Shout, the sort of collection that truly justifies its bulk (144 '60s soul tracks, spread out over six CDs). That means, with the exception of one or two songs included out of apparent perversity ("Girl Watcher" by The O'Kaysions), you get 144 of the best songs produced this century, period. Great soul music is transcendent, and no decade produced more great soul music than the '60s, making this box all but a sure thing. Still, it could have been just a jumbo-sized Soul's Greatest Hits, were it not for the decision to refrain from repeating artists. While that means there's only one track each by Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, Jackie Wilson, Aretha Franklin, etc., it also means there's that much more room for the one-hit, no-hit, and small-label artists that contributed so much to the genre. And you didn't really need another copy of "Tears Of A Clown" anyway, did you The songs included by the big names aren't usually their best-known tracks, and that often works to the set's favor. "Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart," for example, is one of The Supremes' great unheralded songs, and its inclusion here is an example of the thoughtfulness that has clearly gone into the song selection. Furthermore, though the music is what makes it worth buying, the packaging is so cleverly designed (a lidded box contains CDs packaged as 45s, with a set of attractive trading cards in lieu of a booklet) that it simply makes Beg, Scream & Shout a cool thing to have around. Though it does have its flaws—no soul fan is going to agree 100% with the songs included; some exclusions exist due to licensing problems; the liner notes tend to be more clever than informative; and it is expensive—the purchase of Beg, Scream & Shout can be considered both a compact musical education and an investment in one's spiritual well-being.