This four-CD set, containing 122 songs (23 of them previously unreleased) cut between 1950 and 1966 for RCA, Groove, Okeh, and Columbia is, literally, the best of Piano Red, and may be the best box in the entire Bear Family catalog. This is about as good as piano blues and R&B got, and also some... [+] Expand

This four-CD set, containing 122 songs (23 of them previously unreleased) cut between 1950 and 1966 for RCA, Groove, Okeh, and Columbia is, literally, the best of Piano Red, and may be the best box in the entire Bear Family catalog. This is about as good as piano blues and R&B got, and also some of the best piano-based rock & roll you'll ever hear -- rivaling anything that Jerry Lee Lewis or Little Richard ever cut -- with barely a second-rate track. Even the multiple versions of his signature tune, "Right String but the Wrong Yo-Yo," are welcomed, from its lean, mean piano-bass-drums original 1950 version, to the live 1955 rendition and the broader 1961 remake (at the "Mr. Moonlight" session), because they're each different enough to justify their presence. And, yet, the most amazing thing about the 16 years covered on these four discs is the consistency of the music and performances -- Red hardly changed at all until the early '60s, always giving his audience a good show whether he was making records or playing live. The second and third discs are arguably the best parts of the set, with Red at the peak of his prowess as a pianist and singer. He made the jump into rock & roll more easily than most bluesmen of his age, with the result that his music from this period is as solid as anything else he ever did. Still later, on the fourth disc, once he moves into a more produced, pop-oriented R&B sound, he holds up almost as well. The sound is excellent, the notes are thorough, and the $100 list price of this 122-song set makes it proportionately more attractive than any $15/15-song best-of on Red that might ever show up (and there isn't one). ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide [-] Collapse

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