Atlantic box set gives summer some soul

I was very cool for exactly one night of my life.

In a smoky bar in Oakland, about two years before his death, soul singer Otis Redding walked up to my table and held the microphone while I sang the chorus of “Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa!” Never mind that he did it to about 20 other people the same night. Never mind that the woman I brought to the bar left with someone else.

Those 10 seconds were the coolest of my life.

I have relived those glorious seconds repeatedly this week while playing my latest Amazon.com acquisition, the “Atlantic Rhythm and Blues Collection, 1947-1974.” I had the eight-CD box set collection on my Amazon “wish list” for several weeks but hesitated to make the actual purchase since it involved $80.99.

But since it included the all-time classic soul songs, I happily succumbed last week and the set has been on my CD player ever since. It will be a soul summer.

The collection goes back to the beginnings of Atlantic when legend Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abamson started the record company in 1947, long before even I started listening to music. They pay homage to pioneers such as Joe Morris, Lloyd “Tiny” Grimes, Frank Culley and Granville McGee (younger brother of “Brownie” McGee), all new names to me. Then they add Ruth Brown, who started in 1949 but was still singing a few years ago when she toured Portland with Bonnie Raitt.

The music (and the memories) continue from the collection with Al Hibbler, who atones for his goofy rendition of “Danny Boy” with the still sexy “After the Lights Go Down Low,” both recorded in 1950. “Lights” was the staple at the Saturday night dances at the Holy Name Church. It was always the second-to-last song of the night, during which a heavy pitch was made for the walk home, or even a real date.

The original version of “Shake, Rattle and Roll” (1954) by Big Joe Turner is on the collection, naturally

The first group song on the collection is “Devil or Angel” (1956) by the Clovers. The Drifters (with and without Clyde McPhatter) chip in with a few personal favorites including “Fools Fall in Love” (1956), plus “Money, Honey” and “Honey Love” (both 1954). The Coasters offer “Young Blood” (1957) and “Charlie Brown” (1958).

The long and fabulous career of Ray Charles (I think I saw him in 1960) is honored in the Atlantic collection. It is hard to believe that Charles started as a Nat King Cole clone before he broke through with his own soulful, shouting style. The song “I Got a Woman” broke in 1955, but the classic “What’d I Say” was released in 1959 and quickly became a rock ‘n’ roll summer anthem. There are guaranteed “party starter” songs, and that was one of them.

Other guaranteed dance songs were “Knock on Wood” (1966) by Eddie Floyd, “Sweet Soul Music” (1967) by Arthur Conley, and naturally, Sam and Dave with “Hold On, I’m Comin'” (1966).

The slow-dance party specials were “When a Man Loves a Woman” (1966) by Percy Sledge, and Sam and Dave’s “When Something is Wrong with my Baby” (1967). If you couldn’t get something started with those songs, you simply had no chance.

Ben E. King gives us the classic “Stand by Me”(1961) and “Spanish Harlem.”(1960).

If Otis Redding was the undisputed king of the soul singers, then the prince had to be Wilson Pickett. Pickett’s “Midnight Hour” (1965), “Land of a Thousand Dances”(1966), “I Found a Love” and “Mustang Sally” (both 1966) are all included. The underappreciated Joe Tex is on the collection with “Hold on to What You Got” and “Skinny Legs and All” (both 1967).

The queen of soul, naturally, is Aretha Franklin, who is on the box set with her 1967 hits “I Never Loved a Man,” “Respect,” “Natural Woman” and “Chain of Fools,” to which Blue Eyes reportedly fell in love.

Roberta Flack is included with her classics “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Killing me Softly” from 1969.

But it always comes back to Redding and his roomful of classics, including “Mr. Pitiful” and “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (both 1962), “Respect” (1965) and my personal favorite, “Try a Little Tenderness” (1966). His biggest (and weakest) hit was “Sitting on the Dock of The Bay,” which hit in 1968. Redding died in a plane crash in 1967, tragically missing the popular acclaim he so richly deserved.

If I knew I was about to be marooned on a desert island and had only one singer’s work to spend eternity with, it would have to be Redding’s.

If I was allowed only one box set, it would have to be “Atlantic Rhythm and Blues.”

Now that I’ve already spent the 80 bucks.

Send complaints and compliments to Emmet Meara at emmetmeara@msn.com.