Pre-Owned Something's Got a Hold on Me (CD 0762111684899) by Various Artists

0762111684899. Pre-Owned: Good condition. CD. Something's Got a Hold on Me is the product of collaboration between Hear Music, XM Satellite Radio and Rhino. The something referred to in the title is soul music as the 16 tracks here dish up some excellent soul and R&B sides. While it isn't an exhaustive or definitive selection (no Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Curtis Mayfield, etc.), it is a solid blast of great music and a great introduction to the sound. Indeed if you had never heard soul music before, you would have a real good idea what it was all about by the end of track 16. Along the way you'd get schooled in the smooth and sultry Memphis sound by Al Green ("Love and Happiness") and Booker T. & the MG's ("Over Easy"), big city soul by Aretha Franklin ("Ain't No Way"), Betty Everett ("You're No Good") and the awesome Freddie Scott ("Are You Lonely for Me Baby"), bluesy soul with the help of Bobby "Blue" Bland ("I Pity the Fool") and Lavern Baker ("Soul on Fire"), powerful R&B by Jackie Wilson ("Baby Workout") andRuth Brown ("I Don't Know") as well as sweaty funk by the master, James Brown ("Out of Sight"). What makes the disc interesting for casual soul music fans is the selection of lesser-known tracks by the big-name stars like Aretha and James Brown. They hook you with the name and then try to slip you something out of the ordinary. Very sneaky and quite commendable. Hardcore soul fans will already have all these tracks but the nice mix of ballads and dancefloor fillers, classics and worthy obscurities, make the disc a nice collection for road trips, picnics, house parties or any other occasion where you want to show off your knowledge of soul without being too willfully hip. All that and an arty Romare Bearden cover and booklet art. This is one of the better discs the people at XM, Hear Music and Rhino have been involved in. ~ Tim Sendra, Rovi