Fire & Fury Records Rarities Collection / Various

When people lament the corporate takeover of pop music and long for the days of the independent hustler with his ear to the street, the kind of label owner they have in mind is Bobby Robinson. Robinson operated a succession of companies-under names like Whirlin' Disc, Red Robin, and Enjoy - out of his Harlem record store from 1951 on, but his most successful ventures were the Fire and Fury labels, which released Top 40 pop hits for Lee Dorsey, Wilbert Harrison, Gladys Knight, Buster Brown, Don Gardner & Dee Dee Ford, King Curtis, and Bobby Marchan. Robinson also resurrected the careers of several blues greats including Elmore James, Big Boy Arthur Crudup and Lightnin' Hopkins. Robinson's Fire and Fury Records, were one of the Fifties and Sixties most important outlets for prime R&B, soul, blues and doo-wop. This 2-disc set offers the most wide-ranging and comprehensive rarities of the Fire and Fury label ever assembled.