This sure was the year for R&B CD box sets. However, despite the Rare Soul moniker here, the quality of rarity doesn’t always translate to it being very good. While there are some quality tracks among the 114 soul sides recorded here between 1963 and 1973, there’s a moderate percentage of fodder in the mix.

Disc one bills itself as Urban Soul from so-called R&B capitals New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, but it occasionally goes beyond that. It gets off to a decent start with Don Gardner’s frantic “My Baby Likes To Boogaloo,” but for the rest of the 26 tracks the flame only flickers.
Disc two is dominated by groups, and it starts nicely with the Tempos’ “(Countdown) Here I Come,” a Motown-inspired single. It then levels off, with the better tracks being recorded by the Sounds Four (“A Memory Best Forgotten”), the Dynamics’ (“Bingo!”), the Sweet Things’ (the wonderful “I’m In A World of Trouble”), the Pace Setters (“Victim of Loneliness”) and the Profiles (“Got to Be Your Lover”).

The third CD—Southern Soul—is by far the strongest, and is dominated by emotive performances. One track we’ll admit is rare (didn’t even know it existed) and extremely good is Candi Staton’s first secular recording (pre-Fame): “Now You’ve Got the Upper Hand.” Among the Stax sides, Eddie Floyd’s “Hey Now” has that Memphis groove above all others. There are two remarkable uptempo Houston (Peacock Records) releases by Little Frankie Lee “I Gotta Come Back” and Al “TNT” Braggs’ “I’m a Good Man,” with its brassy flourishes. There’s a sprinkling of New Orleans recordings, the best perhaps the Earl King production of “Understanding” by the obscure Jackie Avery.

In the final installment, billed Funky Soul, there’s a plethora of rare New Orleans soul. Check off Jessie Hill’s “Free and Easy” with its scrounge beat, Rockie Charles’ frantic “Riccasha” and Ironing Board Sam’s trippy “Original Funky Bell Bottoms.” Bobby Rush’s “Wake Up” and Magic Sam’s “I’ll Pay You Back” were strong neighborhood hits.

Pushing six hours of listening, best to go slowly with Grove & Grind or you might get a bad case of sensory overload and overdose on soul—to the point where you might overlook a track you might well dig. A lot of hard work went into this package and it’s certainly first class. Quite a remarkable temptation and release.