If you’ve been listening to New Orleans music during the past 25 years, chances are your collection contains more than one Rounder CD/LP. From the mid-1980s to the end of the century, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based label released more New Orleans music than any other record company—over 100 albums. This four-disc, 48-track set documents just how extensive Rounder’s commitment was/is as it presents a wide variety of the city’s musical styles. It’s also worth noting that they were in the unique position of capturing the conclusion of one musical tradition—R&B—and the beginning of another—second line music.

The first CD on City of Dreams—just who’s dream, anyway?—is titled “Big Easy Blues,” and it contains quality contemporary material from Johnny Adams, Irma Thomas and Chuck Carbo among others. Also in the mix are some vintage R&B gems that came from the Ric and Ron catalog, which Rounder purchased in the 1980s. “Street Beat” (disc two) is largely made up second line and Mardi Gras Indian music. The familiar names here are Bo Dollis, Rebirth, the Dirty Dozen and the Olympia Brass Band. While admittedly I’m the wrong person to render judgment on these two styles, a lot of this stuff starts to sound the same after awhile.

On disc three, “Funky New Orleans,” Johnny and Irma are back and so are Walter Washington, Davell Crawford, George Porter, Jr. and Theryl de Clouet. If you’re wonder what Solomon Burke is doing here, he recorded an album in Slidell. Disc four, “Ivory Emperors,” demonstrates Rounder’s commitment to the storied keyboard tradition of the city. Just about every major player is found here—Tuts Washington, James Booker, Professor Longhair, Champion Jack Dupree and Art Neville to name but a few. Oddly though, Fats Domino missed the cut and there’s a pretty good Domino set in Rounder’s catalog.

Scott Billington, who produced the bulk of this material, provided the booklet notes. In them, he details the label’s involvement with the city’s music and he addresses the continued plight of New Orleans. On collections like this, listeners will always second-guess the choices, but this is a great reminder of how much great music this city has produced and is still capable of producing. That’s a fact we should never, never take for granted.