Customer Reviews

Buddah Box

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Yes !! A box set from the Buddah Group. Oh Boy !!
This 3 CD set could have fit on 2 CD's and saved some plastic. As it stands, there is no reason for this to be in a box. It is void of a lot of Buddah / Kama Sutra (and their subsidiaries) product and as another reviewer pointed out, Disc 3 has some real crap on it.
Anyway, I'm glad they put it out but it is a poor showing of what should have been an ambitious product this time around.

This set is missing "Scorpio" by Dennis Coffey, "I'm Not My Brother's Keeper" by The Flaming Ember as well as "5,10 15 20" by the Presidents.

This is, overall, a good set especially if you can find it at a very good price used.

The many complaints posted about what would have been better selections to include focus mainly around the labels' early years as primarily a bubblegum & pop label. When reading the excellent large (box size) booklet included, you learn the history of how the label evolved primarily into the soul and R&B genres in the 1970s (although with a couple of Folk-Rock offerings in the early '70s also). Thus, the transition into the Soul and R&B songs making up approximately the 2nd half of this collection are true to this "initial" set's intention to provide a fairly complete "initial" journey through the history of the Buddah (and related subsidiary) labels. It was the intention (as stated in the booklet) of the company which acquired these labels (Essex Entertainment) to release more of the remaining vault material, but that apparently never occurred under this label (most of the various Buddah artists' material, particularly from the earlier bubblegum era, is now being released by other labels, artist by artist, but some, like "Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus," appear to be unavailable elsewhere at this time).

In summary, due to the wide and disparate range of material over the label's full life span, they may have disappointed most fans here in what are usually separate audiences by trying to cover the entire history in one set. You will have to like both the bubblegum & pop oldies of 1965-1971, and the R&B & Soul of the '70s to enjoy the entire 3 CD set. Or, at a good price, you can use it to pick up some still hard to find songs on CD.

Here's a listing of what is included on the 3 discs in this box, with the peak national POP chart position (sourced from Billboard's Top Pop Singles 1955-2002 (Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles (Cumulative)) ) and the approximate peak Pop chart position date (my estimate) - Note that many of the songs from the Soul and R&B category on the 2nd half of the collection would have charted much higher on the R&B Charts.

Disc #1:
1. The Lovin' Spoonful - Do You Believe In Magic? (#9, October, 1965)
2. The Lovin' Spoonful- Daydream (#2, April, 1966)
3. The Lovin' Spoonful- Summer In The City (#1, August, 1966)
4. The Innocense - There's Got To be A Word (#34, January, 1967) (Note: new name for duo: The Trade Winds)
5. Sopwith Camel - Hello Hello (#26, January, 1967)
6. The Lemon Pipers - Green Tambourine (#1, February, 1968)
7. The 1910 Fruitgum Company - Simon Says (#4, March, 1968)
8. The Ohio Express - Yummy Yummy Yummy (I've Got Love In My Tummy) (#4, July, 1968)
9. The 1910 Fruitgum Company - 1,2,3 Red Light (#5, September, 1968)
10. The Shadows Of Knight - Shake (#46, November, 1968)
11. Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orch. Circus - Quick Joey Small (Run Joey Run) (#25, November, 1968)
12. The Ohio Express - Chewy Chewy (#15, December, 1968)
13. The Brooklyn Bridge - Worst That Could Happen (#3, February, 1969)
14. The Edwin Hawkins Singers - Oh Happy Day (#4, June, 1969)
15. Lou Christie - I'm Gonna Make You Mine (#10, October, 1969)

Disc #2:
1. Vik Venus - Moonflight (#38, July, 1969)
2. Motherlode - When I Die (#18, October, 1969)
3. The Jaggerz - The Rapper (#2, March, 1970)
4. The 5 Stairsteps - O-o-h Child (#8, May, 1970)
5. Melanie - (Lay Down) Candles In The Rain (#6, April, 1970)
6. 100 Proof Aged In Soul - Somebody's Been Sleeping (In My Bed) (#8, October, 1970)
7. Brewer & Shipley - One Toke Over The Line (#10, March, 1971)
8. Ocean - Put Your Hand In The Hand (#2, May, 1971)
9. The Honey Cone - Want Ads (#1, June, 1971)
10. Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine (#3, September, 1971)
11. Steve Goodman - The City Of New Orleans (no chart [pop])
12. Bill Withers - Lean On Me (#1, July, 1972)
13. Curtis Mayfield - Freddie's Dead (#4, October, 1972)
14. Curtis Mayfield - Superfly (#8, December, 1972)
15. Gunhill Road - Back When My Hair Was Short (#40, April, 1973)

Disc #3:
1. Stories - Brother Louie (#1, August, 1973)
2. Gladys Knight & The Pips - Midnight Train To Georgia (#1, November, 1973)
3. Gladys Knight & The Pips - Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me (#3, April, 1974)
4. Jim Weatherly - The Need To Be (#11, November, 1974)
5. Barbara Mason - From His Woman To You (#28, january, 1975)
6. Sha Na Na - Just Like Romeo & Juliet (#55, May, 1975)
7. The New Birth - Dream Merchant (#36, August, 1975)
8. Fred Paris & Black Satin - Everybody Stand Up And Clap Your Hands (no chart)
9. The Staple Singers - Let's Do It Again (#1, December, 1975)
10. The Trammps - Hold Back The Night (#35 February, 1976)
11. Andrea True Connection - More, More, More (part 1) (#4, June, 1976)
12.Norman Connors - You Are My Starship (#27, October, 1976)
13. The Addrisi Bros. - Slow Dancin' Don't Turn Me On (#20, June, 1977)
14. Michael Henderson - Wide Receiver (#88, October, 1978) (Note: Alternate name for: Norman Connors)
15. Disco 3 - Fat Boys (no chart [pop]) (Note: Fat Boys as "Disco 3" before they changed their name to Fat Boys)

NOTES on specific songs:

Disc #1:
--------
10. The Shadows Of Knight - Shake: For those looking for the original 45 version of this song (Team Records TM-520 - 2:28) This version IS it (Shadows Of Knight's Jim Sohns is the Vocalist). There is another version of Shake on the Kasenetz-Katz "Super Circus" LP album which appears to be the exact same music track but the vocal is apparently done by K-K's Joey Levine.

15. Lou Christie - I'm Gonna Make You Mine: MONO (most other songs in this collection are Stereo).

Disc #2:
--------
3. The Jaggerz - The Rapper: MONO, also, there are some odd artifacts of vocals held with an echoey reverb in the 2nd verse at 1:47 & 1:57, which I have never heard on any other copy of this song (including the original LP "We Went To Different Schools Together"). There's also an odd distortion for just about 1 second at 1:35.

6. 100 Proof Aged In Soul - Somebody's Been Sleeping (In My Bed): This is NOT the 45/Single version (play time: 2:45), this version (play time: 4:12) has an extra long ending (rather clumsily) edited into the ending of the original just before the final (fade) verse (at 1:59, midway in the piano swipe [glissando]). [The original single version can be found on Rhino's older "Soul Hits of '70s Didn't It Blow Your Mind Vol. 5" ]

THE BUDDAH BOX IS A GREAT SET. THIS 3CD SET COVERS ALL KINDS OF MUSIC FROM ROCK,FOLK ,SOUL PLUS HIP HOP. IT SHOWS HOW DIVERSE BUDDAH RECORDS WAS WHEN THE WERE UP AND RUNNING AT THE TIME. THE REMARKABLE THING WAS I WAS ABLE TO PURCHASE IT EVEN THOUGH IT'S BEEN OUT OF PRINT FOR SO MANY YEARS. THANK YOU 3T ENTERPRISES FOR HAVING A DECENT COPY OF IT FOR SUCH A GREAT PRICE.

THE BUDDAH BOX looks tempting at first, but unfortunately, this was a poorly executed compilation. Too many good songs were ignored, while a huge number of mediocre ones (especially on disc #3) were included. A proper redesign would be:

Keep the first three tracks on CD three-- jettison the rest and the disc. Bring the remaining two CDs up to 19 songs each by adding these five selections:
RICE IS NICE - Lemon Pipers
1,2,3 REDLIGHT - 1910 Fruitgum Company
BRAND NEW KEY - Melanie
SAGA OF THE LOWDOWN LETDOWN - Sopwith Camel
SIMON SAYS - Ohio Express

Next, don't start disc two with Vic Venus' "Moonflight." That track is and always has been a tad annoying. End album one with it, and begin the second CD with Motherlode. Finally, the biggest sacrifice involves the excellent book that's part this collection-- it would have to be either downsized or sacrificed altogether. Such is life.

If anyone wants to employ this reviewer as a product improver, leave a message . . .

TOTAL RUNNING TIME --
DISC ONE -- 39:54
DISC TWO -- 51:28
DISC THREE -- 59:30

I don't usually buy used items without seeing their condition. I took a chance on this one because it's getting harder to find. The seller's description was exact. All CD's, Liner Note book and box were very good to perfect. I will keep this seller in mind for future purchases because of their honestly.

"The Buddah Box" is a three disk, 45 song compilation of the songs of Buddah Records. Perfect, it's not, interesting for sure.

It's a little bit of bubblegum, a little soul, some rock and roll, and some just plain weird stuff. It was the sixties, what can I say?

The best:

Ooh Child - Five Stairsteps
When I Die - Motherlode
Ain't No Sunshine - Bill Withers
Lay Down (Candles in the Rain - Melanie Safka

The Worst:

Moonlight - Various
Rapper - The Jaggers

Rebecca Kyle, August 2008