Customer Reviews

Say It Loud! A Celebration of Black Music in America

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This is truly a terrific set. I'd buy each of these CD's separately if they weren't available together. But stop and think about this for a minute.

Can you imagine a box set called "A Celebration of White Music in America"? Would anyone put together a collection that included tracks from, say, Rudy Vallee, Backstreet Boys, The Beach Boys, Garth Brooks, Glen Miller, Elvis Presley, Meat Loaf, Patti Page, Sons of the Pioneers, The Captain & Tennille, Vaughn Monroe, Limp Bizkit, Carole King, Itzhak Perlman, Green Day, Pat Boone, Pat Benatar and about a hundred other artists? Of course not.

Why? Because these acts have nothing in common!

Now the tough follow-up question: Why should being black give the artists on this set anything more in common?

Let's call this what it truly is: A Celebration of GREAT Music In America, and hope the day arrives soon when no other label need apply

"Say It Loud" is a six-CD testament to the vibrant, fascinating history of black music in America. The box set features music featured in the five-part "Say It Loud" miniseries on VH1 divided into songs of politics, protest, and spreading the message, progress in the music business, gospel and blues, black sexuality in music, and the reflection (and creation) of popular culture in (and through) black music.

This is the definitive box set of black music and culture. It features 128 tracks chronicling ragtime, jazz, blues, spirituals, gospel, R&B, rock 'n' roll, pop, soul, jump blues, Motown, funk, country, and hip-hop, sound bytes from influential moments (Jesse Owens on the 1936 Olympics, Civil Rights legislation, prejudice, Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Mountain Top" speech and the report on his assassination, Blaxploitation films, the Rodney King verdict and more). The 100-page book features a foreword by Quincy Jones and extensive essays by David Ritz, Earnest Hardy, Ingrid Monson, and Grammy®-nominated journalist Gerald Early.

"Say It Loud" is a cultural legacy as well as an excellently packaged box set. For maximum effect watch the "Say It Loud" miniseries as well...there are numerous interviews with many of the recording artists and producers and the stories behind the music and the times as well as rare early (black-and-white) TV footage of concerts by Motown artists. Much of today's popular music owes a large debt to black music and to black artists that paved the way for later generations.

In the words of legendary producer Quincy Jones, "The history of black music in America is the history of America itself." So buy "Say It Loud" as a sonic history lesson, whether to brush up on your knowledge of black music or to learn from the beginning. This is one of the best box sets I've seen on the market, period. Made with love, with track after track of great cuts and informative liner notes. The only box set you'll need to buy.

Say It Loud! A Celebration of Black Music in America is a important musical collection for people of all races, creeds and colors to own. It is a musical history lesson and celebration of music and sounds that have helped shape American culture. The set spans the entire 20th century including such turn of the century icons like Scott Joplin, Fats Waller and Paul Robeson. Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" is one of the most stirring vocal performances in history. Many people acknowledge the Ink Spots as the first group to employ the rock 'n' roll sound and their "If I Didn't Care" is offered as evidence. Jazz is well represented with tracks by Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and others like the superb "'Round Midnight" by The Thelonious Monk Quartet. As the set moves into the 60's and beyond, the songs become more Afro-centric. The Impressions' "Choice Of Colors" is one of the most thought-provoking songs of the civil rights movement. James Brown sums up the spirit of the box set with "Say It Loud! I'm Black, I'm Proud". The grooves in Parliament's vision of black leaders in politics "Chocolate City" led to songs like De La Soul's "Me, Myself & I". Interspersed throughout the disks are news cuts from Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and news stories like breaking the segregation lines make this set more powerful and relevant.

way too Many times folks don't get the facts right on the History of Music.thank goodness Quincy Jones helped put this Compilation together&it showcases a History that hasn't gotten it's full do.Great Writers,Arrangers,Producers,Performers&Creative Minds that have Created Timeless Music.A Big Salute to Quincy Jones&all the Great Minds Featured here I say Thank You&Right ON!

This is truly a terrific set. I'd buy each of these CD's separately if they weren't available together. But stop and think about this for a minute.

Can you imagine a box set called "A Celebration of White Music in America"? Would anyone put together a collection that included tracks from, say, Rudy Vallee, Dolly Parton, Backstreet Boys, Bevery Sills, The Beach Boys, Garth Brooks, Glen Miller, Elvis Presley, Meat Loaf, Patti Page, Aaron Copland, Sons of the Pioneers, The Captain & Tennille, The Doors, Bob Dylan, Vaughn Monroe, Limp Bizkit, Carole King, Itzhak Perlman, Frank Sinatra, Green Day, Pat Boone, Pat Benatar and about a hundred other artists? Of course not.

Why? Because, other than being white, American, and the best at what they do, these acts have nothing in common!

Now the tough follow-up question: Why should being black, American, and the best at what they do give the artists on this set anything more in common?

Let's call this what it truly is: A Celebration of GREAT Music In America, and hope the day arrives soon when no other label need apply

When I found this collection on Amazon.com, I nearly cried (okay, I did cry). This includes much that anyone who truly loves African American music could ever want. It's not only entertaining, it's educational. How pleased I was when it arrived that there were not only six exceptional CD's, but a beautiful book included also. Additionally, I love the excerpts of famous speeches and quotes, etc. that are included between songs. If you truly love R&B as well as it's roots, buy this compilation and be satisfied that this was money well spent.

To any black person who wants educate their child musically, this is a must have, yes there are some omissions, but the depth and breadth of the artists represented is astonishing. I will listen this with my child very often, as a history lesson.

Stevie Wonder has to be the epitome of stylistic uniqueness among song writers, African-American or otherwise. He is also one of the most proliferate, with a body of work that spans nearly 4 decades. The influence of his genius upon the music world is unquestionable. How, then, could this musical phenomenon been omitted from an otherwise outstanding collection?

Isn't this a bit silly? Black music is the basis for a lot, if not most, of the American music we cherish today. Limiting it to 6 CDs just seems disrespectful. It would take someone's entire collection to do justice to black music, which is American music itself, at its finest and most original.

They really have a History of Black Music Compilation and leave out James Brown? No James Brown? Uh...what's going on here? One of the most important figures in music of this century and he's excluded...for shame