The Billboard Book Of Number One R&B Hits
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The concept behind this book is very simple. It considers every single record to top the American R&B charts between January 1965 and December 1990. 1965 is the starting point for the simple reason that between 1963 and 1965 Billboard stopped producing separate R&B charts. During this period the positions of black records had to be gleaned from the pop charts into which they were incorporated. It is a great shame that this decision was taken because separate R&B charts had existed throughout the 40's and 50's. None the less R&B musicians have now had their own continuous uninterrupted charts from that date to the present day, a period which spans over 30 years. The name has undergone several changes, R&B till 1969, Soul until 1982, Black until 1990 at which time it reverted to its original name of R&B. This book is the story of every single record to make the top spot throughout these three decades. When written this book was probably intended for reference purposes, but sad individual that I am I decided to read it from cover to cover. Between 1965 and 1975 I knew every song and every artist. Throughout the next ten years gaps in my knowledge started to appear. From 1985 onwards I was pretty unfamiliar with any of the artists or their recordings. The obvious conclusion is that this is a work which transcends generations. Presented in a very readable style each entry contains information not only about the recording artist but also backing musicians, producers, composers and even backing singers. In each case we are given the story of how the song originated, usually derived from interviews with the main artists. The book is also lavishly illustrated with black and white photographs. A publication which covers so many artists and their work has to be carefully summarised, and if I have any complaint it is that during this process important details which should have been included are omitted. One glaring example is that in entry 141 "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love" by the Spinners we are told that "lead singer G.C. Cameron was replaced by his friend of his, Philip Walker, who changed his name to Phillippe Wynne". Having been given the groups original line-up in which G. C. Cameron did not appear we are never told that he actually joined the group prior to him leaving. Splitting hairs possibly, but what was kept and what was omitted should have been more carefully monitored. There is no doubt that the book is well researched and informative and ends with some quite interesting tables of information, "Most Number One R&B Hits by Artist, Writer, Producer and label", "the longest running number one R&B hits", "number one R&B hits which also topped the American Hot 100" and even "number one R&B hits that didn't reach the hot 100". These are 500 pages stuffed with important information. Self billed as "The Ultimate Book for Soul & R&B fans" who am I to argue? |
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