(Rock n' Roll / Early R&B / Jump Blues / Novelty) VA - The Leiber & Stoller Story (3 CD) - 2004, MP3 (tracks), VBR 113-256 kbps

1 - That's What the Good Book Says - Nunn, Bobby & The R ...
2 - Hard Times - Charles Brown
3 - Nosey Joe - Jackson, Bull Moose
4 - Flying Home - Amos Milburn
5 - Gloom and Misery All Around - Roy Hawkins
6 - Bam Balam - Du Droppers
7 - Real Ugly Woman - Jimmy Witherspoon
8 - Mainliner - Little Esther
9 - Kansas City aka KC Lovin' - Littlefield, Little ...
10 - Lovin' Jim - Champion, Little Mickey
11 - Too Bad Sweet Mama - Henderson, Sam Hig ...
12 - Ten Days in Jail - Robins
13 - Squeeze Me - Milt Trenier
14 - I Smell a Rat - Thornton, Big Mama
15 - Yeah, Yeah, Yeah - Joe Liggins
16 - Come a Little Bit Closer - Willy & Ruth
17 - It's a Miracle - Honey Bears
18 - Bazoom (I Need Your Lovin') - Cheers
19 - Riot in Cell Block #9 - Vicki Young
20 - Hound Dog - Bell, Freddie & The ...
21 - Whadaya Want - Jack Cardwell
22 - Down in Mexico - Morse, Ella Mae
23 - Hot Dog - Young Jessie
24 - What About Me - Larry Evans
25 - Tears of Joy - Etta James
26 - Ruby Baby - Drifters
27 - If It's the Last Thing I Do - Frankie Marshall
28 - L' Homme à la Moto - Edith Piaf

1 - Love Potion No. 9 - Clovers
2 - Here Comes Henry - Young Jessie
3 - One Kiss Led to Another - Coasters
4 - Lucky Lips - Ruth Brown
5 - Old Fashioned - Dillard, Varetta & The Cookies
6 - Smokey Joe's Café - Buddy Holly
7 - Alligator Wine - Hawkins, Screamin' Jay
8 - There Goes My Baby - Drifters
9 - Lips - Roy Hamilton
10 - You're the Boss - LaVern Baker, Jimmy Ricks
11 - Spanish Harlem - Clyde McPhatter
12 - Your Old Lady - Isley Brothers
13 - An Open Fire - Johnny Mathis
14 - I'm a Woman - Christine Kittrell
15 - Sorry, But I'm Gonna Have to Pass - Lonnie Donegan
16 - On the Horizon - King, Ben E
17 - What's Wrong with Me and You - Babs Tino
18 - Yes - Jay & The Americans
19 - Keep Tellin' Yourself - Marv Johnson
20 - Bossa Nova Baby - Tippie & The Clovers
21 - Some Other Guy - Richard Barrett
22 - Searchin' - Alvin Robinson
23 - Stand by Me - Muhammad Ali
24 - Café Espresso - Leiber & Stoller Or

1 - You Can't Love 'Em All - Solomon Burke
2 - Tricky Dicky - Richie Barrett
3 - His Kiss - Betty Harris
4 - My Heart Said (The Bossa Nova) - Irene Reid
5 - Drip Drop - Dion
6 - Rat Race - Drifters
7 - Midnight Town, Daybreak City - Roy Hamilton
8 - It's So Exciting - Exciters
9 - Down Home Girl - Alvin Robinson
10 - Only in America - Jay & The Americans
11 - Keep It Up - Soul Brothers
12 - Brother Bill (The Last Clean Shirt) - Honeyman
13 - Jackson - Johnny Cash, June Carter
14 - Bull Dog - Shangri Las
15 - The Gunfighter - Tommy Roe
16 - Take It Like a Man - Walker Brothers
17 - Juicy - Willie Bobo
18 - I (Who Have Nothing) - Warwick, Dee Dee
19 - You'll Never Leave Him - Freddie Scott
20 - Where's the Girl - King, Ben E.
21 - Flying - Carmen McRae
22 - Shake 'Em Up & Let 'Em Roll -
23 - On Broadway - Jimmy Scott
24 - Is That All There Is? - Peggy Lee

The second of Ace Records' chronological three-volume history of legendary songwriters and producers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller picks up the story in 1956 and carries it through 1962 (the first volume, called Hard Times: The Los Angeles Years, covers 1951 to 1956), with the center shifting to New York City. This isn't a greatest-hits survey of Leiber & Stoller's career, although some of the big hits are certainly here, but it focuses instead on more obscure releases and versions of the pair's songs, making this a record collector's dream but not the place to find all the classic singles by the Drifters, the Coasters, Big Mama Thornton, and the other artists the duo worked with (all of that material is easily available elsewhere, however). So instead of Ben E. King's famous version of "Spanish Harlem," listeners get one by another former Drifters lead singer, Clyde McPhatter, and in place of the Robins' rendition of "Smokey Joe's Café," there is a fascinating version by Buddy Holly, who cut it a month before he died. Some of the covers are fascinating combinations of artists to songs, like skiffle king Lonnie Donegan's marvelous version of "Sorry, But I'm Gonna Have to Pass" from 1961, which is a pleasing blend of pop and country over a subtle baion rhythm on an obscure song that had previously only been a B-side for the Drifters. Then there's Muhammad Ali's (he was then still known as Cassius Clay) surprisingly passable turn at Ben E. King's "Stand by Me" from 1964, a track that is admittedly more a curio than a necessity, but is still worth hearing. There are other obscure gems here, too, like Young Jessie's (Obediah Donnell Jessie) "Here Comes Henry," which features his vocal dubbed over the backing track for "Shattered Dreams" by the Youngsters, but emerges as fresh as if the whole thing were a completely live recording. Not everything is an obscure cover, though. The original single of "Alligator Wine" by Screamin' Jay Hawkins is collected here, in all its manic strangeness, as is the debut production Leiber & Stoller did for the Drifters, "There Goes My Baby," which features an innovative string arrangement from Stanley Applebaum set over a subtle South American rhythm. Atlantic's Jerry Wexler, upon first hearing "There Goes My Baby," hated it, calling it "an exercise in cacophony," and was stunned when it soared to the top spot on the R&B charts in 1959. Needless to say, he made sure Leiber & Stoller kept working with the Drifters. This second volume in the Leiber & Stoller story, like the first, is a fascinating listen, and the rarities it contains makes it something special and not just another greatest-hits saga.