Aaron Neville

The no-frills European three-CD box set The Great Aaron Neville With the Neville Brothers presents 31 vintage tracks by Aaron Neville, mixed up with 13 by Art Neville and one by Cyril Neville, plus nine instrumentals by the Meters. The Nevilles, in their various configurations, are known to have done a lot of recording in the 1960s, and this album gathers together tracks originally released on singles by such labels as Bell, Josie, and Minit, along with some material from the early '70s on Mercury. That information is not provided on the album, which includes no annotations beyond song titles and songwriting credits. There are much better compilations of these recordings on the market, notably Rhino's Treacherous and Treacherous Too albums. But this one contains the music itself, jumbled up, to be sure, and without historical context, but always enjoyable, as the various Nevilles explore R&B and New Orleans styles, occasionally covering pop standards, in the search for a hit. And, although nominally in release only in Europe, it was readily available in the U.S. upon release at a budget price. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide