Respect: A Century of Women in Music

by

Various Artists

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When I received this for Christmas, I was overwhelmed to tears reading all the wonderful talent that I held in my hand. Rhino has once again outdone themselves, working extremely hard to represent a century of women who impacted and reflected the times in which they sang. The music is amazing, I continue to get goosebumps hearing many of the songs. Rhino execs admit that they weren't able to include everyone, and have graciously printed the names of hundreds of women who were musicians in the past century. The liner notes continue to match Rhino's top quality standards. What I appreciate most about this box set is that Rhino admits they chose not to include performers who buyers likely already have in their collection (Indigo Girls, the Mamas and the Papas, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, ABBA, Helen Reddy, Karen Carpenter, etc.), but worked to expose listeners to undiscovered nuggets, while still satisfying the craving for well known treasures. I defy any 60s fan (any race, any gender) to listen to Disc 3 and not be overwhelmed with joy at the outpouring of passion, fun and love. This just rocks, plain and simple.

Not a lot to say, actually. Of course with any of these large scale retrospectives someone is going to have complaints. And that was my first hesitation about doing this review. However I think most people would agree on some of the women who were glaringly left out of the list. Mind you, there may have been legal reasons, but still they could NOT have been left out of something a Century of Women in Music. Barbra Streisand was the first that came to mind. Whitney Houston, Dionne Warwick, Janet Jackson, Pat Benatar, and Reba Mcintyre were just a few of the others that were glaring omissions to me. Even putting personal style aside, each one of those women I mentioned had a vital role in this century's music whether it be for their true quality of work, the epoch of their timing and period, or for their innovation and influence on other musicians and music in general.