Several years before permanently altering cultural history with an incendiary new kind of dance music issued on 78 rpm platters that bore the black and yellow Specialty logo, Little Richard made his first recordings for the Victor and Peacock labels. In 1989, Bear Family released The Formative Years 1951-53, containing 16 of these historic performances appended with six alternate takes. By dishing out swinging rhythm & blues infused with a New Orleans kick, Little Richard was laying the ground for a much rowdier, edgier manifestation that would eventually envelop him and the entire nation in a defiant and recklessly joyous catharsis called rock & roll. Without these fine R&B records, wouldn't none of that come together the way that it did. If you take this collection, combine it with the Specialty recordings and use selections from the Vee Jay catalog for a chaser, you'll be in a good position to draw your own conclusions regarding what this amazing individual recorded later in life.

It is impossible to appreciate Ron Wood's music and muscianship to the fullest without the context of the original albums. Buying every single album Ron Wood has ever been part of, however, is obviously not cost effective for the casual fan. So the compilation "albums" are the next best thing. Every music fan needs to have a little Woodie in their collection. That being said, "Essential Crossexion" is arguably the best Ron Wood compilation available; & a great place to start a Ron Wood collection for someone on a budget. The track selection here is phenomenal. The songs span from his early career as a bassist with Jeff Beck to guitarist & Keith's foil in the Stones. The sound quality is very, very good and a definite upgrade if you have some of this music on the original cd releases or even vinyl. The great thing about this is you can use this album as a springboard to explore Wood's individual albums or work with his other bands. My personal favorites are "I've Got My Own Album To Do" and the best album the Stones never did, "Gimme Some Neck"; both feature Keith Richard too. For fans out there who already have some of Wood's cds, get "Crossexion" for playing in the car (especially if you are too lazy, like me, to compile your own disc from the original album cds).