Many people may have heard about Warner's four disc compilation, What It Is! Funky Soul and Rare Grooves. I don't have it yet, but have been salivating at the tracklisting since first hearing about the release. However, I recently found the Funk Drops comps online, and when I compared the tracklistings, I realized that Warner has used 34 tracks from these compilations for the new box set. In other words, 50% of the Funk Drops comps are on What It Is!!! While this might not seem like a huge deal, since the Funk Drops comps are UK only releases, it certainly shows laziness on the part of Warner. Couldn't they have dug a bit deeper?? Don't they know that soul fans, by now, are pretty used to buying UK imports, so many people likely own the Funk Drops comps? Also, a song like "Hard Times" by Baby Huey is brilliant, but it is not the only great track from The Baby Huey Story.
The music is still essential, so the new box is definitely worth owning, but for those who already have the Funk Drops comps, expect overlap!