The first seven volumes are available for purchase separately, each packaged with a special gold-coin sticker. From riot grrl to Lilith Fair to Girl Power, it's been the Year of the Woman since the Grammys dropped the ball and forgot to include a women's category in the early '90s. It's the end of the century and the powers that be have just made the brilliant discovery that we buy records. Of course, this means endless celebrations, anthologies and even multimedia like Oxygen. The bad news is that in the wake of Girl Power, there are too many choices, many of them bad or just mediocre.
Respect is an impressive historical survey.
In these cases it might be better to organize by genre rather than gender. The selection is also spotty on the last two discs. And there are some glaring absences, since some icons like Joni Mitchell refuse to participate in women-only projects. Overall, Respect deserves respect for its intentions and effort. Its swirls and scrawls pump insistently, blurring as they hit your speakers.