Listening to the Rock Hall Honorees--Worthy or Not

You had to feel sorry for Billy Joel last year when he was informed that he had been voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame--only to learn later in the day that the news report had been in error and that he had, in fact, been passed over by the voters.

But now you have to feel a tinge of sympathy for the hall itself. The news of Joel’s election this month is the latest in a growing number of body blows to the hall’s credibility.

Though the organization should salute the most original and influential figures in rock history, it all too often opens its arms to artists whose credentials are primarily commercial.

One reason is that the hall directors--against all reason and good conscience--continue to encourage the induction of seven new members a year.

That was a reasonable goal in the early days of the balloting, when the hall was trying to catch up with the many founders of the music. But no longer.

The membership has grown to 107 in just 14 years. At that rate, the hall will pass the 175 mark in another 10 years--a total that it has taken the Baseball Hall of Fame two-thirds of a century to reach.

Under hall rules, recording artists can’t be listed on the ballot until 25 years after their first record. Sentimentality aside, there usually aren’t more than three or four truly great artists among the nominees in even a good year.

Of the dozens of artists who first became eligible this year, only Bruce Springsteen commanded enough respect among the hall’s committee of 1,000 or so executives, critics and musicians to win election.

That meant the selection committee had to reach back to artists, like Joel, who were passed over in previous years of eligibility to fill out the desired seven positions.

In two cases, the voters did so wisely. Curtis Mayfield and Paul McCartney, both of whom have been eligible since 1995, will be inducted along with Springsteen on March 15 in New York City.

But the remaining inductees are, to varying degrees, open to question. Billy Joel, Del Shannon, Dusty Springfield and the Staple Singers have all given us some memorable pop moments. But do they really represent essential chapters in rock history?

If you want to make your own evaluation, here are some CDs by each of the seven artists.

This year’s deserving inductees:

Bruce Springsteen--For a quick overview, there’s “Greatest Hits,” a single disc collection that includes such signature works as “Born to Run” and “My Hometown.” But the disc falls so far short of defining this classic rock star’s range and depth that it seems almost useless.

A more helpful summary is the three-disc “Live/1975-85” boxed set celebrating his years with the E Street Band.

Better yet, you can trace the evolution of Springsteen’s music by concentrating on four of his studio collections: “Born to Run” (the 1975 explosion of youthful desire and independence), “Darkness on the Edge of Town” (the 1978 follow-up that started questioning whether some of those youthful dreams really could be reached), “Nebraska” (the stark 1982 acoustic album that showed what happens when all hope and sense of human connection is lost) and “Tunnel of Love” (the aching personal 1987 look at the complexities of relationships).

Curtis Mayfield--One reason it took voters four years to get around to inducting Mayfield and McCartney as solo artists is that they had already been inducted as members of groups--Mayfield with the Impressions in 1991, McCartney with the Beatles in 1988. But both delays were unfortunate because these two artists’ solo works alone place them alongside or above half the musicians who have been voted into the Hall of Fame.

Mayfield--a superb singer, guitarist and songwriter who continues to record despite being paralyzed since a freak stage accident in 1990--may not have benefited from the promotional muscle of a label like Motown in the ‘70s, but make no mistake: The quality and influence of his own socially conscious music make him the equal of such Motown giants as Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson.

“People Get Ready!,” a three-disc set on Rhino, covers Mayfield’s career from “Gypsy Woman,” the first Impressions hit, through some post-”Superfly” solo material. Because the set includes only four songs from “Superfly,” the excellent 1972 soundtrack, you might also want the two-disc “Superfly” package released last year by Rhino.

Paul McCartney--Though his post-Beatles albums didn’t match the heights of John Lennon’s “Plastic Ono Band” and “Imagine,” McCartney has produced a lot of winning music since his Beatles days, from the intimacy of the early “Maybe I’m Amazed” through the more elaborate and polished “Live and Let Die” and “Band on the Run.”

The problem is that his reputation has been damaged by a proliferation of uneven Wings and solo projects. McCartney’s most satisfying album was “Band on the Run,” the 1973 collection that conveyed a self-assuredness reminiscent of the Beatles days. For a different, more reflective side, there’s also “Flowers in the Dirt,” the 1989 album that featured some affecting collaborations with Elvis Costello.

To fill in the blank spaces, there’s a series of “best of” or live collections, including “All the Best!”--and “Tripping the Live Fantastic,” a two-disc live package from 1990, balances solo and Beatles tunes.

Now for the question marks:

Billy Joel--This New Yorker has had some 30 Top 40 hits, which is applause enough for a career marked by an ability to tell a catchy story through music, but little other lasting impact on pop-rock tradition. Just because he wore a leather jacket on the front of an album cover doesn’t make him a rock ‘n’ roll artist at all, much less a Hall of Fame one.

Yes, he has made some undeniably infectious recordings, including such spunky, high-energy outbursts as “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” and “My Life.” But Joel is chiefly a derivative artist, rather than an important one--one who seems to be able to reproduce the models supplied by such various artists as Elton John and Anthony Newley, without being able to truly supply his own blueprint of pop.

You’ll get all the music that you need to mark your own ballot on Joel’s ranking in history in the two-disc “Greatest Hits Volume I and Volume II” package. If you insist on listening further, 1977’s “The Stranger” (featuring “Just the Way You Are” and “Only the Good Die Young”) is his biggest seller, though 1982’s “The Nylon Curtain” contains some of his most distinctive work, including the socially conscious “Allentown” and “Goodnight Saigon.”

Del Shannon--Shannon was a quality rocker who is often overpraised because he happened to be doing creditable work during a period in rock (the early ‘60s) when the first wave of rockers was fading and the second hadn’t yet arrived. In such tunes as “Runaway” and “Little Town Flirt,” he captured nicely the whole notion of youthful romantic anxiety, but he was blown out of the water in that pop-rock niche when Roy Orbison came along. As for the future of rock, even Shannon saw the writing on the wall in 1963, quickly recording a Beatles song himself (“From Me to You”). Try “Greatest Hits,” a 20-song disc from Rhino.

Dusty Springfield--If you listened to just one Springfield album (especially 1969’s superb “Dusty in Memphis” or even the single-disc “The Very Best of Dusty Springfield” on Mercury), you might wonder why Springfield wasn’t elected to the Hall of Fame years ago. In the “Memphis” album and in other selected highlights, she showed the potential to rank as one of the all-time great soul singers. But--as you’ll discover in “The Dusty Springfield Anthology,” a three-disc retrospective--Springfield seemed to be searching for most of her career for the right material or producer, sometimes both. It left her one step short of pop’s top plateau.

The Staple Singers--There’s a bit of a parallel between the Staples and Springfield in the sense that less is more. The best of the quartet’s recordings on Stax Records in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s combined gospel, blues, folk and rock elements in message songs that helped define an era. You can find those highlights in “The Best of the Staple Singers,” a single disc collection on Stax. It’s also interesting to hear some of their earlier gospel work on Vee-Jay Records. Two albums from that period, “Uncloudy Day” and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” are available on a single Vee-Jay album. Ultimately, however, the Staples, too, remained one step below the great. If they went on tour with Curtis Mayfield in the ‘70s, for instance, there’s no question that the Staples would be the opening act.

Robert Hilburn is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominating committee. He can be reached by e-mail at robert.hilburn@latimes.com.