Among other things, this terrific set serves as a reminder of how open-minded the music business once was: Yes, there was a time when every more-or-less-pop artist, no matter how visionary, was expected to release singles.

So it was that someone at Atco thought “Walk On Gilded Splinters,” “The Patriotic Flag Waver” and “Loop Garoo” all stood a chance as 45s. Were they life-changing tracks that everybody needed to hear? Absolutely. Did they have a real shot on AM radio, even in those enlightened years? Apparently not.

Collecting the A and B–sides of every Atco single, this is a near-definitive wrap up of Mac Rebennack’s first eight years as Dr. John, missing only one obvious classic (“Mardi Gras Day,” too long for a single). Whether you need it or not depends on how many of the original albums you’ve got, since there isn’t much here that’s fresh for collectors.

No non-LP songs, just a couple of variations: “Gilded Splinters” appears in its rare “Part 1 & 2” edit, and “Flag Waver” is the mono mix (everything else is stereo, though there exists a sought-after release of the Gris-Gris album in mono). The one single representing Dr. John as a sideman is Buddy Guy’s “A Man of Many Words”—which doesn’t really belong since he doesn’t solo on it (Eric Clapton plays a nifty one, however).

The all-singles approach of this disc underlines how adventurous Rebennack’s early work was, jumping from psychedelic voodoo to joyful New Orleans R&B in one swoop, then finding a new groove when he collaborated with Allen Toussaint and the Meters. His one and only Top 40 entry, “Right Place Wrong Time,” was by no means an obvious hit, since its lyrics refer to oral sex (“brain salad surgery” was an obscure rock-world euphemism for same) and using the “right vein in the wrong arm.”

More surprising is that the seemingly more commercial follow ups “Such a Night,” “Life” and “Let’s Make a Better World” all flopped as 45’s, which hasn’t hurt their popularity in the four decades since.