A hodgepodge of generally generic slow and midtempo
urban
grooves spanning the early '80s through the early '90s, all of the tracks here were produced by label founder
Butch Ingram
, formerly of the family
funk
outfit
Ingram
. On an evidently very paltry production budget, it's hard to disguise lackluster melodies and mediocre vocal abilities. Hence,
Michelle Gold
's
"Lost in Love,"
Marki
"Tell Me, Tell Me, Tell Me,"
and
Butch Sam & the Central Station Band
"Say That You Will"
are easily forgotten. Even the veteran
soul
artists featured here would've been better off to pass on the meaningless material supplied:
Barbara Mason
sounds tired and totally uncreative on the trivial, obnoxiously homophobic
"Another Man,"
while
Blue Magic
Major Harris
simply seem stumped to be singing such inferior fodder. The fact that
wrote or co-wrote all but four of the disc's 17 tunes explains a lot, though. Two tunes toward the latter part of the program present themselves as noteworthy in an otherwise empty ocean:
Roz Ryan
's semi-funky shuffler
"Boy, Where Have You Been"
Vera Brown
's emotive
"Little Did I Know,"
which she co-wrote. But unless one is desperately seeking one of the latter, this unimpressive bunch is better left alone. ~ Justin M. Kantor