Comedy/Spoken — LPs  

A bit silly at times, but still pretty great! Bill Cosby teams up with old LA cronie Stu Gardner to do a set of tracks that are parodies of other big soul artists of the early 70s – and thanks to Stu's good work with the music, most of the tracks work a lot better than you'd expect! The record leads off with some sly slinky Barry White parodies – including "Yes, Yes, Yes" and "Shift Down"; then goes into a great James Brown funk number, "I Luv Myself Better Than I Luv Myself". It's hard to figure out where some of the other tracks are going – but the album also features a great spacey jazz number with lots of keyboards, "You're Driving Me Crazy".

Nikki lays down some of her righteous poetry over a backing provided by the Sweet Inspirations and a host of Atlantic studio musicians. The groove is pretty soulful, and this is probably one of her most successful albums that blend poetry and music. Titles include "A Certain Peace", "The Women Gather", "The Way I Feel", "Just An NY Poem", and "My House".

One of the most political of Dr King's albums – recorded in 1967, but issued after his death when the Vietnam War was still going strong. The album's one of the great titles on Motown's short-lived Black Forum imprint, and is a lot stronger stuff than some of the other King albums they continued to keep in print.