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Mellow soul and soaring club – all nicely balanced together in this first album from the group Anacostia! There's a sound here that's slightly different than some of the other east coast groups of the time – a willingness to slow things down, then groove them up – all with a sound that's polished, but never in a too-commercial sort of way. In fact, most of these tunes seem to aim for a space that's pretty far both from radio, and conventional disco – despite the fact that Van McCoy supervised the production, which is mostly handled by Charles Kipps. There's a fair bit of strings in the backings, and keyboards are by Richard Tee – on titles that include "Looking Over My Shoulder", "Heartache In Disguise", "We Can't Live Life Alone", "I Can't Stop Loving Her", "Baby I'm Available", and "Face The Fact".

Anacostia make the move to Tabu Records for this sweet second set – and they seem to have picked up more of a groove along the way! The same elements as before are firmly in place here – production by Charles Kipps, with supervision from Van McCoy – but the groove is a bit more focused, in ways that slide out spaciously with that warmer modern soul feel that made Tabu a real up-and-comer of a soul label in the late 70s. There's a few nice mellow cuts, mixed with more upbeat groovers – and titles include "Take It Or Leave It", "I Don't Need", "All For You", "You've Got Love On Your Side", and "Anything For You".

Mellow soul and soaring club – all nicely balanced together in this first album from the group Anacostia! There's a sound here that's slightly different than some of the other east coast groups of the time – a willingness to slow things down, then groove them up – all with a sound that's polished, but never in a too-commercial sort of way. In fact, most of these tunes seem to aim for a space that's pretty far both from radio, and conventional disco – despite the fact that Van McCoy supervised the production, which is mostly handled by Charles Kipps. There's a fair bit of strings in the backings, and keyboards are by Richard Tee – on titles that include "Looking Over My Shoulder", "Heartache In Disguise", "We Can't Live Life Alone", "I Can't Stop Loving Her", "Baby I'm Available", and "Face The Fact".

Nobody fills a dancefloor like Philly – especially with a batch of 70s groovers this great! The set's a really well-chosen batch of classics from the City Of Brotherly Love – one that features a few hits and lots more overlooked nuggets from the Gamble & Huff universe on Philly International – plus some even more obscure bits from labels like Buddah or Epic – showing that there was lots of great Philly work going on in the 70s! The package was put together by Ralph Tee – the man who gave us the sublime Philadelphia Uncovered collections – and the set features 16 titles that include "I Just Can't Goodbye" by Philly Devotions, "I'll Always Love My Mama" by The Intruders, "Do You Like The Way I Love" by The Ebonys, "People Power" by Billy Paul, "Party Time Man" by The Futures, "Can't Accept The Fact" by Gateway, "Falling In Love With You" by Jimmy Ruffin, "Midnight Lady" by David Morris Jr, "Words Without Love" by City Limits, "All I Need" by Anacostia, "Make It Last" by Barbara Mason & The Futures, "Your Love Has Me Locked Up" by The Modulations, and "The Love I Lost" by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes.