Later work by General Crook – very different than his funkier sides of the 60s, but still pretty darn great! "Best Years Of My Life" is a wonderful ballad cut – strings gently gliding as Crook's rich vocals come into deliver a sweet and sad lyric. "Testification" is more electric – with funky clavinet at the beginning, and a flanged-out approach on the vocals. 7-inch, Vinyl record

Very nice funky stuff! This may be the best single ever by this lost Chicago funk artist. It's got a great hard groove, in a very James Brown way, and raw heavy lyrics in the best funky 45 tradition. 7-inch, Vinyl record

The only full album ever cut by General Crook – a great soul talent from Chicago who's best known for his earlier funky 45s! This album's great, though, and it has Crook moving past the hard funk of earlier days – into a sweet mellow soul vein that's somewhere in the territory of Leroy Hutson or Bobby Wilson, but a little bit funkier at times. Many tracks have keyboards (moog, clavinet, Fender Rhodes) in the lead, always played by Crook – but the real treat is the vocals, which are extremely soulful on the best cuts, in an honest indie early 70s mode that's rarely duplicated! In fact, the ballad cuts are really the best on the album – and even though we dig Crook's funk work, we're really sent by the mellower cuts on the LP, like "The Best Years Of My Life", "I'm Satisfied", "Tell Me What'cha Gonna Do", and his sweet remake of "If This World Were Mine", which starts with a great monologue! Other cuts include "Reality", "Fever In The Funkhouse", and "Lyin Cheatin Woman". CD features bonus tracks – single mixes of "Testing" and "Fever In The Funkhouse". CD

A bit of a comeback for Chicago soul legend Syl Johnson – a set initially recorded for the smaller indie Erect, but picked up for bigger distribution by Boardwalk thanks to a catchy title hit! The sound here is quite different from Syl's Twinight or Hi Records years – still a bit bluesy overall, but also going for a much tighter boogie-based groove – in keeping with the sound of Erect at the time. Johnson's vocals still retain that nice kind of pinch that shows his down home roots, but the instrumentation is much tighter than before – often in an electric mode that's a bit like Malaco in the 80s, only slicker. Syl produced the record with General Crook – and titles include the nice groover "Ms Fine Brown Frame", plus "Sweet Thing", "You Don't Have To Go", "It Ain't Easy", "Groove Me", and "Keep On Loving Me". LP, Vinyl record album

Syl's last big record – a sweet bluesy groover for the clubs, with a bit of an older feel to it. "Ms Fine Brown Frame" was written with General Crook, who also produced and arranged. Backing on all tracks is by the James Cotton group. 12-inch, Vinyl record