An amazing collection of 70s soul tracks – sweet, mellow, laidback, and including loads of numbers that have been buried for years! The focus here is not on obscure groups, but on lesser-known album tracks by bigger names – including many chillout numbers that have a sweet jazzy feel, and which might have gotten eclipsed by some of the artists' bigger hits. ?uestlove of the Roots put the set together, and the whole set's got the deep soulfulness of his own work with that group – track after track of mellow 70s soul, jazzy riffs, spacey instrumentation, and warm vocals effortlessly sliding together! Titles include "Star Of The Story" by Heatwave, "Be My Girl" by Michael Henderson, "Clover" by Earth Wind & Fire, "Before The Dawn" by Patrice Rushen, "Can We Pretend" by Bill Withers, "That's What Friends Are For" by Deniece Williams, "Next To Nature" by Jean Claude Toran, "Glowin" by The Rationals, "Magic In Your Eyes" by Rufus & Chaka Khan, "Sensuality (parts 1 & 2)" by The Isley Brothers, "Sienna" by Stanley Cowell, "Quiet Storm" by Smokey Robinson, "Wheels Of Life" by Gino Vannelli, and "Gotta Find A Lover" by Roy Ayers. CD

A fantastic little set that looks at the huge wave of top-shelf AOR material recorded in recent years – part of a huge global re-awakening to the charms of the genre – often with results that are even groovier than the classic records of the 70s! One of the compelling things here is that the music isn't being made by big names on major labels – and instead is an almost-underground thing – but handled at a level that's completely faithful to the best Cali styles of the 70s – from sweet jazzy instrumentation right down to the perfect production styles to get the whole thing right. You'll recognize a few names here – and will hopefully discover a lot more too – as titles include "Tell Me" by William Sikstrom, "Quiet Storm" by Workshy, "Liberation Groove" by Incognito, "You Make My Life A Better Place" by Mamas Gun, "What You Deserve" by Chris Cauley, "See Me Slumber" by Young Gun Silver Fox, "Melt The Night" by Lucas Arruda, "All Smiles" by Jeremy Passion, "Walkin On Air" by Tomi Malm, "Good To Live" by Monkey House, "Thoughts" by Michael Carreon, "Dangerous" by Umii, "Hello Monday" by Briamarie, "The Greatest" by King, "Perish The Thought" by Ned Doheny, "Sweet Life" by Mike Champion, and "Don't Disturb This Groove" by Meshell Ndegeocello. CD