Excellent solo work by Lowrell Simon – once a singer with Lost Generation, but opening up a whole new style of Chicago soul here on his own! The album's a tasty batch of smooth soul tracks with a midtempo club groove – not disco, but with the kind of large production and loping groove that you'd find in a good Barry White album – hitting all the right mellow funky moments at once! The prime example of this is the killer "Mellow Mellow Right On" – offered up here in two long parts that take up most of side two of the original album. Other nice ones include a version of Lowrell's "Overdose Of Love", plus the tracks "Out Of Breath", "You're Playing Dirty" and "Smooth & Wild". CD

Excellent solo work by Lowrell Simon – once a singer with Lost Generation, but opening up a whole new style of Chicago soul here on his own! The album's a tasty batch of smooth soul tracks with a midtempo club groove – not disco, but with the kind of large production and loping groove that you'd find in a good Barry White album – hitting all the right mellow funky moments at once! The prime example of this is the killer "Mellow Mellow Right On" – offered up here in two long parts that take up most of side two of the original album. Other nice ones include a version of Lowrell's "Overdose Of Love", plus the tracks "Out Of Breath", "You're Playing Dirty" and "Smooth & Wild". LP, Vinyl record album

The second album by this obscure California soul group – not as tightly funky as their first LP, but with a good focus on mellower numbers to make up for that. Four of the album's seven tracks are written by Lowrell Simon, in a smoothly grooving mode that reminds us of the later singles by Lost Generation – a mix of Chicago harmony and mellow modern that comes out a lot better than the album's funkier tunes. Titles include "Vibes Are Good", "I Can Show You", "Easy Come Easy Go", "Night Cap", and "Tell Me". CD

Mindblowing work by The Impressions – a double-length set that's totally great! First up is the soundtrack for the Fred Williamson/Jim Brown/Jim Kelly action flick Three The Hard Way – not only a great soundtrack, but one of the best 70s albums by The Impressions! The set was written, arranged, and produced by the Curtom super-team of Rich Tufo and Lowrell Simon – and it's got a super-dope feel that reminds us of the work by Natural Four from the same time, with sweet harmonies over funky backings, in a hip 70s groove that's totally great! All cuts are vocal, but they have plenty of funky moments – and in a way, the whole album's as great as the lead track, which is normally the best one in a blacksploitation soundtrack like this. In other words, if you dig hit soundtrack theme songs like "Across 110th Street" or "Theme from Cleopatra Jones", you'll dig this entire album! Tracks include the great "Having A Ball", plus "Make A Resolution", "Something's Mighty Mighty Wrong", and "Three The Hard Way (Chase & Theme)". First Impressions is hardly the first album by The Impressions, despite the title – but a wonderful batch of modern soul tunes that proves that the group could groove long after Curtis Mayfield was gone! As with other Curtom gems from the 70s, the album has the group working with some really top-shelf help in the studio – production from Ed Townsend, who does a really great job of making the harmonies sparkle with a rich quality that really stands out – a mode that returns the group to the mellow brilliance of their 60s recordings, but still keeps some of the maturity they picked up along the way. Townsend also wrote most of the tracks on the set, with a confident male soul style that's not unlike the best love-heavy territory that Marvin Gaye was exploring at the time – a perfect fit for the newly-refined vocals of the mid 70s quartet lineup that included original members Sam Gooden and Fred Cash, plus Ralph Johnson and Reggie Toran. Titles include the sublime "Groove", which has a nice two-step feel, and "Sooner Or Later", which is a nice mellow cut with an undercurrent of funk – and other tracks include "Old Before My Time", "Same Thing It Took", "I'm So Glad", and "How High Is High". CD

A great little album by The Impressions – possibly their best of the 70s! The record's got a very solid harmony soul approach, and Lowrell Simon wrote and produced a number of tracks with Rich Tufo – giving the album the same sweet sexy sound that he brought to his best solo records, and his late work with The Lost Generation! The best example of this is the fantastic soul cut "We Go Back A Ways", a sweet mellow groover in the Leroy Hutson vein, and one of their standout cuts in the post-Curtis days. Ed Townsend worked on a number of other cuts, too, and he brings a real tightness to the songwriting – especially on the cuts "Guess What I Got", "Try Me (One More Time)", and "I'm A Changed Man". LP, Vinyl record album