Music from Paul Evans, Leroy Pullins, The Nutty Squirrels, Vicky Randle & Stewart Copeland, Billy Williams, Henhouse Five Plus Two, Stewart Copeland, Dave Hardin, Vicky Randle & Stewart Copeland, Stan Ridgeway & Stewart Copeland, Stewart Copeland & Judd Miller, Damecus Metoyer & Stewart Copeland, The Grid, and The Rock-A-Teens. CD

Two Capitol classics from the great Gene Dunlap – back to back on a single CD! First up is It's Just The Way I Feel – a classic soulful fusion album recorded and released during the crucial years of the "Capitol Rare" sound! Gene Dunlap is a jazz drummer at heart – but he's got a flair for the modern soul song – and in the same style as Norman Connors or Harvey Mason before him, he manages to put together a strong record of grooves and ballads from behind the kit! The strongest point of the record is work by The Ridgeways, a female soul trio who sing on the best tracks, giving them a smooth Jones Girls-ish kind of sound. The album includes two modern soul classics – "Before You Break My Heart" and "It's Just the Way I Feel" – plus "Love Dancin", "Rock Radio", "I Got You", and "Surest Things Can Change". Party In Me is wonderful work from Gene Dunlap – a jazzy soul drummer, and also a maestro with a killer ear for a modern soul groove! The album's got a mix of grooves and sophistication that are a bit like the best early 80s material from Roy Ayers – never chartbound, and never too commercial – but nice and tight, and really well put together! The instrumentation has plenty of jazzy 80s groove touches – especially in the keyboards – and Dunlap does a nice job of balancing up beat tracks with the mellow moments we love so much in his work. Vocals are from a variety of singers – including the great Ethel Beatty, who'd sung with Roy Ayers – plus Phillippe Wynne, Pam Lawson, and Gene himself – and titles include "Something Inside My Head", "Something Special", "Corner Pocket", "There Will Never Be Another (Like You)", "Party In Me", "Jam City", and "This One's On Me". CD

Damn, One Way never lets us down – and although the group cut many albums back in the day, all of them have some great standout moments! The groove here seems even tighter than ever, but never slick or commercial – a very important distinction, given that so many of One Way's contemporaries really let things slide as they headed for the pop charts. Not so with Al Hudson and group, though – as they always know how to balance things out with all the best elements they had from the start – a good mix of upbeat groovers and some mellower steppers – the latter of which really make us love the record. Titles include the smooth stepper "More Than Friends, Less Than Lovers", which features lead vocals by Ewana Wilson, and some sweet harmonies by the Ridgeways that really make the track – and other titles include "Let's Talk", "Serving It", "Condemned", and "If I Knew". CD also features the bonus track "Let's Talk (extended version)". CD

Damn, One Way never lets us down – and although the group cut many albums back in the day, all of them have some great standout moments! The groove here seems even tighter than ever, but never slick or commercial – a very important distinction, given that so many of One Way's contemporaries really let things slide as they headed for the pop charts. Not so with Al Hudson and group, though – as they always know how to balance things out with all the best elements they had from the start – a good mix of upbeat groovers and some mellower steppers – the latter of which really make us love the record. Titles include the smooth stepper "More Than Friends, Less Than Lovers", which features lead vocals by Ewana Wilson, and some sweet harmonies by the Ridgeways that really make the track – and other titles include "Let's Talk", "Serving It", "Condemned", and "If I Knew". CD also features the bonus track "Let's Talk (extended version)". CD