Smooth Grooves: A Sensual Collection, Vol. 8

Track Listings

1. Who Can I Run To? - The Jones Girls

2. Don't Ask My Neighbors - The Emotions

3. Magic Man - Robert Winters

4. Let's Get Closer - Atlantic Starr

5. Come Share My Love - Miki Howard

6. (Pop, Pop, Pop, Pop) Goes My Mind - LeVert

7. When We Get Married - Larry Graham

8. Country Girl (You're My Everything) - The Nights

9. (If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right [Rap] - Millie Jackson

10. If You Don't Know Me by Now - Patti LaBelle

11. Blind over You - Black Ice

12. Stars in Your Eyes - Herbie Hancock

Smooth Grooves: A Sensual Collection, Vol. 8,Various Artists,Rhino / Wea,70's,80's,Adult Contemporary,Disco,Funk,Pop,Quiet Storm,R&B,Retro-Soul,Soul,Soul/Reggae/Rhythm & Blues,Urban

Tracks:

Who Can I Run To - The Jones Girls
Don't Ask My Neighbors - Emotions
Magic Man - Robert Winters & Fall
Let's Get Closer - Atlantic Starr
Come Share My Love - Miki Howard
(Pop, Pop, Pop, Pop) Goes My Mind - LeVert
When We Get Married - Larry Graham
Country Girl (You're My Everything) - The Nights
(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want To Be Right/Rap/(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want To... - Millie Jackson
If You Don't Know Me By Now - Patti Labelle
Blind Over You - Black Ice
Stars In Your Eyes - Herbie Hancock

Customer Reviews:

Love Millie Jackson's sexy rap.......2007-05-10

There are two reasons why soul diva Millie Jackson is not as big a star as Aretha Franklin: 1) Her fondness for x-rated material, which often kept her songs from being played on the radio; and 2) her penchant for bad album covers, such as the one in which she's sitting on a toilet. But when Millie gets her groove on, there's no one to match her, not even mighty 'Re. A good example is "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Wanna Be Right," an old Luther Ingram song (also covered by Barbara Mandrell) that Millie enhances with a lengthy rap about the plight of the "other woman". Millie's sexy rap alone makes volume 8 of "Smooth Grooves" worth the price of the CD.

Decent Collection.......2006-12-11

Smooth Grooves: A Sensual Collection, Vol. 8 it isn't as consistent as earlier volumes in the series, but it contains a number of forgotten quiet storm classics from the late '70s and early '80s, including Levert's "(Pop, Pop, Pop, Pop) Goes My Mind," and The Emotions' "Don't Ask My Neighbors," Miki Howard's "Come Share My Love" and Larry Graham's "When We Get Married," among several other winners. One of my favorite songs on the CD is Atlantic Starr's Let's Get Closer but the standout on this CD is Who Can I Run to by the Jones Girls. The stunning ballad enjoyed a wide, spacious mix that generously showcased both the great lead vocals of Shirley Jones and her sisters' sweet harmonies. It stands as the Jones Girls' best ballad. The closing riff is sufficiently low-key and melodramatic with muted trumpet and soft flute. Xscape's 1995 gold cover pretty much adhered to the Jones Girls' original unsurpassed version.

Not one of the best volumes.......2006-06-27

If you want to get well acquainted with the Smooth Grooves series, it is best to find something from the first four volumes.

One surprise in this set, though, was Herbie Hancock's "Stars in Your Eyes." It was not something that I knew was by him, and it sounds very different from a lot of what he has written before. (Much of what he does is find a theme over the first measure of the song and then use is *all the way through*-- "Watermelon Man" or "Cantaloupe Island.")

This is, however, listenable if you just want to sit back and chill out after a day at work or are doing something that requires a mellow mood. (It is not seduction music.)

Fair slow jams collection .......2005-03-30

Rhino typically throws together great hit-packed collections but this is somewhat of an exception. The biggest chart hit here is #1 R&B hit "(Pop,Pop,Pop,Pop) Goes my Mind" from Levert. Outside of that, there are 3 R&B top 10s and one that just missed ("Magic Man" hit #11 for Robert Winters and Fall in 1980) with the rest being album tracks.

The great Stylistics soundalike "Country Girl (You're my Everything)"[didn't chart] astounds with some thrilling falsetto work. Millie Jackson's epic album cover of "(If Loving You is Wrong) I Don't Want to be Right"[didn't chart] brings every married woman's worst fears to life as Millie points out the problems with chasing someone who's already taken but then goes on to a laundry list of why she'd RATHER be with a married man..'the sweetest thing about the whole sitation is..that when you go to the laundromat you don't have to wash nobody's funky drawers but your own'. An album track from Atlantic Starr is wonderful ("Let's Get Closer")[didn't chart]. The Levert track ("(Pop,Pop,Pop,Pop) Goes my Mind") was a deserved #1 on the R&B charts.

Lesser tracks are one hit wonder Black Ice with "Blind Over You"[didn't chart] (their dance number "Shake Down Pt. 1" was a minor hit), a Patti LaBelle cover of "If You Don't Know me by Know"[#79 R&B,1986] from a 1985 concert in D.C., is pretty but it won't make you forget Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes 1972 hit rendition. "Come Share My Love" was a pretty sizable hit (#5 R&B,1986) but just doesn't have the timeless quality it needs to still sound good these days.

BOTTOM LINE:
If you're just looking for slow dance music, there are better collections. But if you're looking to find some "new" songs you may not know, the low charters (and non charters) here hide some gems.

3 1/2 stars

R&B Music:

R&B Music

r&b music

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Changes One