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SLAVE DESERVES MORE RECOGNITION

Maria Alvarez | Stevens Point,WI USA | 05/13/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Slave was a highly influential funk aggregate with the most cohesive instrumentation you'll ever hear and brilliant song arrangements. Their compositions became instantaneous memories in the minds of funk followers everywhere,and they were that rare band that could make a sound that was simultaneously polished and raw. Not too many bands could add this to their credit. Slave was and remains THE ultimate band in the archives of 70's & 80's urban funk. A Slave song or album was something that immediately became a classic from its conception. Back in the day,the production on their albums far surpassed that of their funk colleagues. Their image is untouchable funk gold,and their musical legacy and the impact of their idiosyncratic sound on much of the music of today is incomparable. Which brings me to this paltry and hastily made set of tracks from Slave's repertoire. This is really a poor representation of Slave because it doesn't provide you with enough songs to give you a clear picture of who Slave really was. The songs are presented here in a choppy manner and are clustered together disorderly. Like every other Slave collection put out there,this release fails to shed any light on their cutting-edge 1980's era tracks,and it contains nearly an identical playlist to the first compilation. These 'greatest hits' or 'best of' CDs will give the listener just a taste of Slave's musical catalog,but they will not serve as an anthology of the band's musical growth & evolution from beginning to end. I feel that Slave's ingenious contributions to funk and all of music are sorely overlooked in the contemporary music market. That is why they should release Slave's classic albums such as Showtime,Visions of the Lite,and Bad Enuff."