What looked at first like a premature marketing ploy -- a greatest-hits collection after only three albums? -- now makes some historical sense, for founding member
Lee Ritenour
left the quartet not long after the CD's release. So this is in essence a summary of
Fourplay
's first edition, a collection of mildly funky, ethereally voiced selections from
,
Between the Sheets
, and
Elixir
, where
Ritenour
Bob James
Nathan East
Harvey Mason
integrate their personalities into a smoothly homogenized whole. To sweeten the pot for the hardcore fans,
recorded three new tracks for the album --
Stevie Wonder
's
"Higher Ground"
with vocals by
Take 6
"4 Play and Pleasure,"
and
"Any Time of Day"
-- all fairly uneventful. The musicianship is impeccable, the production velvety, and despite the suitable-for-lovemaking-and-commuting stamp of approval, one wishes that these fine players would just cut loose and really rip once in a while. ~ Richard S. Ginell