Free Soul Voice

Less adventurous listeners looking for a good jumping-on point in the Free Soul series would be well served by considering Free Soul Voice. For this volume, compiler Toru Hashimoto once again scours the nooks and crannies of the Warner vaults, coming up with the usual obscurities but also a handful of R&B perennials likely to strike a chord of recognition in anyone who's spent any time soaking in the sounds of oldies radio. Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle" and Patrice Rushen's "Forget Me Nots" are classics by any metric, and they set the tone for a collection that's wonderfully eclectic but eminently accessible. Folk-rock (America's "Slow Down") sits comfortably next to sweet soul (the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band's shimmering "Love Land"), and indie pop (Aztec Camera's "All I Need Is Everything") fits alongside funk (Chaka Khan's "I Know You, I Live You").