Welcome to the twelfth episode of Summer Slow Jams here on the Hideaway. Today, we listen to two budget priced twelve track compilations from the usually wonderful American Beat Records. Unfortunately, the two discs are titled All-Time Greatest: Slow Jams, ultimately setting them up for failure. Do the discs live up to such lofty ambitions? How do the tracklists compare to The Greatest Slow Jam Mix Ever! ??? Lemme get the cellophane off of these bad girls and load them into the five disc tray and we shall find out.
Does anyone else think they cheaped out on the cover art? The graphic is all wrong and how did they miss the missing "m"? And there is one more thing but we'll get to that after the music which has all been featured prior here on Summer Slow Jams on any number of albums. It's all quality stuff spanning multiple decades and I got no qualms with any of it but according to the cover art, the Delfonics are on the disc and they are not among the twelve songs I just heard. They do appear on Vol. 2 though.
Released alongside Vol. 1 in 2006, Vol. 2 is more of the same. The cover is still boring but at least there are no errors. Eleven of the twelve songs have been heard here on Summer Slow Jams before but the twelfth song ("Ooh Child" by the Five Stairsteps) really doesn't fit the slow jam profile. No complaints about the other songs on the disc as they are tried, tested and true. Taken together, the two discs yield just over ninety minutes of music. And you know what? Vol. 1 has two songs and Vol. 2 has four songs for a total of six songs from The Greatest Slow Jams Mix Ever!
Thanks for twice mentioning The Greatest Slow Jams Mix Ever, a compilation that lives up to its name AND contains no mistakes on the cover art!
ReplyDeleteAs for these two compilations, I gotta admit they're pretty darn good. Using the proprietary formula of the SRK Scale®, the first volume scores a 66.67, while the second does better at 83.33, plus it contains THE GREATEST SLOW JAM OF ALL TIME.