Rock Instrumental Classics, Vol. 4: Soul
The most consistently enticing disc in theRock Instrumental Classicsseries, this is both a great party and driving record and a window on the rhythms that powered soul music in the '60s (and early '70s, in two cases). In addition to some obvious choices (the fourBooker T. & the MG'stracks, theMar-Keys' "Last Night"), it also offers some left-field picks, such as the varied approaches to Latin music offered byRay Barretto,Mongo Santamaria, andEl Chicano. The stock of virtuoso performances here is all but endless: the bass-and-drums breakdown on Cliff Nobles and Co.'s "The Horse," the glinting guitar solo on theBar-Kays' "Soul Finger,"Hugh Masekela's questing trumpet on "Grazing in the Grass."--Rickey Wright