Sons of Soul
Sons of Soulis the third album from Tony! Toni! Tone! and one of 1993's best efforts from any quarter. The Oakland trio (which contains no one named Toni) drew its inspiration for this project from such childhood heroes as Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, and Sly Stone, but they have transformed those materials with up-to-date hip-hop and Caribbean flavors. Much more important than the influences, old or new, is the high quality of Ray Wiggins' singing and songwriting, which marries rhythm, melody and meaning as effectively as his heroes once did.--Geoffrey Himes