The Chi Lites Oh Girl

Behind the talents of Eugene Record, the Chi-Lites presented an impeccable album featuring one gem after another. Not losing any steam from their previous album, the Chi-Lites plugged another number one song, the universally appealing "Oh Girl," which also claimed the number one spot on the pop charts. "Coldest Days of My Life" came with a placid arrangement and peaked at number eight, and "Lonely Man" was a humble extension of "Have You Seen Her." From the testimonial "Living in the Footsteps of Another Man" to the mid-tempo "Being in Love" to the ballad "Love Is," the Chi-Lites were flawless with this effort. Record is masterful with his articulation of the lyric; he stays in control of his vocals. His penmanship is phenomenal and his production skills are irreproachable. The only socially charged number is a remake of the Marvin Gaye classic "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)," and it's done with skillful execution.

Rhino's expansive six-CD box set of 1970s soul called Can You Dig It?, this wonderfully sequenced collection stands as an impressive survey of the genre in its own right, running the gamut from Al Green and Marvin Gaye to the Chi-Lites, Sly Stone, the Staple Singers, and Earth, Wind & Fire and beyond with nary a slack track in sight. It may technically be a sampler, but in being so it doesn't have the luxury of pausing for breath or historical reflection, which means this compilation, sampler or not, delivers bang for the buck from end to end.