Jones Girls / At Peace with Woman

After years of cutting their teeth in studio sessions and as background singers, the Jones Girls finally had their chance in the Philadelphia International spotlight, and this two-album-on-one-disc compilation captures two of their finest efforts: 1979's eponymous debut and its follow-up, At Peace with Woman. All of Philadelphia International's usual big-name suspects make contributions here; names like Gamble & Huff, Dexter Wansel, and Bunny Sigler all produce or write one solid song after another for the first half of this disc, including one of their biggest hits, "You're Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else." At Peace with Woman, the follow-up from 1980, didn't have as much staying power on the charts as their debut, but songs like "I Just Love the Man" and "Dance Turned into Romance" proved that the Jones Girls were not just a B-team version of the Three Degrees, but solid artists in their own right. ~ Rob Theakston