Masterpiece Vol.3 - The Ultimate Disco Funk Collection

Definitely not the strongest volume in the Masterpiece series from the Netherlands' PTG label, this disc nonetheless begins with a number one club single from 1985: Nuance and Vikki Love's "Loveride," produced by Ron Dean Miller (Raw Silk) and edited by the Latin Rascals. The Latin Rascals also edited one of disc's sweetest and harder to find cuts, Tululah Moon's "If You Want My Love" (the track's first known appearance on CD), which -- like another inclusion, Gayle Adams' "I'm Warning You" -- carries a kind of low-budget Compass Point Studio sound with its synth squelches and loose but percussion-stuffed makeup. One of the other certified hits here is Klinte Jones' "In the Heat (Of the Night)" (a number five club single mixed by Tony Humphries), one of several pieces of evidence that shows how prolific Black Ivory/Musique producer Patrick Adams remained relevant through the '80s. The tandem of Reggie Lucas and James Mtume, who were behind some of the most sophisticated and gorgeous "purist" late-period disco (classic stuff like Stephanie Mills' "What Cha Gonna Do with My Lovin'" and Phyllis Hyman's "You Know How to Love Me") also adapted to '80s sounds, as heard on Sunfire's "Shake Your Body." "With All My Love," from Ecstasy, Passion & Pain vocalist Barbara Roy, falls somewhere between freestyle and post-electro R&B a la Freeez. Lower rung singles from Rose Royce, Fox the Fox, Majik, and Twilight 22 have their charms but will be most useful to the most obsessive collectors of '80s club-oriented R&B. ~ Andy Kellman