Together

George McCrae and his wife, Gwen McCrae, were just past the peak of their popularity when they recorded the 1976 LP Together as a duo. George was still riding his 1974 chart-topper "Rock Your Baby," while Gwen had scored a Top Ten hit of her own shortly afterward with "Rockin' Chair." Although they'd been pursuing solo careers, in fact they'd recorded as a duo in the early '70s, so Together was not so much a new pairing as a reunion, though ironically they'd separate romantically not long after it was done. "Rock Your Baby" in particular is regarded as a pivotal early disco record, but the Together album isn't a straight disco outing, though some disco's involved. Instead, it's a rather typical if high-class mid-'70s Miami soul album, disco rhythms informing some of the more uptempo tracks (especially "Let's Dance Dance Dance"), but others veering toward straighter romantic soul. None of the songs are particularly outstanding (and "I'll Do the Rockin'" seems like an obvious attempt to milk the "Rock Your Baby" formula), but it's pleasantly professional period soul-disco, the songs largely written by Clarence Reid. The 2009 CD reissue on Shout adds historical liner notes and a half-dozen George McCrae solo bonus tracks, the most interesting of which are three mid-'70s cuts (including the small hit "I Ain't Lyin'"); the others date from much later in his career. ~ Richie Unterberger