GOLDEN MOMENTS

Recording information: Sigma Sound Studios, Philadelphia, PA; Studio Atlantis, Hollywood, CA. Photographers: Marc Baptiste; Keith Major; Stephen Lam. Golden Moments covers Jill Scott's 2000-2007 studio recordings for Hidden Beach. The label, launched in 2000 with Who Is Jill Scott?, was celebrating its 15th anniversary when this anthology was released. Meanwhile, Scott was still going strong, between the second and third singles from the follow-up to her 2011 album, Light of the Sun. The compilers here could have gone the easy route and simply sequenced these songs in chronological order. Golden Moments instead takes the shape of a smartly paced overview that jumps from album to album and shifts from mood to mood. All of Scott's charting Hidden Beach singles are here, from "Gettin' in the Way" -- one of those songs that kept the ears of first-time listeners perked for each line -- to the plush ballad "My Love." The singer scored only one Top Ten R&B hit, "A Long Walk," during this era, but she was more an album artist -- a top-tier one, in fact -- exemplified by the back-to-back placement of "Crown Royal" and "Slowly Surely." Those two prime album cuts are richer and more stimulating than most of the contemporaneous R&B singles that received maximum rotation. One selection is drawn from The Original Jill Scott from the Vault, Vol. 1, while another, a rather Minnie Riperton-ish, predominantly acoustic ballad titled "I Adore You," is fresh from the archive. The proper albums are all deep and have more to offer than what's on display here, but it's hard to imagine an introduction more effective than this one. ~ Andy Kellman