TESTIFY:VERY BEST OF

Sounds Of Blackness includes: Ann Nesby, Gary Hines. Additional personnel includes: Craig Mack (rap vocals); Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis (arranger). Producers include: Gary Hines, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Lance Alexander, Billy Steele. Compilation producer: Mike Ragogna. Includes liner notes by David Nathan. All tracks have been digitally remastered. Liner Note Author: David Nathan . Up until the time of The Very Best of Sounds of Blackness' release in late 2001, you headed straight to Evolution of Gospel if you wanted to hear Sounds of Blackness. That album had the group's biggest hits -- "Optimistic," "Testify," and "The Pressure" -- songs that not only scaled the R&B charts but partly defined an era. And, for many listeners, this was all the Sounds of Blackness they needed. Yet to write off the post-Evolution of Gospel Sounds of Blackness would be a mistake. Granted, the group never did deliver anything that would measure up to "Optimistic." However, they did come close. The group's 1994 follow-up, Africa to America, also featured Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis as producers as Evolution of Gospel did. So, as a result, there's no shortage of great moments on that album, many of which are featured here. In fact, the bulk of this best-of comes from Africa to America. And while Sounds of Blackness' other albums for the Perspective label -- The Night Before Christmas and Time for Healing -- are ignored for the most part, that's not such a bad thing -- they aren't particularly impressive albums and their absence makes more room for selections from Evolution of Gospel and Africa to America. There's also a soundtrack contribution here from the 1992 Mo' Money soundtrack, "Joy," another Jam and Lewis production. It's this emphasis on the group's work with Jam and Lewis that takes center stage on this best-of and rightfully so -- Sounds of Blackness never sounded quite as impressive without Janet Jackson's trademark producers behind the boards. So, even if this best-of leans heavily toward the Jam and Lewis productions, you really can't complain. ~ Jason Birchmeier