VA - Uptown Soul, Downtown Funk (2007)

For the most part this is a really mediocre collection of nu-soul and funk assembled by the Sunswept label. While it's funky, there aren't any pile-driving, ass-shaking numbers here, only rather stylized approximations of the real thing. And it's not what passes for funk in the 21st century either. Ronnie Dyson comes the closest with "Constantly." The "downtown" notion here is simply a misnomer. As for "uptown soul," the guy that comes the closest is Booker Newberry III with "Since You're Gone" and Vera Brown's "Little Did I Know." Barbara Mason's "Another Man," walks the line between funk-lite and nu-soul, but something is missing in nearly all the tracks here. Avoidable.