Fourplay - The Best Of Fourplay (1997)

What looked at first like a premature marketing ploy -- a greatest-hits collection after only three albums? -- now makes some historical sense, for founding member Lee Ritenour left the quartet not long after the CD's release. So this is in essence a summary of Fourplay's first edition, a collection of mildly funky, ethereally voiced selections from Fourplay, Between the Sheets, and Elixir, where Ritenour, Bob James, Nathan East, and Harvey Mason integrate their personalities into a smoothly homogenized whole. To sweeten the pot for the hardcore fans, Fourplay recorded three new tracks for the album -- Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" with vocals by Take 6, "4 Play and Pleasure," and "Any Time of Day" -- all fairly uneventful. The musicianship is impeccable, the production velvety, and despite the suitable-for-lovemaking-and-commuting stamp of approval, one wishes that these fine players would just cut loose and really rip once in a while. -- Richard S. Ginell ~