Grover Washington, Jr. - Love Songs (2001)

Rhino in the U.K. issued this so-called Platinum Collection. It is a single disc of 13 tracks from Grover Washington, Jr.'s period with Elektra, beginning with 1980's Come Morning and running through 1984's Inside Moves, when he jumped ship for Columbia. There were certainly hit records during the period, "Winelight" being the biggest, and Washington's singles charted, but his albums had become lackluster and the compilers of this knew it, which is why there are cross-licensed tunes from other labels such as the smash duet with Bill Withers on the Ralph McDonald-penned "Just the Two of Us." Truth of the matter is, this is an exact copy of the WEA International compilation called Definitive Grover Washington, Jr.: The Elektra Years and the previous Rhino edition called 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Grover Washington, Jr. It has little to recommend it. Any real Grover Washington collection has to include cuts from his Kudu and Motown periods just to get started. It is far more advisable to pick up the Hip-O collection entitled Ultimate Collection. ~ Thom Jurek