Lamont Dozier - Why Can't We Be Lovers? The Definitive Collection [3CD Box Set] (2005)

At three CDs, this is a big collection of Lamont Dozier's solo work, certainly. But definitive? How can it be, when his mid-'70s ABC albums aren't represented at all? Instead, it's a rather haphazard (if extensive) sampling of tracks from various sources, including the entirety of his Invictus album Love & Beauty (which comprises disc one) and several tracks apiece from four albums done between 1977 and 1983 (which comprise all of disc three). The source for the ten tracks on disc two, meanwhile, isn't specified; all bear a 2001 copyright date, but the package has no details about them, other than that this disc has reworked tracks from his 1973 LP Out Here on My Own. It wouldn't matter so much if the music was outstanding, but it isn't. It's competent, sometimes faceless period mid-'70s-to-early-'80s soul, none of the songs reaching the heights of the material Dozier so often had a hand in creating prior to these recordings. It's not his voice that's problematic; the singing's good, if not as good as those of the best artists for whom he wrote and produced. It's the material that fails to rise above the average, Dozier by this time having become a reflector of trends rather than a trendsetter. That doesn't mean there aren't some items of interest here, like the hit "Why Can't We Be Lovers" and the ominous, despondent "Out Here on My Own" (albeit in its vaguely sourced 2001-copyrighted version). But not only is there not enough good Dozier solo material to make a solid three-CD set -- those who want the best stuff would be far better served by a concise single-disc compilation of the highlights in his solo catalog.