VA - As We Travel (Folk Funk Flavours & Ambient Soul) (2002)

As We Travel, the follow-up to the Harmless label's excellent Make Music comp, may be better than its predecessor, assembling an even more perfectly nuanced collection of spacious, mellow soul cuts from the early '70s. Unified by their acoustic guitars, gently bubbling basslines, and sweetly funky rhythms, these dozen songs come together to create a ravishingly beautiful mood perfect for Sunday morning listening -- the subtitle, Folk Funk Flavours & Ambient Soul, speaks volumes about the scope and effect of the grooves therein. Compiler John Stapleton even achieves a wonderful balance between familiar favorites and relative obscurities, juxtaposing the likes of Shuggie Otis' "Strawberry Letter 23" and Funkadelic's "Can You Get to That" against the little-known Lyn Christopher's "Take Me With You" -- hell, even erstwhile Brit girl-group queen Sandie Shaw makes an appearance with "Your Time Is Gonna Come."