The Brothers Johnson - Greatest Hits (1996)

Coming to prominence toward the tail end of the funk era (the late '70s), the Brothers Johnson boasted a polished, state-of-the-art studio sound that took into account the rise of disco in black pop, not to mention the synthesizer. Early on, they also had an important ally in producer Quincy Jones, who masterminded their first four albums; not surprisingly, those turned out to be their most successful, though they continued to record through the first half of the '80s, often producing themselves. Greatest Hits throws in a few of those '80s cuts for good measure, but concentrates mostly on their prime years with Jones, which produced the classic singles "I'll Be Good to You," the psychedelic "Strawberry Letter 23," and "Stomp!"; all three hit number one on the R&B charts, and "Get the Funk out Ma Face" also made the Top Ten. Greatest Hits also includes a number of fine lesser singles over its 15 tracks, including "Ain't We Funkin' Now," "Runnin' for Your Lovin'," "Free and Single," and "Light up the Night," as well as the Grammy-winning instrumental "Q." It also gathers a couple of their bigger '80s hits, "The Real Thing" and "You Keep Me Comin' Back," though it leaves off 1982's "Welcome to the Club," which just missed the R&B Top Ten. Even so, Greatest Hits still stands as a near-definitive Brothers Johnson compilation; it's certainly all that casual fans will need, and it serves the needs of most funk fanatics pretty nicely as well.