One of the things that excites me most about this album is it's obscurity in Ramsey's usually popular Columbia era catalog. I only knew it existed a few years ag on fact. Released in 1974 this album marks an important missing piece of the puzzle in the development of Ramsey's funk era sound. Basically that would be the link between Funky Serenity' and Sun Goddessand,in terms of release date this album is indeed sandwiched directly in between. True no expense was taken for the cover photography,which might've resulted in a lot of people passing it over thinking it was some low quality budget compilation of old songs. But this album is in fact very important for how Ramsey would make music for the remainder of the decade. And I doubt the decade would've continued in the same pattern for him without it. Recorded in Memphis with Steve Cropper playing and writing on some of the songs, this album also showcases Ramsey's first fully integrated use of synthesizers,using ARP's and Moogs to play actual chords and melodies as opposed to adding sound accents. "Sweet And Tender You" and "Solar Wind" both possess that wah wah/70's Stax style funk that showcased the type of dancability that would greatly influence the disco era. Seems Ramsey was really into Seals & Croft as he did both their songs "Hummingbird" and "Summer Breeze" on this album,infusing his sense of bluesy grooving inprovisations on piano to the well known melodies. His own "Jamaican Marketplace" is a major triumph,with the Caribbean percussion making for just the type of world music fusion that results in the most captivating funk,which this is. He takes a similar route on Sonny Rollins' "The Everywhere Calypso",which is another festively grooving funk jam for this album. "Love Me Like A Rock" and Elton John's "Come Down In Time" are both done with the more jazzier flavors on this album,the former a lot bluesier and gospel inflected of course while the Taupin/John piece really abstracts on the melody in the manner of the previous album. The one important thing I can say about his album is the production is crisper and more contemporary than the previous album Ramsey had done. But it is free of the somethings burdoning clutter of horns and strings that would sometimes obscure the flavors of his own sound on later albums. The funk is both basic and full here all at once. And especially if your a jazz oriented musician making funk music,it's not always a bad idea to keep to that sense of basic fullness. Makes it easy for solo's to be played with clarity but also for the sound to remain dynamic. Ramsey only achieved this quality on an album here or there later. And while he had many masterpieces yet to come in the 70's this album really deserves a better first look,let alone a second.