Sounds Of Blackness - The Collection (2003)

The new jack-meets-gospel production style of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis helped Sounds of Blackness place three singles ("Optimistic," "The Pressure," "Testify") from 1991's Evolution of Gospel high on the pop charts, and truthfully, that album still stands as the best introduction to the Sounds of Blackness collective. Which is not meant to disparage anthologies such as this one, which collects all three of the big hits as well as interesting revisits to Sly Stone's "You Can Make It if You Try" and Gamble & Huff's "Love Train," but as a group dedicated to presenting the full spectrum of African-American music, Sounds of Blackness got it exactly right on Evolution of Gospel. Start there.