Twenty-six of the duo's 1964-1967 recordings (five previously unissued) for the and labels are on this compilation. Note, however, that this is just a partial retrospective of their mid-'60s work, since during this time were also releasing sides on several different other labels. It remains, though, a good sampling of their sound during this era, when their soul tracks still betrayed much of their blues/R&B roots, and before the arrangements had gotten as heavy and beefy as they would in the late '60s and early '70s. 's vocals are unflaggingly enthusiastic and committed, if perhaps not as nuanced as they could be. What keeps this from the top rank of mid-'60s soul, however, is the largely average, occasionally below average material (mostly written by ). It's often a collision of blues, chitlin circuit R&B, and brassy pop-soul that sounds a bit dashed off. There are some ace moments along the way, of course, like the infectious the down-and-bluesy and the swaggering soul-swing shuffle of 's twangy guitar seems underutilized for much of the set, and there's very little of the vocal sparring that would be such a big part of their act by the early '70s. goes into a big rap on the previously unissued where she really overdoes the raspy breast-beating; ' more famous version has a big edge. is minor-keyed blues/R&B that's not too far from territory; at the other extreme, has gossamer strings typical of the New York pop-soul on the / labels. ~ Richie Unterberger