Starting with the funky eco-consciousness trip that is Only So Much Oil In The Ground, Urban Renewal kicks off at full-throttle, with ToP at the top of their game.
For my money this is the classic era for Tower, with Lenny Williams brilliant voice in full flower, Chester Thompson's keys work always full of burning soul (lovely phat Hammond work throughout!). Francis Rocco Prestia's fingers nimbly extract maximum funk from the bass, and David Bartlett rises to the challenge of filling David Garibaldi's (platform) shoes on drums. And of course, there's those fabled horns to delight in too.
It's Not The Crime is an endearing flower-power era quasi-philosophical reflection on legal boundaries. Pretty simple, but also pretty deep. Tracks like Come Back baby, I Won't Leave Unless You Want Me To, and Willing To Learn keep the laidback Soul Ballad quotient up.
For Lovers of hard, greasy funk there's the angular horn-laden masterpiece Maybe It'll Rub Off, and in a similar vein Give Me the Proof. (To Say The Least) You're The Most is purty durn funky too. I Believe In Myself is a funky, struttin' piece of self-affirmation, and the album signs off with the superb instrumental Walkin' Up Hip Street, in which the band really stretches out, whilst remaining tight as an olympic trampoline, and Bruce Conte and Chester Thompson play particularly fabulous solos.
Along with Bump City, In The Slot and Back To Oakland, this is essential ToP.
