Ayers was simultaneously the most approachable and most inscrutable of jazz-funkers. This compilation correctly focuses on his ’70s work, and a strange world it is, too: blissful chord sequences and much-sampled rhythms whose utopia is constantly subverted by sinister undertows?the ominous strings defying the New World optimism of “We Live In Brooklyn, Baby” or the string synthesizer cutting like an icepick through “Everybody Loves The Sunshine”. Hyperactive disco classic “Running Away” earns its poignancy because the musicians are clearly running on the spot. “The Third Eye” even anticipates AR Kane’s stoned dream-pop. Marvellous.
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