If your taste in soul singing runs to the smooth falsetto side of things, that exclusive place where guys like Curtis Mayfield exist, then it’s easy to believe that Eddie Kendricks was the best voice of not only The Temptations (a role he had from 1969-1971) but of his generation. This set distills the greatest of everything Kendricks recorded for Tamla-Motown in the '70s, post-Temptations. Every song here is model '70s soul, immaculately arranged, conceived, and executed. It kicks off with the million-selling No. 1 hit “Keep on Truckin’," and then that voice weaves through heady bedroom eye-to-eye (“Get the Cream Off the Top,” “Get It While It’s Hot”), easy-street shuffles (“Shoeshine Boy”), danceable downers (“Date with the Rain”), tender balladry (“This Used to Be the Home of Johnnie Mae”), and from-the-heart uplifters (“If You Let Me”). Tunes like the seven-plus-minute “Girl, You Need a Change of Mind” scored well with underground dancefloors and DJs before disco had swept the nation; it helps explain how Kendricks’ solo star rose up from the depths, just like his voice.