Ayers was simultaneously the most approachable and most inscrutable of jazz-funkers. This compilation correctly focuses on his โ€™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 โ€œWe Live In Brooklyn, Babyโ€ or the string synthesizer cutting like an icepick through โ€œEverybody Loves The Sunshineโ€. Hyperactive disco classic โ€œRunning Awayโ€ earns its poignancy because the musicians are clearly running on the spot. โ€œThe Third Eyeโ€ even anticipates AR Kaneโ€™s stoned dream-pop. Marvellous.