Barry White BEST OF/20TH CENTURY

This 12-song thumbnail sketch of Barry White's career offers a concise glimpse at the great one's impressive body of work. A couple of songs are conspicuous by their absence (the instrumental "Love's Theme" and "You're the First, the Last, My Everything"). However, you still get such stunners as "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up" and "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe," which combined lush orchestration, dance-floor smarts, and more unbridled lust than a convention of Tom Jones impersonators in their ride to the top of the 1970s charts. Positioned squarely between disco and old-school soul, White was an important figure in American pop music, and his songs remain a part of the collective pop-culture consciousness. This collection offers a quick dip of the toe into White's soulful waters, after which you'll undoubtedly want to venture further.

• Format: CD
• Genre: Pop