Trevor Nelson - 17/06/2009

Trevor's Album Of The Week is Rose Royce II: In Full Bloom (1977). As strong as any of the songs featured on 1976's Car Wash soundtrack, Rose Royce's 1977 outing, II: In Full Bloom, allowed them to fully shine in their own right and on their own terms. Packed with tight funk jams and horn-heavy construction, tempered only occasionally by Dickey's sweet ballads, II: In Bloom is a disco-funk masterpiece - a pure fusion of both genres that works better than it has a right to, courtesy of both the band's own confidence and producer Norman Whitfield's artful magic. The wistful and absolutely sublime ballad Wishing On A Star opens the set and should have been a chart-heavy hitter but it reached number 52 on the R&B charts. Rose Royce may have shot to stardom with the Car Wash craze, but they are far better without the celluloid glitter covering up their own pure gold.