It's 1998, but Rhino Records isn't letting on-- they've just released the ultimate hardcore funk compilation, and as far as this disc is concerned, music came to a screeching halt exactly 20 years ago.

Millennium Funk Party boasts 20 monster tracks of hard funk classics by both the superstars (the Commodores' quintessential "Brick House," the Ohio Players' "Love Rollercoaster," Parliament's "Tear The Roof Off The Sucker," Kool & The Gang's "Jungle Boogie," and the Sugarhill Gang's brilliant "Rapper's Delight") and the lesser- knowns (Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music," B.T. Express' "Do It ('Til You're Satisfied)," the Emotions' "Best Of My Love," and Lakeside's awesome "Fantastic Voyage"). But what this package represents as a whole is the epitome of the vintage funk collection.

Directly competing with Polygram's Pure Funk release, the two compilations share six of the same tracks, and both omit a few greats. However, between the two discs, there are very few missing essentials. The tracks on Millennium Funk Party are just a tad more obscure than the mainstream smashes on Pure Funk, but that's what makes it more fun; these are songs you're not sick of.

-Ryan Schreiber