A solid if unremarkable soul-jazz effort spotlighting
Clarence Wheeler's velveteen saxophone,
The Love I've Been Looking For indeed boasts the romantic glow its title portends -- beatheads and crate diggers searching for percolating grooves to sample should look elsewhere, however. As covers collections go, it's rather tepid -- Wheeler & the Enforcers add nothing new to pop stalwarts like
the Beatles' "Something" and
the Carpenters' "We've Only Just Begun," while their renditions of jazz tunes like
Charles Earland's "Mighty Burner" and
Brother Jack McDuff's "Heebie Jeebie Dance" pale in comparison to the originals. More impressive is "Broasted or Fried," an upbeat groover that suggests what the band might do with a full album of funkier material -- though well-played and heartfelt,
The Love I've Been Looking For is undone by an absence of energy. ~ Jason Ankeny