Nine-piece funk aggregation B.T. Express are best remembered for two things. First, they scored a handful of topnotch Top 40 hits like "Do It ('Til You're Satisfied)" and the instrumental "Express." Second, keyboardist Michael Jones rose to great prominence in the 1980's as a singer, songwriter, and producer (Whitney Houston, George Benson) under the stage name of Kashif (see The Definitive Collection, 1998). Originally known as the Brooklyn Trucking Express, the B.T. Express tightened up their name to match the tight, irresistible grooves that made them major players on the rhythm & blues charts and on the dancefloor in the 70's and early eighties.

While the biggest B.T. Express hits (especially "Do It 'Til You're Satisfied") show up on better funk compilations like Rhino's In Yo' Face: The History Of Funk, aficionados will no doubt appreciate a healthier dose of the band's potent cure for standing still. I prescribe Best Of The B.T. Express (1997, also on Rhino), a 15-song compendium containing all their pop hits and a fair amount of their numerous R'n'B chart entries.

Kashif's solo music was a far smoother than his former group's, notable more for its popularity and its pioneering use of technology than its more lasting artistic qualities. Personally, I can't really recommend it, but big fans of 80's rhythm & blues will doubtlessly swoon. [top of page]