Best of Benton, the Impressions

Brook Benton and the Impressions--two of the most stylish though frequently under-rated entries in ‘60s R & B--are spotlighted in new budget CD “greatest hits” collections.

Benton, son of a South Carolina minister, was still a teen-ager when he began singing with gospel groups in the late ‘40s, but he eventually moved to secular music and scored a massive pop and R & B hit in 1959 with the ballad, “It’s Just a Matter of Time.”

Though Benton also slipped into country-tinged novelties (“The Boll Weevil Song”) and a touch of blues (“Lie to Me”), he remains best known for the smooth, Nat Cole-modeled mixture of graceful, almost understated vocals and lush string arrangements that was showcased on his initial hit.

The material featured on PolyGram’s “Brook Benton/Forty Greatest Hits,” a two-disc, 115-minute collection, ranges from such solo numbers as “So Many Ways” and “Rainy Night in Georgia” to two duets with Dinah Washington, “Baby (You’ve Got What It Takes)” and “A Rockin’ Good Way.”

Like Benton, Curtis Mayfield, the falsetto-prone leader of the Impressions vocal group, began in gospel music and tended to sing in a somewhat smooth and restrained manner. Mayfield, however, has been a more influential figure because there was a stirring, socially conscious undercurrent in many of his most affecting compositions, including “Keep on Pushing” and “People Get Ready.”

“The Impressions’ Greatest Hits” is a single, 31-minute disc from MCA that showcases the trio’s marvelous harmony and the best-known tunes. Equally essential, however, is Mayfield’s post-Impressions solo work (notably the 1972 “Superfly” sound track), none of which has yet to surface on CD.