‘Go Girl!’: Ballads of Enlightened Love

*** 1/2 VARIOUS ARTISTS

“Go Girl! Soul Sisters

Tellin’ It Like It Is”

Rhino

This compilation brings together earthy, traveled warblers who speak with experience and resilience that resonates beyond the “damn that cheatin’ man” surface messages. In her succinct, witty liner notes, Rhino staffer Tracey New notes that “regardless of the hurt, disappointment or lessons learned in each song, [the album] is really about survival. The common thread easily noticed is, no matter what, you will get past the pain.”

The beautiful thing is that each of these 18 narrative ballads of enlightened love was recorded in the ‘60s and early ‘70s--more than two decades before modern movies such as “Waiting to Exhale” and “The Joy Luck Club” urged women to liberate themselves from the inner slavery of subservience, sexism and quiet tolerance that imprisoned their mothers and grandmothers.

In title alone, Janice Tyrone’s “I’m Going to Make It” encapsulates the album’s not-so-subtle mantra. By the end of this tale of soulful woe, with each heart-wrenching note speaking of the pain that comes with falling for the wrong man, the singer stands alone, armed and ready for action. “I’m taking over my life today,” she proclaims. “I’ve got to stand up and be a woman.”

Mission statement in hand, each singer offers another jewel of testimony, urging women to take control of their lives. Aretha Franklin demands “Respect” from her man and Laura Lee reminds listeners that with the wrong man, “Wedlock Is a Padlock.”

Some accomplish in four minutes what it takes the average director two hours, or Mary J. Blige an entire album, to communicate. Mable John’s “Your Good Thing (Is About to End),” written by the legendary team of Issac Hayes and David Porter, tells a lackluster Lothario to beat it. John warns that she’s about to go out and get what she wants, to find Mr. Right on her own.

By the last track, Franklin’s “Do Right Woman-Do Right Man,” the album is a full-fledged emancipation, champagne glasses raised and fireworks blasting overhead. “As long as we’re together, baby,” Franklin coos, “show some respect for me.” The song, recorded 29 years ago, says everything that needs to be said about making relationships last.

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KOOL & THE GANG

“Live at the Sex Machine”

Mercury

A decade before the bland “Celebration” became one of the unofficial anthems of the Showtime-era Lakers, Kool & the Gang were known as the most musically progressive funk band in all the land. The group from New Jersey wasn’t even known for its vocals--its instrumental tracks were so vibrant that words just got in the way of the stone grooves.

“Live at the Sex Machine,” recorded in 1971 at a New Jersey hot spot, captures all the group’s ‘70s era “Kool” trademarks: dancing horn riffs, rock-steady bass guitar, gutbucket drums and stripped-down chicken-scratch rhythm guitar licks. Songs such as “Let the Music Take Your Mind” and “Chocolate Buttermilk” melt the artificial barriers between R&B; and jazz. But other songs, such as the masterful “Who’s Gonna Take the Weight,” travel down even more ambitious paths.

“Weight” goes through all sorts of atmospheric changes during its six minutes and 20 seconds, but the groove never gets overwhelmed by the soaring horns. It’s little wonder that such rap groups as Gangstarr, Public Enemy and A Tribe Called Quest sampled heavily from this record: A quarter century later, it still electrifies.

* Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).