Sony

Raised in rural Mississippi on black church music, The Chambers Brothers became a groundbreaking act that grafted elements of gospel, soul and funk onto a basic rock foundation. Kind of an East Coast answer to Sly & the Family Stone, they never busted out a lot of hits, but the Chambers Brothers music was consistently intense and original. This 16-track comp captures it all — especially two versions of the irrepressible 1968 anthem of psychedelic soul, "Time Has Come Today."

This article appears in Sep 27 – Oct 4, 2006.

Eric Snider is the dean of Bay area music critics. He started in the early 1980s as one of the founding members of Music magazine, a free bi-monthly. He was the pop music critic for the then-St. Petersburg...