good collection
yes it could be better but this collection has some cool tracks especially from the System, Michael cooper and Isley,Jasper and Isley. these songs all hold up really well and the Grooves are cool.Levert had a tight jam with Pop,Pop,Pop goes my mind. cool tracks.

Great start of a slow jam trilogy
Next to seventies soul, I love New Jac Swing slow jams. Smooth Grooves: New Jack Ballads, Vol. 1 is an amazing introduction to a three disc series of classic slow jams. The first late-'80s/early-'90s installment of Rhino's popular Smooth Grooves series, New Jack Ballads, Vol. 1 leans toward conventional urban R&B instead of the hip-hop-inflected contemporary R&B that came to define new jack R&B. Even if the music on Vol. 1 isn't strictly new jack R&B, it's nevertheless first-rate urban soul, one of the best, most comprehensive discs of its kind on the market, featuring such hits as Levert's "(Pop, Pop, Pop, Pop) Goes My Mind," Ready for the World's "Love You Down," the System's "Don't Disturb This Groove," Guy's "Goodbye Love," Surface's "Happy," The Jets' "You Got It All" and the Gap Band's "I Found My Baby." My favorite on the disc though are No One Can Treat Me Like You by Dreamboy and Still In Love by Troop.

Mostly good but has a few misses.
This CD focuses on late 1980s and early '90s R&B slow jams and has several outstanding tracks by LeVert, Surface , Michael Cooper and others but some songs are over-produced and unispired. Not bad, but not one of Smooth Grooves' best volumes.