House of Music

The Oakland R&B trio Tony Toni Tone’s sound got quieter on House of Music, the follow-up to 1993’s multiplatinum Sons of Soul, as their homage-errific nods to influences were their most overt yet. Their party-hearty collaboration with DJ Quik, “Let’s Get Down,” featured an acoustic guitar as lead instrument, while the piano-laden “Lovin’ You” sounded perfect next to hushed Isley Brothers jams such as “Work to Do.” The Tonyies paid homage to the Stylistics, whose biggest hit had been “Betcha By Golly Wow,” with “Holy Smokes & Gee Whiz,” and grinningly nodded to Al Green’s Memphis classics on “Thinking of You.” Singer Raphael Saadiq (formerly Wiggins) also made his way into the Testifiers’ Hall of Fame with the seven-minute “Still a Man.” The group imploded after this set, but it’s some goodbye.