MOD SQUAD

People's Park is a perfect example of a rap album that received rave reviews but failed to take off commercially. What critics like and what the public buys can be two very different things, and unfortunately, the public didn't share the critics' enthusiasm for Mod Squad. Reviewers for both rock and hip-hop publications gave high praise to this alternative rap CD, which inspires comparisons to De La Soul, the Pharcyde, the Jungle Brothers and A Tribe Called Quest but also makes it clear that the Mod Squad was a fine group in its own right. Rejecting the aggression and macho posturing of hardcore rap and gangsta rap, the California group takes a melodic, congenial approach that draws on jazz as well as psychedelic soul and house music. People's Park is everything reviewers said it was -- imaginative, risk-taking, intelligent, experimental and thoroughly engaging. One thing the album could never be called, however, is a big seller, which is most regrettable because People's Park is a gem that lovers of alternative rap should make a point of finding. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide