Proving there's still plenty of soul left in the Motor City, the Elevations are an 11-piece R&B revue who, after making a name for themselves on the Michigan club circuit, have taken their sound into the studio for the first time on this eight-cut EP. If they aren't quite the Funk Brothers (at least not yet), the Elevations capture the sound of classic-era R&B with admirable accuracy and passion, with Sean Ike showing off impressive lead pipes (his female counterpart Erika Herron fares pretty well, too), the horn section sounding tight and soulful throughout, and Eric Stollsteimer's vibes dovetailing nicely with Jerry Berlongieri's keyboards. The members of the group can write this stuff as well as they play it, and the best tunes here (such as "Crawl, Walk and Run" and "What Can I Do") evoke the classic Motown and Northern Soul sounds of the 1960s without turning into a litany of clichés -- the Elevations love the sounds of the past, but play with the energy and fire of the present day, and one spin of this disc should convince any doubters of their potential.