There are many twists and turns in the fascinating South Bronx Story of Emerald, Sapphire and Gold. The territory covered stretches from NY's arty downtown scene to the UK's post-punk explosion. The gold they were searching for never materialised, but they had a knack of finding their way to the end of many a rainbow. Here was a band who got to play the opening night of the Hacienda in Manchester and the closing night of the Paradise Garage in New York. That's one mightily impressive narrative arc.

Ultimately it’s a tale of four sisters doin’ it for themselves. Renee, Valerie, Deborah and Marie Scroggins were given instruments by their mother in the hope of keeping them off the streets and out of trouble. It worked a treat.

The Scroggins had grown up in the South Bronx when hip-hop was forming. They were close enough to feel the heat from the seminal block parties of the Ghetto Brothers which sowed the seeds of the revolution. The energy they coralled was put to good use once they hit the studio themselves in 1980.

The bounce in their music is born of an innate feeling for the beat and a sassy streetwise nous. The way they straddle the thin line between singing and rapping is a joy. The stark arrangements strip dance music back to its essential elements and the sheer power of their boogie brooks no argument.

This compilation documents all the crazy shapes the sisters threw in the 1980s and 1990s. It’s a lesson in how and why their spartan sound was so ripe for sampling.

ESG are a different kind of funk phenomenon. There’s a complete lack of self-consciousness in the spirited way they set out their stall. They were born into it, with funk in their veins and groove in their hearts. Theirs is a kind of sisterly love supreme. Well and truly, it’s a family affair.