Now here’s a good idea; two compilations that recognize how urban blues and soul work even better when the lights go down. Compiled by the redoubtable Scott Billington, Blues In The Night and Soul Of The Night both do a solid job of exploring modern sounds in each genre while remaining firmly grounded in their respective roots.

For example, Blues starts right off with B.B. King’s “The Blues Come Over Me”; not one of his best, but it definitely lets you know where you are. (When Theryl de’Clouet and Walter Washington are the rookies in your roster, you KNOW you’ve got a good thing going on.)

Both CDs know just how to advance their main thesis: that the night time is indeed the right time for seduction (Charles Brown’s “Black Night”), reflection (Robert Cray’s “I Wonder”), and regret (Irma Thomas’ “I Count The Teardrops”).

For the soul disc, you can substitute Preston Shannon’s “The Clock,” Irma’s “Old Records,” and Little Buster and the Soul Brothers’ “Whatever It Takes,” respectively. Interpretive highlights include two Holmes Brothers stunners in “And I Love Her” and “When Something Is Wrong With My Baby” and Laura Nyro’s (!) take on the Stylistics’ “La La Means I Love You,” both of which wring every single drop of pathos from their originals without working up a sweat.

True, some of these artists are a little past their prime (Etta James, Ruth Brown), but you don’t need vocal pyrotechnics to set this kind of mood, only attitude. As you might expect, the Soul volume tends to be a little more varied, more sensual, and more, well, faithful than its roguish blues counterpart, but frankly, you could put these two on shuffle and never notice the difference.

That has a lot to do with the fact that many of these tracks were culled from Billington’s own productions, resulting in a near-seamless, blue-satin atmosphere of commingled pain and ecstasy. In fact, the mood is so consistent that you won’t notice how Aretha Franklin’s “Nobody Knows How I Feel This Morning”—definitely the oldest track here—doesn’t deal with the night at all.