Lonnie Liston-Smith: Visions Of A New World
Author: Kevin Le Gendre
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Musicians: |
Ray Armando (perc) |
Label: |
BGP |
Magazine Review Date: |
November/2015 |
Catalogue Number: |
CDBGPM294 |
RecordDate: |
1975 |
This album, cut in the slipstream of the iconic Expansions has aged very well, consolidating any claim Smith might want to stake in the jazz-funk hall of fame. Although it kicks off with the crisp, crunching backbeat of ‘A Chance For Peace’, where wah wah guitar and Rhodes buzz like hornets around the harmony, the set is largely downtempo and meditative. Smith's electric piano and string synthesizer make for a yearning combination and sit nicely with the languorous vocal or horn melodies, the most memorable of which is ‘Devika (Goddess)’. As much as the set offers some great songs its value also lies in the richly evocative atmospheres and deployment of cutting edge electronics whose trippy afterglow seems to have simply deepened over time.

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