By his own admission, this is Duke’s “most honest” album in years, born as it is from the tragic loss of his wife. The tone is set by the dark synth swirls of the title track, which morphs into the minor key meditation ‘Stones Of Orion’, replete with a gorgeous acoustic bass solo from Clarke. But the moody, jazzish grooves are supplemented as ever by Duke’s R&B, pop and funk explorations. He remains, even in his mourning, nothing if not eclectic. So we have a ‘one world’ anthem, ‘Change The World’ which is Duke’s ‘Imagine’. Deep dance funkers like ‘Ashtray’ butt up against schmaltzy pop, while a sense of loss hangs wraith-like around the sensuous ‘Ball and Chain’, recorded by Teena Marie shortly before her passing, while ‘Happy Trails’ features Johnson’s guitar recorded shortly before he too passed away. No wonder then that the epic ‘Burnt Sausage Jam’ burns so furiously with McBride especially in scorching form. With over 70 minutes of music, there are bound to be longeurs, but this is the best Duke recording in a decade.