To all intents and purposes, this is Señor Blues at his most hippie dippy'd, delivering two albums under the banner of United States Of Mind: Phases 1 and 2 that, for the most part, are like New Age self-help manuals. All of the pieces are based on specific subjects that range from the spiritual – the search for direction, oneness, unity, brotherhood – to the physical – nudity, sex, health – and the music is as much a philosophical manifesto as it is a showcase for Silver's artistic gifts. And yet the melodies – ‘The Happy Medium’, ‘The Show Has Begun’, ‘I Had A Little Talk’ – are among some of the best that the pianist has ever written. The soul jazz signature that marked his classic 1960s work is mostly retained, but it is enhanced by generally lower tempos, a weightier, funkier edge in the groove and a sliver of pyschedelia in the use of the electric piano, which has a beautifully hazy sound that is tantalisingly close to that of a harpsichord. The other central figure here is Andy Bey, whose sterling baritone supplies the requisite grace and gravitas for the songs, which, with a lesser vocalist, may have easily strayed into corniness. Then again, Silver the lyric writer has more than a few moments of perspicacity, no more so than ‘We all own a share of big business, the massive corporate affair’, which is a line that his enlightened, forward-thinking self may have penned for the Occupy movement with a good three-decade head start.