FunkFreak75 Despite this being Lonnie's last album for the Columbia label (and the followup to a rather uninspired A Song for the Children), something (or someone[s]) have definitely put some zip back into Lonnie's music.

A1. "In The Park" (4:19) an uptempo Latin-percussion-led song with fretless bass and piano falling into place until Dave Hubbard's flute is brought in to amplify the main melody. Then Lonnie takes over with a nice melodic jazz piano solo. (Nice synth strings support coming from behind.) Light and delightfully peppy! (8.875/10)

A2. "Love Is The Answer" (4:47) this is not the Todd Rundgren/Utopia song that Hall & Oates made into a mega hit, this is Lonnie and James Robinson's doing. (8.875/10)

A3. "Speak About It" (5:56) a horn-infused jazz-funk-rock tune that almost sounds pre-hip hop with James' invested gospel/R&B vocal and the awesome smooth support of the team of background vocalists. Lonnie provides piano to add to and sometimes offset the rhythm section and Pee Wee Ford's slap bass play is off the charts! James also plays some guitar with Abdul Wali in the rhythm corps. And I love the near-militant the lyrics! So invigorating! Even when it goes EW&F and Disco in the end movements. This is a GREAT song: one of the best Lonnie and company have ever put out there. It should have been a major hit--at least on the Soul/R&B charts and stations. (9.75/10)

A4. "Bridge Through Time" (4:02) finger clicks, spacious rhythm guitar licks, and other electronic percussion sounds infuse this sparsely populated sonic field until Pee Wee's funky smooth bass and Lonnie's clean, reverb Fender Rhodes joins in, giving the song a very Earth Wind & Fire "Can't Hide Love" ("girl, I betcha!") feel. Soprano sax, Fender Rhodes, and synth strings provide a three-part harmony delivery of the main melody. Then in the final section Abdul steps up a bit to show us a little of his hidden talents. Nice! (8.875/10)

B1. "On The Real Side" (5:46) sophisticated, dynamic, and peppy, this is a kind of Jazz-Rock Fusion I'd like to hear more from Lonnie. And we've actually got Lonnie on an old organ for this one! (9.125/10)

B2. "The Enchantress" (4:57) on the soft/seductive side, Pee Wee Ford's funky slap bass and coupled with Abdul Wali's genius rhythm guitar interjections gives Lonnie's usual hypnotic beauty a fresh, more human dimension. (8.875/10)

B3. "Give Peace A Chance" (6:00) yet another attempt/offering of anthemic anti-war music calling for a social shift toward peace, love and kindness. Cool to hear Lonnie on organ some more as well as the use of horns and soulful b vox. (8.875/10)

B4. "Free And Easy" (3:10) a light, cheerful song that sounds as if BOB JAMES had lured JACO PASTORIUS into his studio for his input into a single song. Piano and smooth yet syncopated music. (8.75/10)

Abdul Wali is definitely the greatest guitar find I've heard on any Lonnie album up to this point. And Pee Wee Ford is definitely a great slap-funk bassist. Together with Lonnie's usual support crew they help make for the most lively, dynamic, and sophisticated jazz-funk Lonnie Liston Smith album I've heard up to this point in his discography. Reminds me of the music coming out of the Laws family. Well done, Guys!

Not at all your typical Lonnie Liston Smith fare! No indeed! The injection of zip and pep from slap-funk bassist Pee Wee Ford and amazing rhythm guitarist Abdul Wali as well as Lonnie's own experimentation with organ renders this collection of songs far more spirited, lively, and dynamic than anything he's ever produced up to this point in his discography. This may still be Smooth Jazz but it is the closest music to his jazz roots than anything the Cosmic Echoes or Marcus Miller collaborations ever revealed. I am blown away by the fresh new sound and wonderfully upbeat and zesty feeling I get from this album! This may have been Lonnie's last album with Columbia (whether he knew it or not) but he sure goes out with a bang! Mega kudos to whoever infused Lonnie with this new life! If it was just Pee Wee and Abdul, then I bow down to you two. I suspect there was something much more profound going on in Lonnie's life.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of a collection of masterfully rendered and perfected Jazz-Rock Fusion and Jazz-Funk songs.

FunkFreak75 Lonnie and the Echoes team up with Bob Thiele and his Flying Dutchman label for yet another majestic display of "mind-expanding" music for the masses.

A1. "Get Down Everybody (It's Time For World Peace)" (4:19) what sounds like an anthemic Blaxploitation song set in a Disco funk milieu. Nice music with requisite sassy female b vox and real horns accenting the call of the title phrase by Lonnie himself. The brief bridge in the middle is derivative of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On album's sound palette. Very nice percussion work. (8.75/10)

A2. "Quiet Dawn" (3:29) reverting to his bread-and-butter: the relaxing music that remains founded in jazz yet previews the coming takeover of Smooth Jazz. Synth strings, congas, simple bass line, and sonorous flutes back Lonnie's exquisite piano tinklings on the upper registers. So calming. (9.125/10) A3. "Sunbeams" (3:52) percussion rich Latin-lite with bass and autoharp opens this one before low-note flutes and bouncy piano join in. Soprano sax takes the first solo while Lonnie' synth strings enrich the sonic field. Lonnie's piano takes the second solo, using a more melodic-yet-definitely jazz approach. Drums and flutes get to show off a bit in the final minute. (9/10)

A4. "Meditations" (4:21) "dirty" Fender Rhodes plays Blade Runner-like over wind-chime-like piano arpeggi and other mid-range piano and Fender chords and water-like arpeggi and runs. Lonnie tout seul. Very pretty. (8.875/10)

A5. "Peace & Love" (2:39) a Leopold Fleming composition unveils a different more Sly & The Family Stone approach to the album's opening song. The only song on the album not composed and arranged by Lonnie. (4.375/5)

B1. "Beautiful Woman" (5:57) a Marvin Gaye-like funk-lite tune with Lonnie's usual mastery of "full" textural weaves. Nice wah-wah rhythm guitar, clavinet, and "dirty" Fender Rhodes with some stellar drumming from Wilby Fletcher. Flutes, steady bass and bongos, and the smooth voice of brother Donald Smith add so much enrichment. (8.875/10)

B2. "Goddess Of Love" (4:24) a rich sonic field seems to carry forward some of the essence of the previous song (especially in the bass line and rhythm guitar sound) while Lonnie's synth strings and Fender magic double up with calming flute notes to set up this very engaging, hypnotic tune. After the 90 second opening sucks us in and settles us into our pool-side lounge chair we are treated to some of the Master's Fender piano melody magic. Very rich and beautiful. (9/10)

B3. "Inner Beauty" (2:18) swirling piano arpeggi and glissandi with wordless vocalese and saxophone laying out the gentle melody over the top. Nice work from Donald, David, and percussionists Leopold Fleming and Guilherme Franco. (4.5/5)

B4. "Golden Dreams" (4:47) gentle Latin foundation with breathy flutes and gentle Fender Rhodes two-chords supporting Lonnie's pleasant-though-unpolished singing voice. In the third minute Lonnie's heavily-reverbed "dirty" Fender Rhodes lends an equally-gentle and very pleasant solo. Nice song that transports the listener as do so many of Lonnie's songs. (8.875/10)

B5. "Journey Into Space" (2:29) individual chimes (or tubular bells) with water percussion sounds and other swipes and hits of synth sounds, muted kalimba, echoed flute riffs, and lots of other sounds that sound more like African jungles than space. (4.375/5)

B+/4.5 stars; a wonderful collection of songs exhibiting Lonnie's usual polish and excellent engineered, composed, and produced music. There's a lot of pop and smooth jazz leanings on display here but it's still of that ultra-engaging jazz-trained heart.

FunkFreak75 Lonnie's third and penultimate studio album for Columbia Records.

A1. "A Song For The Children" (7:05) Jazzy Disco with a decent dynamic vocal from James Robinson. (13.25/15)

A2. "A Lover's Dream" (4:43) another new sound palette for the ever adventurous keyboard artist. (8.875/10)

A3. "Aquarian Cycle" (4:26) a funked up two-chord smooth jazz tune with a second bridge/break motif over which David Hubbard's doubled up and distorted DAVE SANBORN sound-alike saxophone screeches throughout. It's an Aurell Ray composition. It's okay; not sophisticated enough--too generic. (8.75/10)

A4. "Street Festival" (4:43) a fairly straightforward Latin-jazz-funk tune from the basic quintet of Lonnie Liston Smith on piano, Marcus Miller on bass, the awesome Steve Thornton on a variety of Latin percussion instruments, Lino Reyes on disco drums, and Ronnie Miller on rhythm guitar. As always, it's nice to hear Lonnie leading the way on his acoustic piano, but also his synths strings are awesome. A top three song for me. (9/10)

B1. "Midsummer Magic" (6:08) a Marcus Miller composition in which Marcus sets himself loose to energize and excite. David Hubbard's sax is once again the lead instrument (along with Lonnie's keys) but once again we are kind of put to sleep by the BOB JAMES-like sound palette. I also hear a little of the jazzy stylings and sound palette of Anita Baker's monster hit album, Rapture. (8.875/10)

B2. "Nightlife" (4:49) an energetic song that bears quite a similarity to BOZ SCAGG's "Lowdown" (without the words or singing, of course). (8.875/10)

B3. "A Gift Of Love" (4:43) it's been a while, but here Lonnie gives guitarist Ronald Miller a chance to exhibit one of his own compositions--with a slow, voice-like guitar solo leading the way over some interesting not-typical-Lonnie music. There's a certain LARRY CORYELL sound and feel to this that I like. In the end, however, (like so many of Larry Coryell's songs) it fails for lacking a feeling of sonic integration. Also, it seems very unfortunate that Ronald's guitar skill only starts to emerge as the song is fading out. (8.875/10)

B4. "Fruit Music" (6:01) a discofied tune from Aurell Ray that lacks the fullness and meatiness of the true Disco era--sounding more like a STEELY DAN song cut from the Gaucho album. When James Robinson's vocal starts up I want to cringe. Then the "horns" and female b vox! So corny and forced! Aurell's guitar play in the instrumental section in the third minute is nice but then it's cut short by the corny CHIC-like female vocal "fruit mu-SIC" tease-chants and Dicso claps and other percussive work of the rhythm section. (8.75/10)

B/four stars; another excellent collection of background music with a few almost great songs.

FunkFreak75 On this 1983 release Lonnie celebrates his reunion with his long-time champion, producer Bob Thiele, who encouraged Lonnie to take on his solo career back in the Pharoah Sanders years. Bob is now the head of his own label, Doctor Jazz, and this is the first of a series of albums the two would collaborate--producing what some believe is Lonnie's best stretch of music in his career.

1. "A Lonely Way to Be" (4:34) seems to preview George Benson's 1980 release, Give Me Night with its monster hit of the title song. (8.75/10)

2. "Mystic Woman" (4:40) great opening with its funky sound palette and hard-driving funk beat. Again, I feel as if we're getting a preview of George Benson's next album. Marcus Miller's dynamic bass play seems to have injected some kind of joy juice into Lonnie's veins cuz I haven't heard this kind of energy and enthusiasm in his keyboard play in an album or two. (9.25/10)

3. "The Love I See in Your Eyes" (3:40) here we move back to the BOB JAMES style and palette of melodic vocal-less song covers with the simple Bob James-like piano lead over some smooth jazz music. It's very pleasant and eminently enjoyable but nowhere as adventurous as the old Lonnie. The most exciting thing about this song is, of course, the wonderful bass play of Marcus Miller. (8.875/10)

4. "Dreams of Tomorrow" (4:18) old style Lonnie supporting the incredible singing voice of Donald Miller--here in one of his best recorded performances to date. The music is sparse but perfect in its support of both of the Smith brothers, with some really cool (and different) tom-tom sound and play helping to populate the background. Incredible! Plus, the world-harmonizing lyrics are back! Man! I've missed these! (9.5/10)

5. "Never Too Late" (5:21) more George Benson- or Narada Michael Walden-sounding radio-oriented music with Donald singing the pop lyric. (8.875/10)

6. "Rainbows of Love" (4:13) nice upbeat, uptempo Smooth Jazz with all kinds of hooks to try to keep you engaged. (/10)

7. "Divine Light" (3:35) very pleasant piano-led song with Lonnie tickling the ivories in their very upper registers. Great performances from the congas, rhythm guitar, and, of course, bass as well as some smooth soprano sax from long-time collaborator David Hubbard. (9/10)

8. "A Garden of Peace" (3:10) beautiful melody--heart-wrenching like a Satie or Vangelis song. One for the ages. (9.75/10)

Total Time: 33:31

Some incredibly beautiful highs in "Mystic Woman," "Dreams of Tomorrow," "Divine Light," and "Garden of Peace" whereas the others feel somewhat hollow or imitative.

FunkFreak75 Say goodbye to the Cosmic Echoes, hello Columbia Records. With this album, Lonnie eschews his wonderful team of collaborators of the past six years. The "cosmic" "expanding consciousness" pretense of his Cosmic Echoes years seems also on the outs, here choosing to try to reach to connect and entertain the pop-oriented masses, using more generic, humanized love themes in place of the celestial ones. This is also the album on which Lonnie introduces to the world the 18-year old bass phenom he discovered as a 16-year old, Marcus Miller! Marcus appears on songs 1, 3 & 4 of Side One. His talents are already prodigious.

Lineup / Musicians: - Lonnie Liston Smith / Keyboards - George Johnson / Drums - Lawrence Killian / Congas, Percussion - Ronald D. Miller / Electric guitars, acoustic guitar (B3) - Donald Smith / Flutes (A1, A3, A4, B2), Vocals (A2, B1, B3) - David Hubbard / Flutes (A1, A2, B2), Soprano Saxophone (A3, A4, B3, B4) With: - Marcus Miller / Bass (1, 3, 4) - Al Anderson / Bass (B2, B3, B4)

A1. "Sunburst" (4:08) great start! Funky Smooth Jazz in the territory of masters like BOB JAMES and the LAWS family. Flute, funky bass, great near-Disco drums and percussion, with Lonnie's electric piano virtuosity on full display. I love that he is still so enamored of the continually-evolving technologies of electric keyboards. This is really a fun, zippy song! (9.125/10)

A2. "Journey into Love" (5:19) another slower BOB JAMES-like song over which brother Donald sings among the spacey keys, horn accents, and steady but deep and rich "Papa Was a Rolling Stone"-like bass. (8.875/10)

A3. "Floating Through Space" (4:35) so rich and lovely! One can just get lost floating in the psychedelic ether while supported by Marcus' steady, engaging bass line. (9.5/10)

A4. "Bright Moments" (6:43) built on engaging yet simple (watered down) Latin rhythms with Lonnie's piano pounding/accenting brilliantly right along with the rhythm section as David Hubbard's saxophone carries the main melody. I could listen to piano solos like this all day long! (9.25/10)

B1. "We Can Dream" (5:00) another funky rhythm-supported R&B song with Lonnie's brother Donald singing in his gorgeous Leon Thomas/Philip Bailey-like voice. The lyrics and melody used to deliver them aren't quite up to the quality of the music with its strings and horn arrangements. Even Lonnie's Fender solo is lacking a little zip and zest despite the ample support. (8.75/10)

B2. "Springtime Magic" (4:18) built around a two-chord strummed rhythm guitar sequence, the bass and flute almost immediately add something interesting to the mix, but the drums are a bit robotic and the rhythm guitar quickly fades into the realm of forgottenhood. Lonnie and the ethereal flutes (there are two of them) try to keep us entertained but even they fall short. (8.75/10)

B3. "Loveland" (3:30) now here's a song that seems to reach back into the old palette of magic that Lonnie and Donald had with the Cosmic Echoes. I love it when Donald sounds like Leon Thomas. So commanding! (8.875/10)

B4. "Explorations" (6:27) an arrangement of a horn bank opens this one, sounding almost like a Christmas Carole type of theme, but then super-fast funk bass kicks in with Lonnie's swirling electric piano and some solid CHIC-like rhythm guitar supporting David Hubbard's deep and rich soprano sax sound soloing up front. In a big surprise, an electric guitar solo takes over the third minute--Ronald D. Miller's tone taking on an ERNIE ISLEY or LARRY CORYELL like sound and style. Impressive! And he gets to keep the spotlight well into the fifth minute! Truly Herculean (in the Ernie Isley way). The song's main foundation is not very different from that of Eumir Deodato's "Superstrut" with some absolutely stellar funk bass and rhythm guitar play. And Lonnie doesn't even take a second of solo for himself: just funking things up with his heavily-processed electronic keyboards. In the end I realize how this song is built over the same chord and rhythm pacing as the album's opening song, "Sunburst." (9.125/10)

The music through out this album is smooth, very lush and engaging and very well crafted--and still jazzy in its foundations. These are really great songs, some of them probably ideal for the Discotheque or Adult Contemporary "Pillow Talk" night time radio play. It's like a step up from the Bob James and (Jazz) Crusaders productions of the time, similar to the music of the Laws brothers (Hubert and Ronnie), but even more mature and "polished."

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of very high quality Smooth Jazz.