FunkFreak75 Recorded on November 25 & 26 of 1974. The Cosmic Echoes continue on their funk-imbued quest to promote the manifestation and realization of higher states of consciousness.

A1. "Expansions" (6:04) an awesome funk-cruisin' groove over which Lonnie's wah-wah-ed Fender Rhodes bounces and Donald Smith's smooth voice and expressive flute slashes and thrashes. It feels right that the Cosmic Echoes now have a full-time clavinet player on board (Michal Carvin). Cecil Bee is his usual awesome self while J-R-F's best percussion team hold it close and a little unusually tight. (9.125/10)

A2. "Desert Nights" (6:45) Lonnie switches to piano while the rhythm crew establish a slow-groovin' motif to quell us into nighttime submission while flute, sax, piano, and drums take turns spewing forth their subdued solos, flourishes, and fills. Lonnie's piano pounding feels a little unsuited to the desert vibe being bouyed by the others but then, who knew he'd have had a history with Don Pullen? (8.875/10) A3. "Summer Days" (5:53) a happy-go-lucky two key samba sounding like something from a Herb Alpert or Sergio Mendes song. Here we find Lonnie once again reverting to the acoustic piano as his main voice. (8.75/10)

B1. "Voodoo Woman" (4:13) a very engaging song that is built over a more insistent beat (due to the prominence of the clavinet). Flutes, hand percussives, and Lonnie's flanged Fender Rhodes make this rather two dimensional song rise above the Easy Listening fare of artists like the more-pop-oriented Bob James, The Crusaders, and Hubert Laws but don't quite take it into the arena of the jazz-funk greats. like Kool & The Gang, Earth, Wind & Fire, the Ohio Players, or (8.875/10)

B2. "Peace" (4:13) a gentle song with Donald Smith back in the vocal driver's seat--very much a vocal-centric song that sounds as if it is built over a variation of Leon Russell's "This Masquerade" chord and melody lines. Very pleasant and jazzy but nothing earth-shattering or ground-breaking. (8.75/10)

B3. "Shadows" (6:20) another gentle melody line around which is constructed a weave of bass, flanged drums, congas and other hand percussives, and rich electric piano and synth strings textures. Dave Hubbard plays a gentle sax over the top before Lonnie takes over with his delay-echoed Fender Rhodes. (He must have really been trying hard to figure out how to use this echo effect. It's really hard to do--and Lonnie by no means crushes it.) The overall music is actually good but diminished by (8.875/10)

B4. "My Love" (5:40) how can one not like this beautiful song! Donald Smith sings a flawless vocal over a great musical tapestry of support. This is a song I would love to see live--to dance with my beautiful wife to. Lonnie's piano playing is absolutely perfect for this, and the two-key motif so lovely and romantic--with the usual awesome work of the rhythm & percussion team beneath. (9.25/10)

Total time: 39:08

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of early Easy Listening / Adult Contemporary / Smooth Jazz.

Sean Trane After the fairly good but uneven Cosmic Funk album, LL-S came back the following year with Expansions, an album much n the same line, both in musical direction, but also ins unevenness, as it proposes some pretty soppy tracks. The Cosmic Echoes group (was it ever really?) line-up built on the CF album is already fairly changed, with only Killan, Don Smith and Liston himself remaining, but we hear the return of ex-Pharoah member Cecil McBee on bass. Graced with a superb (if slightly flattened) gatefold artwork, Expansions was again released on the Flying Dutchman label, a few months after Cosmic Funk.

The opening title track, is rather reminiscent of mid-70’s Santana, but with a dominating Rhodes instead of guitar and with Don Smith’s excellent vocals and flute solo to boot, so it adds up a unique feel. The outstanding Desert Night follows, filled with serenity and beauty that you could only find in the Arizona, Nevada or Sahara nocturnal hours. However Summer Days has an already-heard (déjà-entendu, anyone?) somewhere else feel, with that rumba-samba rhythm riff that is indeed reminiscent (but can’t pin it as I write it now) of a cover of a better-known similar track. Its over-repetitive nature overstays its welcome halfway through, though.

The flipside opens extremely well with the up-tempo Voodoo Woman, with its shrilling flute, and later on Shadows is much in the same mould. Unfortunately, the album takes a wrong curve with the soppy sung-ballad, Peace. As if that wasn’t enough, the following My Love goes even further down the overly-sentimental road.

So, Expansions is still a very-worthy album, but it opens much better than it closes, but that’s the beauty of the compact disc, one flick of the eject button can end your plight. Definitely still worth investigating for there are three excellent tracks.