FunkFreak75 Youthful and intrepid vibraphonist Mike Mainieri breaks loose from his years of playing for other band leaders to present the world with eight original compostions (six of which are all his; the other two composed in part or whole by his vocalist muse, Sally Waring).

A1. "It's All Becoming Clear Now" (5:21) a very upbeat and rousing rock-infused jazz panoply. Great, enthusiastic performances across the board. (9.3333/10) A2. "The Wind" (5:15) jazz vocalist Sally Waring torches the audience with an in-your-face performance--one that is supported by a skillful group of professionals who offer Sally plenty of space while making the background quite interesting with their many injections of personal riffs, nuances, and accents. Mike is awesome, of course, as are the guitarists, piano, and flute. All of the electrified accoutrements do certainly add a different dimension to what would otherwise have been a classic blues-jazz tune. (8.875/10)

A3. "Connecticut Air" (2:47) a song that is credited solely to Sally Waring, it presents itself as an almost orchestra-supported (coming from a surprisingly-uncredited violin or chamber strings team) stage/theater-like piece. Quite lovely (though nothing resembling any of the burgeoning-in-1968 forms of Jazz-Rock Fusion). (9/10)

A4. "We'll Speak Above The Roar" (6:16) opens up straight off the bat as a kind of hippie West Coast rock (or Off-Broadway stage rock musical) tune turns into a Beat-generation-like tune in the second motif 's(which rotates with the hippie-rock opening one) walking bass, rhythm guitar work, and "in-crowd" vibraphone play. All of it are quite stereotypic of the late 1960s-early-1970s "party crowd" music--like something that would be befitting to the soundtrack of the hit television shows Laugh In or a "hip" Peter Sellers movie. The third motif is blues-rock--which turns into more of the Godspell-Hair-like stage musical music for the final minute before a quick fade out ends it all. Interesting and entertaining if rather dated. (8.875/10)

B1. "The Bush" (2:54) a weave of guitars, bass, vibes, flute, piano, and drums is very cohesively rendered here--presenting several melodies and motifs that border folk and country-western or blues-rock sound palettes. Funky white man's music that, again, might have been a successful soundtrack for a television commercial or montage. (8.75/10)

B2. "I'll Sing You Softly Of My Life" (4:45) here we find the band dancing around some bossa nova like sounds, rhythms, and structures. Then, in the middle of the second minute, there is a very sudden and even odd turn toward a more classical music sound before the band rejoins and slowly and steadily slides (seamlessly) back into the bossa nova sounds and forms. I actually think this a rather brilliant composition: so effortlessly and convincingly melding and "fusing" multiples of these Latin American sounds and stylings into one fully-American-sounding song. Fascinating! And a tough song to perform, I imagine. (10/10)

B3. "Yes I'm The One" (0:47) sounds and feels as if I just happened to stroll behind the stage of a musical show going on and then chose not to stop but continue on my merry way, exiting out the other end of the building! (The other Sally Waring composition, btw.)

B4. "Allow Your Mind To Wander" (13:53) opens as a free jazz tune that is not as crazy and chaotic as many free jazz tunes can be; in fact, it sounds rather like a pit orchestra priming, prepping, and tuning for the opening of their big stage musical. Interesting and quite possible fun for the musicians (though it is, I'm sure, unreproducible), the overall effect is more like background music for an opening night exhibition in a New York City art gallery (as well as a waste of my not-very-valuable time). (25.5/30)

Total time: 41:37

I don't mind any of these tunes despite their datedness. In fact, I find Mike's compositional imagination quite admirable--even remarkable ("I'll Sing You Softly of My Life" and "It's All Becoming Clear to Me Now," in particular). Obviously, there was some great stuff in the waters of Connecticut in 1968!

I love this April 6, 2020 review on rateyourmusic.com by a reviewer who calls himself "Famepollution":

This might be the most interesting boring album ever. On one hand this album screams local lounge act goes into the studio to make a hip contemptorary record featuring the latest styles in cool music. The whole album screams free with a purchase of membership in the colombia records club. It smacks of martini swilling middle aged hugh hefner types trying to understand the new hippie thing.

Overall it comes off both pleasant, and mundane. There are a few numbers here that are decent, but not essential.

it's just there is 14 minute free freak out thing here. It's not a great take on the genre... it's just, this album sounds commerical and some how, the '60s were so weird that this commercial sounding record has a 14 minute jazzrock interstellar overdrive. Again, not a great version of it, but just the idea that these second rate lounge jazz artists felt the need to put one on here blows my mind.

B/four stars; a very entertaining and interesting little time capsule flashback into the hipster/wannabe world of white East Coast 1968. It's fun, it's sad, it's rather clever musical compositions, and, essentially, it's a little microcosm of all that was in the spirit and intentions of early Jazz-Rock Fusion experimentalists.