Narada Michael Walden In The Last Days Of Disco
Andre S. Grindle | Brewer Maine | 04/03/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Taken aside from the more individual sounding Awakening from earlier in the year this album finds Narada taking on a grittier,louder,glossier and more groove heavy disco-funk sound-as one review here pointed out very much in the vein of Chic and latter period EWF,but leaning more towards the sound of the latter.The first three cuts give you three slices of just that-"I Shoula Love Ya" being the huge hit and "Lovin You Madly" adding this touch of rock guitar that adds more funk to the disco. "Tonight I'm Alright" is the most obviously disco orineted song here-everything from the bassline,the repeating chants and pauses clearly shine from the glow of the mirrored ball. But we can thank Narada's musical ability and good taste that the kind of disco he did would end up hugely influencial on people like Jamiroquai in latter decades (one cannot tell me that songs such as the onces featured here did not impact on their singles Cosmic Girl,Canned Heat and (Don't) Give Hate a Chance, Pt. 1) and have held up a lot more then people have thought-which could be said of what happened to a lot of disco anyway (read:Chic,Donna Summer,Boney M).The only two numbers that could've come straight off the previous recordings are the quint pop-jazz ballads "Crazy For Ya'" and "Why Did you Turn Me On"-not bad tunes at all really. On the last two cuts Narada gets more creative-"Carry On" taking on a more obtuse jazzy funk groove and the title cut's heavy fusion references make it sound like something that could've actually come from his first album 'Garden Of Love Light'. Generally speaking this album and his follow up 'Victory' from 1980 could be part 1 and part 2 of each other but for the moment Wounded Bird records,the CD company that first issued this on CD in the US have made this the only Narada CD currently out of print in their catalog-an oversight I sincerely hope the remedy very soon because this ranks with Narada's finest ever recordings."
Track Listings (8) - Disc #1