Search - Narada Michael Walden :: Looking at You Looking at Me

The Nector Of Narada's Musical Flower

Andre S. Grindle | Brewer Maine | 01/08/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In 1983 Narada's abilities as a quadrupal threat producer,composer,musician and singer had reached a true apex with 'Looking At You,Looking At Me'. This is one of the finest recordings Narada ever made and contains nothing but high quality material! He starts off with a modernized version of "Reach Out (I'll Be There"-complete with handclaps and the bass of Randy Jackson and David Sancious working the groove into your subconcious! The same thing happens on the incredible "Shake It Off" where all the musicians involved throw down a heady mix of traditional and electro funk where beats,hooks and melodies are flying all over the place-the tune can't help but get your attention!!! The shuffling Al Jarreau-like smooth groove title track is married to a cute private eye metaphore lyric by Walden-it reminds me a little of a jazzier version of the Manhattan Transfer's "Nothing You Can Do About It" only with a far more Narada-ized surrealism to the atmosphere!"Burning Up" visits the same area and is puncuated by Narada's newfound ability on the Prophet synthesizer."Never Want To Be Without Your Love" is just beautiful-a nice ballad tune where Narada duets with the Brazillian songbird Angela Bofill."Dream Maker" features a lot of keyboard players working their way into a strident dance tune where Narada and the gang rock out on "Tina",with Marx Russo's red hot sax adding yet more bite to a tune that couldn't have any more of it! Narada invites in Any Narrell on steel drums on the fun Caribbean party tune "Ain't Nobody Ever Loved You"-one of those shoulda' been huge songs that I doubt anyone remembers! The album closes with Narada getting serious for a moment on "Black Boy",a starkly sobering tribute to Richard Wright with more of a pop/rock edge to it-Narada's lyric illustrates the characters situation very well and you can hear the genuine sincerity in his vocals. Clive Davis sure wasn't lying when he told Aretha that Narada was "a brilliant new talent"-this is the album that truely solidified and flaunted both his commercial and artistic capabilities as an artist. This guy would truly have gone places if he hadn't turned his back on his own career for another in music production. But this album stands tall as a testement to his ambitions!"