CYMANDE

You get some Africa inspired tracks, some funk and some jamming. There's a nice mix of style on the album.

Zion And I is like an older style reggae tune, not quite the poppier Bob Marley style.

One More is like a smooth jazz little ditty, no vocals just quiet instruments chilling it up in the foreground while guitar plays its liquid lead.

Getting It Back starts with ominous sounds then heads into an early 70s funk sound with light worldly percussion. The vocals are done competently and the horns add something nice.

Listen continues in the direction laid by Getting It Back. A bit more Motown, but not like on the hits but a filler track on a The Supremes early 70s album. This song strikes me as over long, should have been trimmed of unnecessary repetition at some points.

Rick Shaw opens with some nice percussion work that is joined by hypnotic bass and flute. This part is nice, shows the beginning of Getting It Back wasn't a fluke. While not the star player e piano fills adds some hair to this number. Later the flute exits and a nice guitar solo comes in. Then the tunes theme, played on flute/trumpet takes the song to its conclusion. A very solid instrumental.

Dove, the longest song on the record opens up well with emotional guitar work and sparse percussion/bass. At around a minute the song picks up and the guitar solo proceeds over a more vigorous rhythmic bedrock. In the middle of the song some la la las come in for a bit alongside flute. The guitar then returns until about seven minutes when the vocals come back. After this the rhythm changes to the openings. At nine minutes the rhythm return to how it goes for most of the song and Dove ends with a stop then cymbal swell, done. I must say the guitar is done very tasteful on here, while maybe not the best guitarist they know how to keep the same notes interesting by mixing up the technique. Gradually they leave less space between when they unleash some notes, hit double stops and use vibrato/bends to build interest as the jam continues. This one reminds me of Santana's longer instrumentals or Ice off I Can See Your House From Here.

Bra returns to the standard funk style of the album found on Getting It Back/Listen. The bridge here features a nice saxophone on lead. A second bridge after the second verse/chorus features cowbell and bass on lead, very nice. The song just ends after the third verse/chorus.

The Message opens with organ and vocals that remind me of Prince due to the combination of Fasetto and not-really-sung-spoken- word-singing style of the man. The organ is an important instrument of funk so it's work here is absolutely welcome.

Rastafarian Folk Song opens with speaking to the listener about the song and some kind of explanation. Then the song begins with percussion and choral vocal work. Pretty much exactly what the title says.

Overall it's a good record but I think if your not interested in the sound of bands like Mandrill or Demon fuzz or the other bands I've mentioned you probably won't enjoy this one.

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