DRASTIC MEASURES

Michael Manring could have been the successor to Jaco Pastorius. In fact, at times his bass playing sounds similar to Jaco's. But what happened? He pigeonholed himself into the new age style. He got himself signed to the Windham Hill record label, the label that was proud to create nothing more than unobtrusive musical wallpaper.

This album is yet another Windham Hill release. The majority of the songs are light (almost impossibly light) fusion pieces, with telling titles like Wide Asleep. The only interesting songs are the bass solos, where, as good as they are, I get the feeling that the Windham Hill executives were in the room, telling him to "Keep it down, We don't want to wake our listeners."

2.5 stars - rounded down