"Garden Of Love Light/I Cry, I Smile/Awakening" by NARADA MICHAEL WALDEN [Drummer ex Mahavishnu Orchestra] – December 1976 US Debut Album, November 1977 Second Album and February 1979 Third Studio Album on Atlantic Records - Guests include Carlos Santana, Jeff Beck, Richard Gomez, Hiram Bullock on Guitars, Herbie Mann on Flute with David Sancious, Patrick Adams and Cliff 'Cliffalee' Carter on Keyboards plus Arrangements by Michael Gibbs (September 2015 UK Beat Goes On (BGO) Compilation – 3LPs onto 2CDs, Andrew Thompson BGO Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...The Sun Is Dancing..."

When Jazz-Fusion Drummer NARADA MICHAEL WALDEN left John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra behind – Michigan's finest signed to Atlantic Records who promptly pumped out the first two LPs on this 2CD set in 1976 and 1977. While they had their moments (especially the Santana, Richard Gomez and Jeff Beck guest spots and the David Sancious Keyboards contributions) – it wasn't until 1979's Disco and Funk orientated "Awakening" album that the public sat up and noticed and things started moving for him. And that's where this superb-sounding British Double-CD Reissue & Remaster comp comes in. Here are oneness love lights...

UK released Friday, 25 September 2015 (October 2015 in the USA) - "Garden Of Love Light/I Cry, I Smile/Awakening" by NARADA MICHAEL WALDEN on Beat Goes On BGOCD 1210 (Barcode 5017261212108) features 3LPs on 2CDs and plays out as follows: 

Disc 1 (63:30 minutes):
1. White Night [Side 1]
2. Garden Of Love Light 
3. Delightful
4. First Love 
5. Mediation [Side 2]
6. The Sun Is Dancing 
7. You Got The Soul 
8. Saint And The Rascal  
9. You Are Love
Tracks 1 to 9 are his Debut Solo album "Garden Of Love Light" – released December 1976 in the USA on Atlantic SD 18199 and February 1977 in the UK on Atlantic K 50329

10. I Need Your Love
11. Better Man
12. Soul Bird 
13. I Remember 
14. Oneness-Cry
Tracks 10 to 14 are Side 1 of his second studio album "I Cry, I Smile" – released November 1977 in the USA on Atlantic SD 19141 and May 1978 in the UK on Atlantic K 50417

Disc 2 (60:51 minutes):

1. Mango Bop
2. Rainbow-Sky
3. I Cry, I Smile 
4. Heaven's Just A Step Ahead 
5. So Long 
Tracks 1 to 5 Tracks are Side 2 of his second studio album "I Cry, I Smile" – released 1977 in the USA on Atlantic SD 19141 and May 1978 in the UK on Atlantic K 50417

6. Love Me Only 
7. I Don't Want Nobody Else (To Dance With You) 
8. Give Your Love A Chance 
9. They Want The Feeling
10. Awakening Suite Part 1 (Childhood – The Opening Of The Heart) [Side 2]
11. The Awakening 
12. Listen To Me 
13. Full & Satisfied 
14. Will You Ever Know
Tracks 6 to 14 are his third studio solo album "Awakening" – released February 1979 in the USA on Atlantic SD 19222 and in the UK on Atlantic K 50570

There's a classy card wrap, a chunky 24-page booklet with new liner notes from Mojo’s resident Jazz writer CHARLES WARING along with album credits, lyrics and photos. But the best news is 2015 remasters by ANDREW THOMPSON which trump the 2001 Collectables CDs I've had these last few years. Fans are going to love the Audio here – beautifully transferred...

The first album "Garden Of Love Light" opens with the heavy and noisy Mahavishnu influenced "White Night" – a rather pointless exercise in Guitar Fusion that is followed by an awful vocal from Walden on the title track (supported by Cissy Houston) where he sounds like an uncertain and very young Prince. But things improve immeasurably with the following two tracks – two forgotten winners that practically secure the album’s desirability. The first is the commercially wicked groove of "Delightful" which features a trio of major league musical contributions – Raymond Gomez giving it some Santana/Neil Schon type guitar - while David Sancious adds the funky keyboards while Patti Scialfa provides breathy girl backing vocals. It’s a winner and hardly surprising that Atlantic Records USA tried an edited version of it as a 45 on Atlantic 3385 with "You Are Love" on the flipside – but it failed to take (Gomez plays a blinder on guitar). 

But then you're hit with something genuinely lovely and even dare we say inspiring (unlike all that hippy psychobabble claptrap espoused by the Bentley-driving Guru Sri Chinmoy on his liner notes). An instrumental called "First Love" which is essential a Soulful string piece that acts as a vehicle for Carlos Santana as guest guitarist. What makes this unusual and beautiful is that Santana forsakes showy screeching fret work for a more Soulful George Benson approach – it's unusual quiet for him – and along with the lush strings arranged by England's Michael Gibbs and his gorgeous playing and Sancious soaring on the Organ – it’s a stand-out moment on an otherwise patchy record. More dire Guru knob follows with the spoken "The Sun Is Dancing" which segues into 9:33 minutes of Fusion Rock that would have been immeasurably better with a trim of the beginning and the more noodly centre passages. They try for Soul-Funk with "You Got The Soul" but it fails on a terrible set of vocals and lyrics. Ace guitarist Jeff Beck brings some of his "Blow By Blow" and "Wired" axe magic to "Saint And The Rascal" and remains the highlight of Side 2. 

Album number two "I Cry, I Smile" features another stellar cast of session musicians – Hiram Bullock on Guitar, Herbie Mann on Flute, Cliff "Cliffalee" Carter on Keyboards, and Norma Jean Bell on Saxophone with orchestral arrangements by Michael Gibbs. The keyboard and guitar funk of "Soul Bird" made for an obvious US single (Atlantic 3450) but again the public remained uninterested. Best is the Side 1 finisher - the pretty Ray Gomez guitar instrumental "Oneness-Cry" (the flip of "Soul Bird" on Atlantic 3450. Saving us from the syrupy "I Cry, I Smile" - Side 2 features a standout – "Heaven's Just A Step Ahead" – a catchy little Soul-Funk ditty that at last feels like the album is living and breathing. Hiram Bullock plays fabulous Guitar while Cliff "Cliffalee" Carter lays down a Funky clavinet like Stevie Wonder at his best.

After two bitty LPs the public all but ignored – things had to change – and they did. Going after the Disco and Funk markets Walden brought in the magic fingers of Patrick Adams while the experienced Bob Clearmountain recorded and mixed the record at The Power Station – spiritual home to Chic. Result was the "Awakening" album (appropriate title too). The moment the Funk 'n' Strings of "Love Me Only" hit you – any punter is going to know that they're in the presence of an album they need to buy. And they did - "Awakening" became his first chart album and peaked at a respectable 15 on the US R&B hit parade. But even bigger and certainly a winner with the public is the monster old-skool hit "I Don't Want Nobody Else (To Dance With You)" – an infectious Funkathon that is guaranteed to fill a floor with strut-your-stuff shapes. The vocals are so much stronger and the Funkiness of it suddenly makes Narada like a real contender for Prince No. 2. The smoochy "Give Your Love A Chance" is another soft Soul winner - but the bruiser "They Want The Feeling" is undone by its overly manic pace. Fusion returns in style with "The Awakening Suite" where he seems to find his musical place ably assisted by Pat Thrall and Jay Graydon on Guitars and soaring orchestral arrangements by Jorge Del Barrio. "Full & Satisfied" is the kind of commercial Funk the radio loves and it's surprising that Atlantic didn't milk it for just that...

The first two records are patchy for sure but contain stunning moments while record number three saw the template come together that would lead to global domination with his "The Dance Of Life" album in late 1979 (see my separate review for BGO's twofer that contains "The Dance Of Life" LP and two other album charters from 1980 and 1982 - "Victory" and "Confidence" - pictured below). 

This auspicious start for the ex-Mahavishnu Orchestra Drummer and Multi Instrumentalist Narada Michael Walden is well worth checking out especially given the gorgeous audio. Onwards to "I Should Have Loved Ya"...