MOONSHADOWS

Long-time WEATHER REPORT bass player, this was Alphonso's debut studio album as a band leader after being replaced/pushed out of his former band by Jaco Pastorius. An album produced and shaped by Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Narada Michael Walden--which means there will be many more infusions of pop and rock elements as well as a tendency to want to tell stories with each song.

Line-up / Musicians: - Alphonso Johnson / bass, vocals, Chapman Stick With: - Narada Michael Walden / drums, keyboards, Producer, co-composer (8) - Dawilli Gonga / keyboards, vocals - Alejandro Acuna / percussion And: - Lee Ritenour / guitar (1, 3, 5-8) - Bennie Maupin / reeds (1, 4, 6) - Flora Purim / vocals (2, 5, 6, 8), co-composer (6) - Airto Moreira / percussion (2, 5, 6) - Gary Bartz / soprano saxophone (2) - Chris Bond / guitar (3) - David Amaro / guitar (3) - Alphonse Mouzon / keyboards (Orchestron voice choir) (4) - Blackbird McKnight / guitar (5) - Patrice Rushen / keyboards (5) - Ndugu Leon Chancler / drums (5) - Ian Underwood / keyboards, synthesizer, programming (5, 6)

1. "Stump" (4:19) funk with a happy, upbeat, pop-orientation. (8.75/10)

2. "Involuntary Bliss" (6:08) pretty, fey-like music with some lotus garden like soundfeel noises and gentle chord play for the first 2:45, then the band changes lanes and picks up the speed in order to enter the real world and compete with the blind consumers cluelessly choosing that way of life. At 4:15 the acolyte gives up and returns, exhausted, to the lotus world where she tries to recover and recuperate. A very interesting Narada Michael Walden-like song. (8.875/10)

3. "Cosmoba Place" (6:18) definitely a very visual/cinematic multi-part song. Narada Michael Walden's drums are given a very different treatment here--slightly flanged or reverbed, I'm not sure what, but I like it! The song set up is part RTF part GENESIS and the bass play and Chris Bond's lead guitar work (similarly effected) are awesome. (8.75/10)

4. "Pandora's Box" (2:10) a gentle Alphonso Johnson composition that feels like a sonic and textural étude--projecting what angel music might sound like. (4.5/5)

5. "Up from the Cellar" (5:41) despite the dramatic and heavy opening wave, this song quickly establishes as a quirky funky early-Disco tune with lots of elements that will be further developed as the Disco and House music genres take root and blossom. Right now it's like a cross between The OHIO PLAYERS and EARTH, WIND AND FIRE or early Kool & The Gang. The wordless vocals are nice but it's Blackbyrd McKnight's rhythm guitar and Patrice Rushen's clavinet work that are the two instruments that really attract my attention. (8.875/10)

6. "Amarteifio" (4:48) beach waves and seagull song give this mellow opening a Lenny White Venusian Summer feel. The gentle play of Alphonso's double bass, Bennie Maupin's "distant" lyricon, Alex Acuña and Airto Moreiri's gently hypnotic percussion, the delicate picking of both acoustic and electric guitars, coupled with co-composer Flora Purim's gorgeous voice and bucolic words, as well as Dawilli Gonga's piano and keys and Ian Underwood's ARP 2600 synthesizer all work perfectly together to make this by far and away my favorite song on the album. (9.25/10)

7. "On the Case" (6:23) Alphonso tries to hook us in with a rather extended opening repetition of his bass riff but I find it kind of boring and not very melodic. It's his solo play during the fully established song that really impresses: yes, this guy's good! Nice drumming from Narada Michael Walden and electric piano work from Dawilly Gonga. Alphonoso's "electric guitar" [ChapmanStick] solo preceding that of Lee Ritenour is fresh and inventive. I'm not sure I like the carbon copy of the main song base being taken from Jeff Beck's "Freeway Jam" but here we are. (8.875/10)

8. "Unto Thine Own Self Be True" (5:14) this Narada Michael Walden composition's bombastic opening makes me think that I'm going to be hearing something from JOURNEY or FLEETWOOD MAC, but then it evolves into something different with Moog and harpsichord and piccolo bass and MiniMoog lead play, but there is a wave-like flow to the song, overall, that feels very Michael Walden-esque. (8.875/10)

Total Time 41:01

Pleasant and melodically pleasing as all Narada Michael Walden music is there is a certain flow and feel to it that is rather predictable and, thus, becomes familiar, even dull, to the listener despite all of Narada's sincere attempts to reach for music that stimulates a higher thinking and functioning for the human animal.

B/four stars; an excellent adventure in Third Phase Jazz-Rock Fusion from one of prog/fusion's premier bassists.