Narada Michael Walden - Looking At You, Looking At Me (1983)

Artist:  Narada Michael Walden
Title:  Looking At You, Looking At Me
Release:  1983
Format:  LP
Label:  Atlantic Records
Catalog#  78-0058-1

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.


Side one
1.  Reach Out (I’ll Be There)  (5:56)
2.  Looking At You, Looking At Me  (4:36)
3.  Burning Up  (4:19)
4.  Never Wanna Be Without Your Love  (4:18)

Side two
1.  Shake It Off (Dedicated To Lloyd Dual And Family)  (5:12)
2.  Dream Maker (Dedicated To Kevin Walden)  (4:43)
3.  Tina  (4:15)
4.  Ain’t Nobody Ever Loved You  (4:44)
5.  Black Boy (In Memory Of Richard Wright)  (4:29)

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Narada Michael Walden - The Nature Of Things (1985)

Artist:  Narada Michael Walden
Title:  The Nature Of Things
Release:  1985
Format:  LP
Label:  Warner Bros. Records
Genre:  Soul
Catalog#  925176-1   (D/L)

For “The Nature of Things”, Narada Michael Walden went back to his musical roots when he lent a strong Motown vibe to “Gimme Gimme Gimme,”  his rousing duet with Patti Austin which recalls the romantic upbeat hits of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.
 On “The Nature Of Things” Narada uses a similar musical approch but there are heavy elements of his own jazzier musical elan added into the mix. Many of these songs are message oriented and have a highly mystical bent. The brooding dance song “That’s The Way It Is” was one of the finer uptempo message songs of the period. One of the songs that I and everyone really enjoys on this album is the majestic dance tune “High Above The Clouds”, it’s an easy candidate for the best song here. “Live It Up” and “Suspicion” are both veddy mid 80's dance-funk tunes with enough of Narada’s nimble musicianship to make them work. The title track a hip-hop dance track with a lot of scratch breaks and the melody of a matrical! Narada rocks out on “Dancin’ On Main Street”,singing in a deep,gruff voice not normally associated with him. The album ends with the sing-a-long Caribbean number.


Side one
1.  That’s the Way It Is   (5:40)
2.  High Above the Clouds   (6:08)
3.  Gimme, Gimme, Gimme   (4:41)
4.  Live It Up   (4:14)

Side two
1.  The Nature of Things   (5:04)
2.  Suspicion   (4:53)
3.  Dancin’ on Main Street   (5:12)
4.  Wear Your Love   (5:54)

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