Adventures In Black Sunshine

Great album, but if you are familiar with the Incognito art, you will certainly enjoy in this work of art

Excellent album!! I have enjoyed Incognito, Bluesy, Maysa & company since 1995. From my background & perspective I also like heavy metal, hard rock, R&B, some rap, Techno-Hi Energy dance and more. "Black Sunshine" is excellent!...get it!

It's interesting to read the reviews out there and see just how clinical some of you folks are when you dissect the music. On this one, one reviewer says the "Adventure" doesn't start till track 5. Another says "Listen To The Music" is reason enough to ding the album. Another basically says "ho-hum", gives it a 3 but would mark it up if this was their initial release-or words to that effect. Huh? Fine, we're all entitled to our opinions, and here's mine: This is a monster! Buy it, press play, and press on. Entertain, party, or just chill. The Cogs are smoking, and continue to bring us good quality music.

I really liked this album. The performances are great, the recording is very nice and organic, and vintage gear like the '70s Rhodes sounds better and better with well-done modern production. And Maysa Leak is, of course, amazing.

Standout tracks: Well on an Incognito, standing out too much isn't really the point--the whole thing is supposed to be a fairly seamless experience IMO. However, some tracks are better than others. Don't Turn My Love Away has some really fantastic performance from Maysa and a way-cool between-verses riff that can only be played by musicians who are as good as are here (the real test would be live). Autumn Song, is, IMO the one where it all comes together. This song is Dan-worthy. The instrumental 25th Chapter is also fun.

Sadly there is one glaring exception. Listen to the Music (a cover of the old Doobie Brothers song) just doesn't work for me. I don't much care for the original song but the cover reveals that it's not that great a song and was basically carried by the original performance. (There are a number of "classic" songs like this.) Furthermore, in the context of the *album* it really breaks up the flow. Sadly Autumn Song is immediately followed by the worst. When I listen to it on the computer, I program Listen out. This dings one star....

I always approach a new Incognito album with both excitement and hesitation. Being such a huge fan of this amazing, mainly British band (that were largely responsible for the explosion of the Acid Jazz scene in the UK along with "The Brand New Heavies"), I can't wait to get my hands on their newest material.

Over the years, I have however occasionally been disappointed with new releases. You see, I like my Incognito tracks a particular way - catchy riffs, mind-blowingly beautiful instrumentation, soulful vocals, occasionally danceable - all do it for me. Some of my favourite tracks of all time include "Nights Over Egypt" and "Wild and Peaceful" (from No Time Like the Future), "Stay Mine", "Worlds Collide", "There Will Come A Day" and "Castles In The Air" (from Life, Stranger Than Fiction), "One Hundred And Rising", "Too Far Gone", "After The Fall", "I Hear Your Name" and "Barumba" (from 100 and Rising) and "Living Against The River" (from Beneath The Surface - one of their best all-round albums to date in my opinion).

I don't like a lot of the material on Incognito's earlier albums, but thankfully, since their 1999 release "No Time Like The Future", Incognito has delivered a string of exceptional albums. "Adventures in Black Sunshine" is another album I will be listening to over and over again.

From the moment I heard the opening piano chords of "Don't Turn My Love Away", I knew I was going to be in for a treat.

This album has something for every type of Incognito fan: that great full and rounded Incognito sound on "Don't Turn My Love Away" and "Everything Your Heart Desires", beautiful vocal layers on "The Principals Of Love", a simple keyboard and vocal track in "This Thing Called Love", a couple of 'harder' tracks in "The 25th Chapter" and "Mindin' My Business", the ethereal quality of "Fences and Barriers", the simplicity and harmonies of "Autumn Song". For those that like to have a good dance to Incognito tracks, you won't be disappointed with a choice from "Listen To The Music", "The World Is Mine" and "Beyond The Clouds". My own personal favourite track on this album is "The World Is Mine".

Maysa fans will be delighted to hear that she plays a huge part in this album. As always, her vocals are stunning (although being an audio engineer myself, I can hear some sloppy 'Auto-Tuning' in some tracks - come on, this lady certainly does NOT need any assistance from this plug-in, Bluey!).

All in all, a very good release. I can't recommend this album enough.