Thursday, July 17, 2014

Maze - We Are One (1983)


Smooth, impeccably produced soul/funk. We Are One represents a step away from the progressive sound of Maze's previous record, Joy and Pain, and towards an even more accessible, streamlined sound. There was a time when this would have been way too cheesy for me, but having learned to not give a fuck, I can appreciate the band's mastery of musical subtlety, Frankie Beverly's uninhibited delivery, and the unflinching positivity of his lyrics.

It may be worth noting that I found about Maze via a reference in the Prince song "Count the Days", an absolutely brilliant song for which I can't seem to find a Youtube link, as Prince is all over keeping his shit off of there. If you haven't heard it, you must -- it's on the Girl 6 OST, so get that, too.

Track listing:
1. Love Is the Key
2. Right on Time
3. Your Own Kind of Way
4. I Wanna Thank You
5. We Are One
6. Never Let You Down
7. I Love You Too Much
8. Metropolis

If you really want to be free

2 comments:

  1. Just saw DJ Premier hyping MAZE, too:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzUzJZvPxB8 (starts @ 2:10 mins)

    You're in good company, dude.

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  2. Nice write up. If you ever get the urge to post their first record it would be received with eager ears ;) Keep up the good work my dude.

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