Space Funk? Astral Jazz Funk? Sinister Funk? Spacey Synth Grooves?
What i say for sure is : the music that has withstood the test of time.
Mandre was a group that Andre Lewis started in 1977 as a continuation of the gospel/soul group "Maxayn"
which was named after the lead singer Maxayn Lewis, Andre's wife. While
the Maxayn group had been playing gospel and soul with Maxayn Lewis on
lead vocals, the Mandre group was Andre's project to add electronic
elements and also shift the sound toward more spacey funk and disco.
Andre also played keyboards for Frank Zappa, Buddy Miles, LaBelle,
Earth Wind and Fire, Huey Lewis, Edwin Starr, Charles Wilson and the
Gap Band, Sly Stone, Bobby Womack, Johnny Guitar Watson and a handful
of others. He was also a tester of Roland products and was one of the
first musicians to record with the infamous Roland TR-808 drum machine.
Tracks
A1 Keep Tryin' 3:29 A2 Solar Flight (Opus I) 7:57 A3 Interlude 2:45 A4 Third World Calling (Opus II) 6:42 B1 Masked Music Man 3:03 B2 Money (That's What I Want) 4:15 B3 Wonder What I'd Do 4:35 B4 Dirty Love 4:00 B5 Masked Marauder 3:28
Reviews 1 "This
album was a fore runner to what we now call Electronica and even Lounge
to some extent with just a hint of Funk. He produced three albums but
none of the latter equaled this debut album. An extrodinary keyboardist
with a interesting voice that somehow complemented his music. Tunes
like "Solar Flight" and "Interlude" are still timeless today. A great
example of his voice can be found on "Wonder What I'd Do", a hauntingly
classic style RnB tune. It would be great to find this on disc today".
2 "When
I was an teenager in 1976-77 the radio station aired an artist I never
heard of before, the song was called "Solar Flight", his style of music
was just synthesizers, and it was ominous and spiritual to me. I had to
run out to get this album, it was a all black cover with just a silver
mask on the front of it, and I draw a blank to how the back of it
looked, but I never saw who this man was, since then I have manage to
lose his album or it was stolen, I am not quite sure what happen to it,
but I was unable to replace it and I never forgot him or his music, so
if you're into the use of synthesizers you really need to check out
this guy, oh by the way the interlude that concluded that side of the
album was just too short for me, because it was awesome. but I will
kill...ok almost kill to hear his music again. I am close to getting
his music downloaded, but it seems even though someone has heard of
him, no one's actually have it to purchase and that is so frustrating I
could".
3
.....The
first (self-titled) LP came out in 1977 on Motown Records and featured
a mixture of Funk, Disco and some more Jazzy elements. It was mostly
vocal tracks, including a great cover of Frank Zappa's "Dirty Love",
but the standout track for me was the instrumental "Solar Flight" with
its sweet synth solo's and a cracking bassline. The cover art (above)
is also fantastic, very Daft Punk as somebody pointed out to me. Sought
after for the sublime spacey synth grooves of 'Solar Flight' and 'Third
World Calling'.......
I would like to thank Andre Lewis cause he left a comment on our post of thefantasticMaxayn album, (Marlo
Henderson the guitar player did the same). For those who still haven't
discover it, please grab it now and read what they say. These comments
make this blog very proud. We are huge fans and we respect them for the
music we still enjoy!
Main
Registration
Login
