Narada Michael Walden Thunder (2013) {tarpan}

Narada Michael Walden (born Michael Walden on April 23, 1952 in Kalamazoo, Michigan) is an American producer, drummer, singer, and songwriter. He was given the name Narada by guru Sri Chinmoy in the early 1970s and his musical career spans three decades, in which he was awarded several gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards. Walden has also owned and operated Tarpan Studios, a well-known recording studio in San Rafael, California, since the mid-1980s.

Albums like this are why CD reissues exist and why Wounded Bird are so important. There are handfulls of classics from the jazz-funk-R&B world in the 70's and 80's that are definately lost classics and many with huge commercial potencial that never came close to getting it.Narada Michael Walden's 1982 date 'Confidance' is among them.

On Awakening, Narada Michael Walden placed aside the jazz fusion leanings of his early albums in favor of a more radio-friendly sound. The strategy worked, with Walden having his first Top Ten R&B single, "I Don't Want Nobody Else (To Dance With You)," which also charted number 47 on the pop charts in early 1979 and Awakening breaking into the R&B Top 15. The follow-up single, the mid-tempo groover "Give Your Love a Chance" featured grand arrangements by Patrick Adams. Walden displays his hyperkinetic drumming skills on "They Want the Feeling." Other standouts are "Love Me Only," the beautiful radio-aired album track "Listen to Me," and the tender "Will You Ever Know."

Billy Cobham has once again done music lovers the great honor of producing and writing this new volume in the incredible and prestigious Drum ‘n’ Voice series. Billy Cobham is a living legend of the drums, revered for his ultra-dramatic, muscular and bar-raising work with fusion pioneers the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Since the ’60s Cobham has appeared on over 300 recordings, including those by pop and rock icons such as Peter Gabriel, Jack Bruce, Bob Weir and James Brown, and has released more than thirty-five albums as a leader.