Tony Levin: Waters Of Eden

Ah, well this was a surprise for me. Levin is a legend. His bass playing is incredible time and time again on many releases. I expect fascinating things from Levin. But what about this solo release? Well . . . it has its moments. First track called to mind a great 1990 release by Jai Uttal called Footprints. So here we go in a Levin-driven, near-Indian, ethnic raga, smooth-age rock modality. Interesting but after that the rest of the CD lost my interest as it was basically well-done bass techniques woven into Narada/New Age jams and near-prog. Levin shows he can be very mellow and smooth. Many nice and relaxing, easy-listen, tunes are covered but if you're looking for Levin to crank it up or bottom-out in huge, low-end crunch — this CD is not that. Expect a very soundtrackish work with the final track easily bringing to mind — scrolling end-of-film credits after a teen angst/hero worship flick. Overall, a showcase of Levin's talent for mainstreamers "adventurous" purchases. This release of Levin's is smooth jazz/ New agey prog-jazz/ soft prog which your girlfriend might like.

Reprinted with the permission of John Collinge and Progression Magazine .