| | Lenny White Venusian Summer CD Lenny White Discography of CDs
 (8 Customer Reviews)
Reissue of 1975 album by this jazz drummer assisted by Al Dimeola, Larry Coryell, Jimmy Smith and Larry Young. Six tracks total including 'Chicken Fried Steak' and 'Prince Of The Sea'. A 1999 Wounded Bird release.
Personnel includes: Lenny White (piano, ARP & Mini-Moog synthesizers, drums, tympani, roto-toms, percussion); Tom Harrel (flugelhorn, Mini-Moog synthesizer); Hubert Laws (flute); Onaje Allen Gumbs (piano, electric piano, Clavinet, organ, Mellotron); Larry Young, Jimmy Smith (organ); Larry Coryell, Al DiMeola, Doug Rodrigues, Raymond Gomez (guitar).
Engineers: Dennis MacKay, John Viera, Dane Butcher.
Recorded at Electric Lady Studios, New York, New York and Different Fur, San Francisco, California in June & August 1975.
Personnel: Lenny White (piano, Clavinet, keyboards, synthesizer, mini-Moog synthesizer, marimba, drums, snare drum, timpani, wood block, gong); Al di Meola, Larry Coryell (guitar, electric guitar); Douglas Rodriguez, Ray Gomez (guitar); Al Coryell (electric guitar); Hubert Laws (flute); Onaje Allan Gumbs (piano, electric piano, Clavinet, organ, Mellotron, keyboards); Peter Manning Robinson (Clavinet, synthesizer, mini-Moog synthesizer); David Sancious (organ, keyboards, mini-Moog synthesizer, Moog synthesizer); Weldon Irvine (organ, keyboards); Jimmy Smith , Larry Young (organ); Patrick Gleeson (keyboards, synthesizer, mini-Moog synthesizer, Moog synthesizer, Oberheim synthesizer); Don Blackman (keyboards, synthesizer); Peter Robinson (keyboards); Peter Robinson (synthesizer); Tom Harrell (Moog synthesizer); Dennis MacKay (percussion, gong).
Audio Remixer: Dennis MacKay.
Recording information: Different Fur, San Francisco, CA (06/1975/08/1975); Electric Lady Studios, NY (06/1975/08/1975).
Photographer: Dennis Chalkin.
Unknown Contributor Role: Tom Harrell.
Arrangers: Doug Rauch; Lenny White.
One of the better entries to emerge from a genre that was quickly growing tired. Return to Forever drummer Lenny White, while not as powerful or talented as counterparts Billy Cobham or Alphonse Mouzon, had an excellent feel for funk and an amazing sense of taste. "Chicken-Fried Steak" contains enough odd-time beats and fills to satisfy any drum fanatic, but White proves to be more than just a technician. "The Venusian Summer Suite" and "Mating Drive" are both moody pieces that were obviously influenced by the music of Tangerine Dream. But the primary reason this session succeeds is "Prince of the Sea." It is a strong composition that features Al di Meola and Larry Coryell. This was their only recorded performance together in the '70s and fans are still seeking this recording out to see "who won". This is a must-have fusion recording that has finally been released on CD. ~ Robert Taylor
Lenny White Venusian Summer Songs | 1. | Chicken-Fried Steak |
| 2. | Away Go Troubles Down the Drain |
| 3. | The Venusian Summer Suite: Part 1: Sirenes / Part 2: Venusian Summer |
| 4. | Prelude to Rainbow Delta |
| 5. | Mating Drive |
| 6. | Prince of the Sea |
|
Venusian Summer Music Review Average Rating: (4.9 out of 5 stars)   List All Reviews Awesome!!!!
Not much to say here-except that this is an incredible CD worth one hundred times what I paid for it! These have to be the best musicians in the world playing at the very top of their game.From Al Dimeola on Guitar to Lenny White-its ALL good!!!
Submitted by Michael (St Paul.Mn.) 
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No About time it came out on CD
I bought this on vinyl when it came out, in fact I bought 2 copies. Both are the worse for wear. This album will always be in my top ten of all time, it's got everything!
Submitted by j.richmond (Hamilton, New Zealand)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No Lenny White's 1st solo album rocks
Great fusion album, by Return to Forever alumni. Great fusion of rock,funk and 70's electric Jazz. Each song is better than the last...the title track ( Venusian Summer suite), is a particular highlight...with great art-rock synth-intro, the song jumps into a great groove with percolating, bubling bass and keyboard lines. White's drum technique and fills are impeckable...putting him on par with the genre's greats ( like Billy Cobham.) The last track's guitar dual between fusion greats Al DiMeola and Larry Coryell, is another reason to have this cd. An absolute must have for any fusion fan.
Submitted by a reviewer (Wallingford, CT, USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No The Drummer of Funk and Fusion
Lenny has and will always be the Funk and fusion drummer of all time! Not only he implements both funk and fusion into a clean melodic melody but he also adds a tyimphonic spice that no other drummer can, he plays three floor toms. I too purchased this on vinyl and waited forever for the CD release which I had found by accident at a lonesome record store. I reccomend all to pick up all his pieces while you still can.
Submitted by ESpringstead (North Easton, MA, USA.)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No one of the best albums in jazz ever made
This is a must for any music fan,hip-hop producer,and musician.The album is chock full of everthing that makes a classic album.The musicians are superb and the production is tight.The Venusian Suite is truly remarkable with its spacey start to the funky clavinet playing.Hubert Laws plays a smoldering flute solo as well, on this track.Get this cd,and once it arrives,slide into your element and let it play.You wont be disappointed.
Submitted by cmack (St.Louis MO. U.S.A.)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No List All Reviews | Have you heard this album? |  |
Purchase Venusian Summer CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Carla Bley Carla's Christmas Carols CD (2009)
Venusian Summer
 $13.64  
| | Harry Connick, Jr Your Songs CD (2009)
Venusian Summer
$13.79  
| | Nini Rosso Il Silenzio CD (2007) (Import)
Venusian Summer
$16.75 
|  | | Also Bought |
| Ramsey Lewis Love Notes CD (1977)
Venusian Summer
$9.44
| | Lou Rawls Live! CD (1966) Bonus Tracks; Remastered
Venusian Summer
$8.85 
| | Ultimate Phyllis Hyman CD (2004) Remastered
Venusian Summer
$8.99
| | Rob Schneiderman Keepin' In The Groove CD (1996)
Venusian Summer
$13.79
| | Tony Pastor And His Orchestra, 1945-50 CD (1995)
Venusian Summer
$12.09
| | Radiohead Amnesiac CD (2001)
Venusian Summer
$11.49 
This Limited Edition of AMNESIAC includes a clothbound book with embossed logo and a 32-page full color booklet.
Radiohead: Thom Yorke, Ed O'Brien, Jon Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Phil Selway.
Additional personnel: Jimmy Hastings (clarinet); Humphrey Lyttelton (trumpet); Pete Strange (trombone); Paul Bridge (double bass); Adrian MacIntosh (drums); St. John's Orchestra.
Engineers: Nigel Godrich, Dan Grech-Marguerat.
The Limited version of AMNESIAC won the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Recording Package.
Faced with a deliberately difficult deviation into "experimentation," Radiohead and their record label promoted Kid A as just that -- a brave experiment, and that the next album, which was just around the corner, really, would be the "real" record, the one to satiate fans looking for the next OK Computer, or at least guitars. At the time, people bought the myth, especially since live favorites like "Knives Out" and "You and Whose Army?" were nowhere to be seen on Kid A. That, however, ignores a salient point -- Amnesiac, as the album came to be known, consists of recordings made during the Kid A sessions, so it essentially sounds the same. Since Radiohead designed Kid A as a self-consciously epochal, genre-shattering record, the songs that didn't make the cut were a little simpler, so it shouldn't be a surprise that Amnesiac plays like a streamlined version of Kid A, complete with blatant electronica moves and production that sacrifices songs for atmosphere. This, inevitably, will disappoint the legions awaiting another guitar-based record (that is, after all, what they were explicitly promised), but what were they expecting? This is an album recorded at the same time and Radiohead have a certain reputation to uphold. It would be easier to accept this if the record was better than it is. Where Kid A had shock on its side, along with an admirably dogged desire to not be conventional, Amnesiac often plays as a hodgepodge. True, it's a hodgepodge with amazing moments: the hypnotic sway of "Pyramid Song" and "You and Whose Army?," the swirling "I Might Be Wrong," "Knives Out," and the spectacular closer "Life in a Glasshouse," complete with a drunkenly swooning brass band. But, these are not moments that are markedly different than Kid A, which itself lost momentum as it sputtered to a close. And this is the main problem -- though it's nice for an artist to be generous and release two albums, these two records clearly derive from the same source and have the same flaws, which clearly would have been corrected if they had been consolidated into one record. Instead of ...
| | Jean-Paul Bourelly Jungle Cowboy CD (2001) (Import)
Venusian Summer
$15.09
| | Harukanaru Toki No Nakade: Kacho Fugetsu CD (Import) Japan
$68.35 | | Tino Rossi Chante La Corse Et La Mediterranee CD (2005)
Venusian Summer
$25.59
| | Roxy Epoxy Band Aids On Bullet Holes CD (2009)
Venusian Summer
$13.05
| | Darryl Harper Stories In Real Time CD (2009)
Venusian Summer
$16.45
|
|
|
3819 
