Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick has been leading the R&B collective Incognito for going on 40 years. Their first album came out in 1981, but in the decade between Jazz Funk and the band’s sophomore album Inside Life, Maunick revised Incognito’s approach from instrumental acid jazz to a blend of soul and funk featuring vocals.
By the time of Tribes Vibes and Scribes arrived in 1993, he’d brought aboard former Wonderlove vocalist Maysa Leak, who would become a vital part of the band. Maunick and collaborators such as Richard Bull, Graham Harvey, Simon Cotsworth, Matthew Cooper and a revolving horn section have since produced more than a dozen albums of high quality, danceable, jazz-influenced recordings. That trend continues with Tomorrow’s New Dream.
Most every Incognito album sports one or two cuts that sound like instant hits: funky, hook-laden and sing-along-able, sometimes to the point of overwhelming the rest of the album. The opening cut, “Haze of Summer,” could be that hit; the fact it doesn’t overpower the rest of the album is due to the strength of the other songs on Tomorrow’s New Dream. Joy Rose takes the lead on a tale of both wishing and acknowledging a summer romance was something deeper. Horns and retro soul licks on guitar and electric piano, trademarks of the Incognito sound, complement the vocals.
Ah yes, the vocals. As usual, Bluey enlists the aid of a coterie of singers. Phil Perry and Leak team up on the bouncy “For the Love of You,” while “The Weather Report” features the harmonies of Take 6. Both are prime examples of Incognito’s approach: Vocal harmonies atop a bed of rhythm, electric pianos and synthesizers, with unison horn lines providing additional spice.
Then comes “All For You.” If you thought the opener was going to be the album’s hookiest moment, you were wrong. The shimmering cymbals and keyboards that introduce it soon take a backseat to the insistent synth bass, with the horns providing counterpoint. Maysa’s smoky vocals enhance the lyrics – even when she’s forced to rhyme “Just lay back” with “Click click clack.”
By the time of “Only a Matter of Time,” halfway through the album, the listener is disabused of the notion that Tomorrow’s New Dream might have a couple great tracks and the rest are filler. They pretty much all qualify as potential hit material with hooks aplenty, including this tune. Lead vocalist Cherri V is another in a lengthy line of singing discoveries by Maunick. The chorus is again accented by trademark Maunick horn licks.
Not yet convinced? “Still the One” is a slinky mid-tempo tune that features Vanessa Haynes, another longtime Incognito vocalist, along with Rega Dauna on harmonica. Imaani, another Incognito stalwart, shows up on the following “Now That I’ve Found You,” a funky paean to true love.
All told, Incognito’s Tomorrow’s New Dream is a dream come true. While some tracks, like “The Weather Report” and “All For You,” immediately jump out, others reveal their gifts over repeated plays. In that respect, it resembles 2004’s Adventures in Black Sunshine or 2012’s Surreal, both of which sport numerous great songs, some of which turn your head on first play and others that grow on you.
- Dave Bainbridge of Downes Braide Association: The Albums That Shaped My Career - October 9, 2024
- Greg Cahill of Special Consensus: Albums That Shaped My Career - September 16, 2024
- Narada Michael Walden: The Albums That Shaped My Career - September 9, 2024
