Badarou was one of the Compass Point All Stars (with Sly and Robbie, Barry Reynolds, Mikey Chung and Uziah “Sticky” Thompson), the in-house recording team of Compass Point Studios responsible for a long series of albums of the 1980s recorded by Grace Jones, Tom Tom Club, Joe Cocker, Mick Jagger, Black Uhuru, Gwen Guthrie, Jimmy Cliff and Gregory Isaacs. His keyboard playing can also be heard on albums by Robert Palmer, Marianne Faithfull, Herbie Hancock, Talking Heads, Foreigner, Melissa Etheridge, Manu Dibango and Miriam Makeba.Limited 180g vinyl reissue of synth maestro Wally Badarou’s classic futuristic instrumental album ‘Echoes’ from 1983. Superb from start to finish, this electronic tour de force spawned several monster tracks including the wonderful Joe Claussell and Larry Levan favourite ‘Chief Inspector’, a bumping bouncing Korg and Moog-laden bomb which made its mark in the charts as well as on the dancefloor, showcasing the strong jazz-funk sensibility you’d expect from long-term Level 42 collaborator Badarou. Also features the hauntingly beautiful ‘Mambo’, a mesmerizing slo-mo epic instantly recognisable for its enormous contribution to Massive Attack’s hit ‘Daydreaming’ as well as hitting big for DJs such as Kevorkian at the time. Other gems on this amazing instrumental-only album include the sophisticated funk of big Baldelli play ‘Endless Race’, quirky afro-funky delight ‘Hi-Life’ and the cool and elegantly mellow ‘Waltz’ amongst others. Not to be missed!
