Joy And Pain

Frankie Beverly and Maze's fourth album, JOY & PAIN, was their most fully realised recording to date, with Beverly really coming into his own as a producer. While the more extensive production of third album INSPIRATION served mainly to enhance the ballads, here there's a richer, more fleshed-out feel to every element of the Maze sound. The opening cut, "Changing Times", is full of visceral jazz-meets-funk textures that would have made famed arranger David Axelrod envious. The instrumental "Roots" is full of churning riffs, interlocking guitars, bubbling keyboards, and flailing percussion. Throughout the album, the use of synthesizer as a lead instrument, instead of merely orchestral padding, is a notable advance. The much-sampled title cut is a tour de force that utilises a combination of percussion and drum machine to hypnotic effect, while jazzy, dreamy guitars and keyboards float across the top. The balladic feel of INSPIRATION isn't absent on JOY & PAIN, but like everything else, its more fully integrated than ever before.|