Bobby Lyle in 5 albums 1973 to 1985 (Electone, The Genie, New Warrior, Night Fire, Night Breeze)

I think it goes without saying that we all love George Duke.  I'm going to stop right now and let that sink in, because it must be oh so true for anyone reading this.  So much so in fact that I am still amazed at how I was corrected when I posted that Dustar track I was so enamoured of, which was, as it happens, ripped off a Duke composition called "Love Reborn" which you might recall happened way way back here, back in Nov. 2019, back when viruses were nothing to be afraid of and masks were something reserved for, like, Februaries or something like that, for carnivals and such (the kind of thing that's terrifying in the current environment.)  I see that in that earlier post I got a little carried away discussing the records bought in various countries...  But back to the topic at hand, this was a request, and thanks to the emailer for requesting this, I love it when people mention things I was never aware of that turn out to be just wonderful, and there's still lots of that around. Luckily for me.

The first album is very much in the electronic keyboards vein, similar to the Don Muro stuff I posted a long time ago (even longer ago, when video games were played with broken sticks coincidentally also used to probe termites out of mounds).  I can't say I have much of a taste for electronica without percussion because it tends to get a little lost with the artificial sounds and to my ears requires some kind of acoustic or electric guitar to bring it back to earth a bit, a good example of the former tendency being Walter/Wendy Carlos.

The 1973 album suffers a little (for me) from being loaded with cover versions including the dreaded Shaft, hard to really improve on the original there, and By the Time I get to Phoenix, same criticism but different style.  On the other hand Jobin's Wave song really needs to be retired or needed to be retired by that year, preferably exiled to Devil's Island from which no one could ever escape.  As an example I uploaded The Dance of Love and Peace, which is really more David Sancious (brilliant in his own right) in my opinion (or imho as the kids say-- and by kids I mean anyone under the age of 40):

1978's New Warrior's Title Track intro is so very George Dukish, I mean, the riffing around is so beautiful it's almost miraculous to hear for these tired ears, starting with that orchestral drum intro, the synth squeaking, the electric piano unisoned with bass & later with grand piano:

And that whole album is quite remarkable and remarkably beholden to George Duke, incl. a track called Inner Space.

As we get further and further into the late seventies of course the music gets more and more commercial, just what you'd expect, this is not the great Robert Fripp making Discipline in 1981.  As usual, entering into the territory of the 80s without an insane asylum pass means you're going to be reverting back to acoustic jazz and giving up on the electric energy of fusion as on the album Night Breeze, which is not recommended listening at this time.  Nor will it ever be for the most of us.

PS the Electone (electric organ made by Yamaha) can be read about here on the great wikipedia.