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Before he brought out the black heart in hard rock with Living Colour, guitarist Vernon Reid spent the Eighties deep in fusion, exploring the ley-lines between Jimi Hendrix and Ornette Coleman. Reid investigates an even wider range of combinations on Known Unknown with his instrumental quartet Masque: the Mahavishnu-Meters voodoo of the title track; frenzy-with-respect covers of jazzmen Thelonious Monk and Lee Morgan; the Afro-trance beats and icescape guitar of "Down and Out in Kigali and Freetown." Reid's closing solo in "Outskirts" is a caustic blur of notes, but he knows the difference between fusion and velocity. The closing piece, "X the Unknown," is a mix of live and machine rhythms, funky clavinet and bright spires of distortion -- as soulful and bracing as open-air church.
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Track List
- Known Unknown
- The Slouch
- Brilliant Corners
- Strange Blessings
- Outskirts
- Down and Out In Kigali and Freetown
- Sidewinder
- Voodoo Pimp Stroll
- Time
- Flatbush and Church
- Elbow Underground
- X The Unknown
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X the Unknown (track not available in Rhapsody)
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- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC.
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