Lonnie Liston Smith And The Cosmic Echoes – Visions Of A New World

Summer nights - dancing close with a good woman - what else is there..

Extremely cosmically-sublime music. All of the Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes catalog is flawless.

Fantastic pressing. My 1975 copy has super low background noise and still plays NM with great dynamics. Besides, wonderful music!

‘Visions of a New World’ brings Lonnie Liston Smith’s concern about inner Peace and the World Peace:

“You got to have Inner Peace so that it can lead you to another level, of World Peace - where we can stop all the wars and everything. I was trying to make people aware on ‘Give Peace A Chance’, for example, to make people think and try to solve problems not to get into big conflicts. It’s always been that way, I mean, the verge of conflicts, nuclear threats, etc. So, the ‘Visions Of A New World’ meant a World of Peace, without greed, without wars.“

‘Colors Of The Rainbow’ (1975) also came out on this album, as a sort of warning about all the Mother Nature threats and ecosystem challenges we face today.

“People don’t realize how important Mother Nature is! All these beautiful flowers, forests, it’s helping mankind to breathe… we can’t just destroy everything! We have to become more aware of it! You can’t just cut up all the trees and put buildings on the place, they’re very important!
You try to combine all these things, put them in the music - the beautiful harmonies, colors and also the rhythm, because they’re part of it!”

"You try to combine all these things, put them in the Music: the beautiful harmonies, the colors & also the rhythm, because they’re part of it!", said to me Lonnie Liston Smith few years ago about the spectacular 'Colors Of The Rainbow' (1975). The delicious blend of electric Fender Rhodes piano & Lonnie's brother Donald Smith vocals was conceived as a 'Save-The-Nature' anthem in a time when very few people would pay attention to the matter. The sound experience, gorgeous as the album itself, naturally achieved the position of "all time influential". 'Visions Of A New World's title tune also carried a warning message from the depths of the Cold War in the mid 70s: "It’s always been that way, I mean, the verge of conflicts, nuclear threats, etc. So, the ‘Visions Of A New World’ meant a World of Peace, without greed, without wars."