Dan Reed Network

by Dan Reed Network, Dan Reed

Overview

Although Living Color's debut, released the same year, got much more attention, the first album from this Pacific Northwest quintet also made a strong effort at breaking down pop music's racial barriers. The multi-ethnic group had its roots deep in traditional AOR, but the songs on Dan Reed Network get their freshness from the swinging R&B grooves underneath the big guitars and Bic-flicking anthems. It's an approach that worked well a decade earlier for Mothers Finest; Reed and Co. go a step further, dressing their funk-rock up for chart consumption with help from producer Bruce Fairbairn. Although Fairbairn's touch was golden on Aerosmith's brilliant 1987 comeback album, Permanent Vacation, it's occasionally too heavy-handed here; chattering synths mar "I'm So Sorry," and he unwisely indulges the band in an old-fashioned, overblown (though admittedly catchy) power ballad, "Tamin' the Wild Nights." Still, producer and band mesh with exciting results on the tribal-flavored single "Ritual" and the locomotive rock-disco of "Human." And on "Forgot to Make Her Mine" and "Baby Don't Fade," the shuffling beats, gritty guitars, and Reed's charismatic vocals get even closer to wiping out musical color lines. Dan Reed Network never quite obliterates those lines completely, but listening to the group try is entertaining, at least. ~ Dan LeRoy

Product Details

Release Date:	11/22/2019
Label:	Universal
UPC:	0600753885222

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Dan Reed   Primary Artist,Vocals
Dan Reed Network   Primary Artist
Blake Sakamoto   Keyboards
Brion James   Guitar
Melvin Brannon II   Bass

Technical Credits

Mick Brigden   Art Direction
Karen Moskowitz   Photography
M. Murphy   Composer
Blake Sakamoto   Group Member
Patti Drosins   Art Direction
Michael N-Pocket Mavrolas   Producer
Garry Sharpe-Young   Discography,Biographical Notes
Michael Bays   Art Direction,Design
Melvin Brannon II   Group Member
Dan Reed   Group Member,Composer
Ken Lomas   Assistant
David Frank   Composer
Brion James   Group Member
Alan Wilson   Remastering
George Marino   Mastering
Mike Fraser   Engineer,Mixing
Mic Murphy   Composer
Marlon McClain   Producer
Phillip Dixon   Photography
Bruce Fairbairn   Producer