Breathe - Peace Of Mind 320cbr (Big Papi) 1990 Adult Contemporary Jazz

This is one of my most cherished CDs and perhaps one of the best albums ever recorded. Though brutally wiped out of most people's memories over the years, Breathe is one of those few bands out of the 80's that I still carry the torch for. If you remember and enjoyed Breathe's 1987 `All That Jazz', you will be blown away by their 1990 release `Peace of Mind', a terribly overlooked, but highly outstanding work of art. (Sadly their last album.)

Quite a shift from `All That Jazz', which consisted of jazzy fun-boy pop tunes and soulful ballads, `Peace of Mind' validated the band's maturity and is a superb demonstration of their strong musical potential. Yes, the boys are all grown up on this one. Gone are the songs about deceptive girls, monkeys, and hollywood stardom. If words can describe this second album, the music here is a smooth, jazzy, sophisticated, insightful, soulful, and impressive blues splendor. Ingenious lyrics and David Glasper's immaculate voice will take you on a journey through the good times and the bad, which in turn will leave you wanting to hear much more than the 12 tracks provided. It's really quite amazing how these guys were only in their early twenties when they came out with this stuff.

Though I thoroughly enjoy all of the songs on this CD, the following are my favorite tracks:

-I Hear You're Doing Fine
-Does She Love That Man?
-Will The Circle Be Unbroken?
-Got To Get By (Talk about ethereal!)
-A Perfect Love (This is where you go into a trance.)

The only complaint that I have is with the "Say a Prayer-Remix". It's actually one of the better remixes I've heard of that song, but a very LOUD one. This comes right after the calm and peacefulness of "A Perfect Love". Talk about a rude awakening!

All in all though, I would say this album deserves more than 5 stars. 'Peace of Mind' may have been terribly underrated, and unfortunately is now out of print, but though over 10 years old, it does not sound outdated.