[youtube id=”Ao5uiWUzMx4″]Â Brian Bennett is known as the drummer for the British rock band The Shadows and for being a prolific composer for film and television. Voyage ( A Journey Into Discoid Funk) was one of four albums he recorded as a solo artist in the ’70s. He explained the album’s concept,
“This was music to complement or invoke visual imagery and I had this idea of the Earth in space, it was around the time of ‘Star Wars’ so this space fantasy thing was very much in vogue. I was also listening to a lot of Brian Eno and I wanted to see if I could write some material along those lines. I was given the go ahead by the label DJM and the concept was a voyage around the Earth. All the drums and synths were played live and we were experimenting with all the latest sounds and technology.”
“Solstice” fell into the same universe as the fusion and R&B work of Herbie Hancock, Gene Harris, Roy Ayers and Lonnie Liston Smith. The instrumental’s meandering and atmospheric keyboards and gentle rhythm could’ve been music for an outer space trip. Bennett continues to record music for television and in 2016 he released an album dedicated to John Barry. He never explored the sounds of Voyage again but the collection has become a much sought after underground classic.Â
