“Extended” Demo Version Of The Track “Adventures Of The Heart” From Maurice’s Solo Release (Expanded Edition – 2001)

Here’s an “extended” demo version of the track “Adventures Of The Heart” from Maurice’s solo release (Expanded Edition – 2001) written by Maurice, Martin Page, and Brian Fairweather.

Martin Page’s comments from his SoundCloud page…

In 1985 I was preparing song ideas for Maurice White’s upcoming solo album. Maurice and I had built up a trusting working relationship … and he asked me to knock up some new ideas for him at my home. After a couple of weeks of writing on my own, I brought him various concepts and grooves.

Along with the song ‘Switch On Your Radio – Breakout’ and ‘Children Of Afrika’ I had started up a mesmerizing little mood … a tentative idea called ‘Adventures Of The Heart’. I knew Maurice wanted to stretch himself – experiment with synthesizers and different chordal musical forms. So as I was starting ‘Adventures Of The Heart’ I was trying to bring a European lilt to the proceedings… something a little different for him – a mysterious mid-Atlantic feel. There were overtones of jazz in my chords – and I was thinking of his RnB groove … but the top layering I was discovering seemed to have a distant Euro romanticism about it. Well that was my take on it. I was thrilled when Maurice was attracted to my idea. We brought in Brian Fairweather my Q.Feel partner and we arranged it all together. I finished off writing the lyrics with Maurice. We were becoming a good team lyrically. I knew how he sang and what suited him. We had a flow together. Then we went into a little cheap studio in the Valley – just the three of us with a young engineer and recorded the demo you hear here for the first time. For the technical heads out there we used a Roland Juno 60 synth for the dominant arpeggiator part – that gives it that Euro feel. The rest was done on a Roland Jupiter 8 synth. Brian programmed some great Linn drum machine and I played Aria bass guitar. The three of us did the harmony singing. All done in an evening’s work. Maurice brought his unmistakable vocal style to the proceedings. I have never been in a studio with a man who has come up with so many vocal arrangement ideas – on the spot – genius of voice. He saw his voice as a rhythmic force – not only melodic but percussive. Truly – for me, he remains one of the most underrated singers of the popular RnB age. A genius of concept and arrangement. I thought you’d like to hear the quick demo we did that night…. it brings back such warm memories for me of Maurice – I miss him.

The song was attempted for the actual solo album back then, but didn’t quite make the cut … shame. Although it did appear on the recent deluxe extended re-release of the album. When I listen to the demo – I feel the time, the 80’s … and I feel Maurice’s gift – his spirit.

Cheers, Martin