Yoga Music

Andy Bey : Celestial Blues, You Should’ve Seen The Way I Made Love To You, and Tune Up
all taken from the album “Experience & Judgement” on Atlantic (1974)

For the past three years I’ve been practicing yoga. I have to give credit here to a certain lovable partner of mine (who happens to be a yoga teacher) for pushing me into it at first. But at this point, I don’t see myself ever stopping. Part of the reason why it was so easy to embrace “yogic” teachings and philosophy is because it falls right in line with what I had already basically come to understand about the world since about 5th grade. I’m not trying to sound like a kiddie guru here, it’s just that the fundamentals are really simple. For me, at least, it’s about not harming others, not harming yourself, and working hard to be your absolute best– liberated, content, and healthy. Just makes sense, don’t it?

It definitely made sense to Andy Bey. This album is nearly a soundtrack to the Yoga Sutras. But funkdafied, and not in sanskrit. Amidst the bass slaps, synth swells and sparse snare snaps, Bey’s voice undulates with spiritually driven individuality. Listening to his unearthly moans, I can see why the cover artist decided to put Saturn’s rings around his monkish dome. His lyrics speak about vegetarianism, meditation, difficult physical postures, and the resulting increased “concentration– waves and waves of positive vibration”. And yes, it is a good thing for lovemaking too. ; )