Despite a stellar lineup (Dr. Pat Gleeson also plays on the first three Lenny White solo lps), Venusian Summer is mostly a fair example of the dreaded "fusion wankery." To be specific, it's probably the emoted guitar riffery that taints his solo work, but to say that this is easily the best of the Lenny White albums really ain't saying jack. Actually, everything I've heard from the Nemperor catalog seems to suffer from the muso syndrome (although Jan Hammer/Jerry Goodman's Like Children gets a break for being one of the most stupid funny albums ever produced in this genre.) [DW]

While I don't care for the 2-3 funkier songs on this album, most of it's great, and "Mating Dance" and "Prince of the Sea" are jazz/rock fusion classics that flat out rock with some excellent, high-energy guitar work from Ray Gomez, Doug Rodrigues, Larry Coryell, and Al Di Meola.
[Dave]