Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.76 You Save: $3.19 (40%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.78 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Head Hunters
Free Music Review: Herbie's Funk Is Rich !!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
By 1973, Herbie Hancock changed jazz. It wasn't fusion, it wasn't rock, it was jazz-funk. He redefined funk and soul. That's why Headhunters is important. It was a new direction for Herbie Hancock. Headhunters explores the African-American music experience, by Hancock doing a lot of jazz-funk influences. Headhunters was a album that made Herbie Hancock a famous superstar. Headhunters was a new installment or direction in Herbie's legacy.
Headhunters starts off with the song, Chameleon. The first riff is a hard bass synthesizer riff, it sounds like a blured bass and then there's the funky drums that really sounds like Parliament's drums. It comes out with the clavinet riffs that sounds like a guitar. From the liner notes, He didn't need any guitars because the clavinet sounded like a guitar, so he didn't need any guitarist. I think that was genuis of him to make that choice. Track 2 is Watermelon Man. Yes, it's a remake of the classic. It more funky than his 1967 version. I got so excited when I heard it. First it's a bottle blowing tune with sound effects from the musician, then there is the electric bass. The percussion is next, then there's the song. It very crazy because the remake was popular than when it was first played by Herbie in the 1960's. That's pretty weird. The 3rd song is Sly. Did you know that this was for Sly Stone. They weren't playing his songs, they were playing the influence of Sly. The music that There's A Riot Going On and Fresh produced. They maybe heard it. This tune is sightly like Chameleon, but there's a low tempo. Vein Melter is one of my personal favorites. It's more slower that the other material on this album. It's a spacey tune, but its still a funky cut. There were four tracks that were piece of art.
This is really going to surpise you. Headhunters is the name of group. The group is on the front cover of the album. Did you know Herbie Hancock was the first artist to perform with the group. He also produced their latter 70's and 80's albums. I think synthesizers played a major part on this 1973 album.He experiments with other kinds of music. And that's so beautiful. That's why this is so famous. This should of got 10 Grammys because this is a classic that will stand the test of time. Buy it. Listen. Open your mind.
Free Music Review: Funk foundation...
Hit: 5 Stars
"Headhunters" is one of the best pure funk albums around. Hancock, with his vast jazz experience and workings with Miles Davis finds himself on this album as the figurehead of a group of very talented musicians. On this album you will find piano, keyboard, drums, bass, guitar, horns and woodwind instruments. The result is 4 excellent and experimental jazzy funky tunes that allow you to sit back and groove, or get up and move. Hancocks influence can be heard today as many modern groups/bands have used his influences in creating their own music.In terms of the sound, it is unique and excellent. Its innovative yet simple and these guys just absolutely shine together. All the pieces are quite long: "Chameleon" has a running time of over 15mins and never loses itself at all in that time. The music varies over that 15mins as saxes blaze, the bass funks, the drums thump and the keyboard croons. The horn section is great in this one! "Watermelon Man " runs about 6.5 mins and starts with pipes and voice squeeks and flutey sounds, all in a harmonious concoction, until the steady bass line guides its way in, then the drums, then the guitars and finally the keyboard and sax have a convo and the tune is cruising. Check the sax in this one; funky indeed! "Sly" runs over 10mins and is a more up tempo funky song that combines all the instruments again masterfully. Each instrument is discernable as the melody slows down and even bongos are evident. But wait, the tune changes tempo again later, speeding up with crazy melodies; another funky tune. Finally there is "Vein Melter" running over 9mins and is a mellow groove content to be low key and calming; more sax here and a great way to drift off the end of one of the greatest funk albums ever.
The best thing about Headhunters is that because each piece is so long, you get such variation in sound all the way through. Just when you think Herbie is going to continue down the same path on one of the tracks, it changes tempo and sound and develops up again with all the instrument layers present. It is basically a bunch of talented funksters letting it all hang out. Always a popular disc to slip in if you feel like chilling out or getting down to some funky grooves. A must have for any jazz or funk fan.
Free Music Review: MR. HANDS TOOK HEADS ON A RIDE WITH THIS!
Hit: 5 Stars
After the lackluster reception he recived from Sextant, Mr. Hands regrouped, formed a new group and recorded this monster of a fusion album. By '73, Herbie was a afterthought. His predecessors failed to meet commercial expectations and his fanbase was dwindling down to the "die hard". "Headhunters" was to Mr. Hands what "Some Girls" was to the Stones in 78' and "Mama Said Knock you Out" was to LL Cool J in 90'. It was a tour de force that restored his commercial success and placed him back in the public conscious.
Headhunters is one of those albums that rose Herbie to legendary status in the jazz world and "Chameleon" is the prime reason to purchase the album. The track is driven by one of the most infectious basslines in r&b history and never lets up as they include some of the trippy sound bites and solos that can be found on Sextant. The only difference this time around is that its more balanced out with the main groove- giving it a universal presence that all music lovers can get into.
There's no need for me to explain the genius behind "Watermelon Man" since there's nothing I can say about that track that hasn't been said before. Unless someone mentioned the fact that the groove been used in countless hip hop songs( comes to show the amount of orginality hip hop producers have. Ha Ha!)
An underrated gem on this album that deserves recognition is "Sly". The groove starts off slow and gradually progresses to this facinating hybrid of a hard "Shaft" like wah wah groove and an africanized precussive back drop substaining the groove. Im my opinion, this is Mr. hands best piano performance on the album as his soloing is every bit as colorful and furious as the groove. Beenie Maupin dish out his sax chops like its nobody's business and comes close to stealing the show from Herbie. "Sly" is pure fire.
The album closes out appropriately with "Vien Melter". It doesn't raise the temperature like the other three tracks, but after the fast and furious funk on "Sly", its a welcome cooldown after the throwdown.
There you have it, Headhunters from the words of another reviewer who love it to death. Don't take my word for it. Put Headhunters in and let it go to your Head!
Free Music Review: MUST HAVE, MUST HAVE MORE ALBUM
Hit: 5 Stars
Either too much or not much can be said about Herbie Hancock's monumental masterpiece, HeadHunters. It is, without a doubt, one of the best and most influential recordings of the 20th century. Even 28 years from its inception, HeadHunters continues to influence music. All the "greats" of Hip Hop and Rap, from Puff Daddy to Dr. Dre have Herbie Hancock to thank. Herbie created funk grooves and instrumental inventions still advanced to latest attempts. Yet, sadly enough, Hilfiger-sporting, bleach-haired, suburbanite preps have no idea that the lastest masterpieces by Eminem couldn't have been without Hancock and the HeadHunters.Hopefully, you, the prospective buyer, have either heard HeadHunters before or are listening to the samples at this moment. You should be beginning to understand the impact that this album made. If you are familiar with previous fusion, you know that this sound hadn't really started yet. And if you have a virgin ear, perhaps you are hearing the future during the past for the first time. My favorite song on the album remains to be "Watermelon Man". It is hip-hop, funk, and jazz at its finest. When I hear this song, I hear the beats and grooves of so many artists twenty years after, desperately trying to match its intensity. Furthermore, although there are so many highlights in HeadHunters, Saxophonist Bennie Maupin stands out. He is able to bring smooth, melodic, fast, and furious sounds into all the sounds and should be commended. HeadHunters appeals to such a broad audience because there is so much of "it" there, exactly what you want to hear at exactly the right time.
I have found only one qualm with HeadHunters, and it is not necesarily bad. I wanted more. I would listen to HeadHunters again and again and I needed more grooves, improvisations, and tricks. HeadHunters is incomplete, but that isn't bad. The follow up album, Thrust, in my opinion, closes what Herbie Hancock was trying to create. Put Headhunters and Thrust together and you have a vision, a focus, making a full circle of a musical style. But just HeadHunters itself still makes a powerful statement. Nevertheless, it's a safe bet that if you get HeadHunters, you're going to want more.
Free Music Review: I have an ARP Odyssey synth! And it's Herbie's fault!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
I must concur with Steve Runyun (Oct. 10, 1999 review), the Arp Odyssey solo on Chameleon gives me the chills each time I listen to it. The famous "phase-sync" lead sound Herbie uses for about four minutes in an absolutely INCREDIBLE journey into the world of electronic synthesis that will probably never be repeated. And you can guess what solo I've been trying to get down over the past few years since I found an Arp Odyssey in a music store in Connecticut about 5 years ago...???This album "single handedly" got me hooked on fusion jazz, jazz and electronic music! And in the early/mid-1970's the great pio- neers were breaking fresh ground: Chick Corea (minimoog/Vulcan Worlds)with Return to Forever, Weather Report with Josef Zawinul and his TWO Arp 2600s, George (Dukey Stick) Duke and many others. But, Herbie Hancock was, and STILL is "DA BOMB" when it comes to funky jazz/rock/r&b/disco fision. And the bass lines are the "sub-terrainian" type of funk that rivals P-Funk's master of the bass synthesizer, Bernie Worrell (minimoog on Flashlight and Aqua Boogie). Make no mistake... Headhunters is an important and pivotal moment in the development of music over the past 25 years. It may not appeal to jazz "purists"; but then, I don't think Herbie really had them in mind when he did this album. One thing is for certain though, he got the attention of a LOT of people, made several heads turn (and some stomachs too no doubt), and to top it all off... he got a grammy award for not just rocking the boat... he created an earthquake! And he laughed all the way to the bank just for the fun of it! The follow up album, Thrust, is a favorite of mine as well. Spank-A-Lee is FUNKY and Butterfly is one of the most beautiful songs ever written.
If you don't have this album/CD in your jazz or r&b collection, you have a huge gap that ONLY this recording can fill.
With the Vulcan Mind Meld or with the power of the Force... "go out right now and buy this CD if you don't have it. It is the only way... you cannot resist. It is your destiny..."