Hancock, Herbie
Thrust
Rare & Collectible Vinyl Records

Sealed 2009 180gm Reissue From Music On Vinyl. "The Follow-up To The Breakthrough Headhunters Album Was Virtually As Good As Its Wildly Successful Predecessor: An Earthy, Funky, Yet Often Harmonically And Rhythmically Sophisticated Tour De Force. There Is Only One Change In The Headhunters Lineup -- Swapping Drummer Harvey Mason For Mike Clark -- And The Switch Results In Grooves That Are Even More Complex. Hancock Continues To Reach Into The Rapidly Changing High-tech World For New Sounds, Most Notably The Metallic Sheen Of The Then-new Arp String Synthesizer Which Was Already Becoming A Staple Item On Pop And Jazz-rock Records. Again, There Are Only Four Long Tracks, Three Of Which ("Palm Grease," "Actual Proof," "Spank-a-lee") Concentrate On The Funk, With Plenty Of Hancock's Wah-wah Clavinet, Synthesizer Textures And Effects, And Electric Piano Ruminations That Still Venture Beyond The Outer Limits Of Post-bop. The Change-of-pace Is One Of Hancock's Loveliest Electric Pieces, "Butterfly," A Match For Any Tune He's Written Before Or Since, With Shimmering Synth Textures And Bennie Maupin Soaring On Soprano (Hancock Would Re-record It 20 Years Later On Dis Is Da Drum, But This Is The One To Hear). This Supertight Jazz-funk Quintet Album Still Sounds Invigorating A Quarter Of A Century Later." AMG Review By Richard S. Ginell.