Herbie Hancock Album Future Shock

Set upon recapturing the pop ground he had invaded with Future Shock, Hancock relies upon many of the former's ingredients for yet another go-'round on Perfect Machine. High-tech producer Bill Laswell is back, so is scratchmaster D. ST. – and armed with a warehouse of mostly digital keyboards, Hancock adds the distinctive bass of Bootsy Collins and the Ohio Players' vocalist Sugarfoot, who always sounds as if he had just swallowed something. The music is mostly thumping, funk-drenched techno-pop which still has some verve, particularly the designated single "Vibe Alive" and the "Maiden Voyage" interlude as heard through an electronic fun-house mirror. But this is not really an advance over Hancock's early-'80s pop projects.

In the grand tradition of sequels, Sound-System picks up from where Future Shock left off – if anything, even louder and more bleakly industrial than before (indeed, "Hardrock" is "Rockit" with a heavier rock edge). Yet Hancock's experiments with techno-pop were leading him in the general direction of Africa, explicitly so with the addition of the Gambian multi-instrumentalist Foday Musa Suso on half of the tracks. "Junku," written for the 1984 Olympic Games with Suso's electrified kora in the lead, is the transition track that stands halfway between "Rockit" and Hancock's mid-'80s Afro-jazz fusions. Also, "Karabali" features an old cohort, the squealing Wayne Shorter on soprano sax. Despite succumbing a bit to the overwhelming demand for more "Rockits," Hancock's electric music still retained its adventurous edge.

Herbie Hancock’s Magic Windows (1981) is one of his numerous album issues in the period between the 70’s and 80’s. During these years Hancock released nearly 2 albums per year. On this jazz fusion album Herbie Hancock plays EMU Polyphonic Keyboard, Clavitar, Prophet 5, Yamaha CS80, Rhodes Piano and a variety of synthesizers, including Minimoog and a Modified Apple II plus Microcomputer, Sennheiser Vocoder …and much more. There are no strings, brass or other orchestral instruments on this album. Although Magic Windows is a funk album it is also his most pop-oriented album of this period. The album is an enjoyable adventure in synthesized funkness. Herbie starts out with "Magic Number" with lead vocals of Sylvester, but he must have had a vision of the future, playing "Everybody's Broke".

Herbie Hancock recorded for Columbia between 1972 and 1988. During that period, between the label's American and Japanese divisions, he released 31 albums, both solo and with an astonishing variety of players in an equally breathtaking panorama of styles, from straight-ahead post-bop, to fusion, jazz-funk, disco, R&B, smooth jazz, and even hip-hop. Though Hancock had a celebrated career before signing to Columbia, it was his longest label association; and during his tenure there, he experienced his greatest commercial success and his name was etched permanently into the history of popular music. This box set contains 34 discs – 28 single and three double albums – all housed in handsome individual LP and gatefold sleeves.

The first 2cd collection to span herbie hancock's entire career, from 1962 debut lp to 2000 collaboration with stevie wonder. Includes previously unreleased 1978 live concert duet with joni mitchell on "goodbye pork pie hat" from mingus plus appearances with dexter gordon, freddie hubbard, sonny rollins, ron carter, tony williams, miles davis, wayne shorter, joe henderson, harvey mason, bill laswell, and more!