System Shock

Jillian Michaels Rip 60 Fitness DVD Set is clearly a new product. Jillian Michaels isn't the primary trainer; Jeremy Strom kicks off the workouts. I had been considering the P90X Extreme Home Fitness Workout Program as a system to help me get back into shape after many years of infrequent exercise (and a few health problems). This program clearly is made to compete against P90X, and it offers some interesting benefits at a better cost. I jumped at the chance to try this, but you should know that the trainer on the pre-release DVDs was not Jillian.

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.