Tuesday, March 27, 2018

DIG, ON MULTIPLE FRONTS, MAN

Up until the release of his "Rockit", my only impression of Herbie Hancock had been his LP Head Hunters, found under the arms of some of the more technically minded musicians in high school. In other words, the jazz dudes who I had no time for. I wouldn't have, and didn't, give it half a chance. No interest whatsoever. It was the guitar-only diet back then. Fast forward roughly ten years: mind blown. His video of "Rockit" was in regular rotation on MTV and when you consider the year, it's easy to see why I took notice. It might seem tame now, but the robotics, as primitive as they were, were freaky. Not only that, it featured scratching by Grandmixer DST (who also do his thing on Malcom McLaren's Duck Rock LP). For the time it was WTF when they used to actually spell it out. What the fuck.


Years later and less threatened by jazz, I realized that to dismiss Hancock is a mistake. He did lots of cool shit. That brings us to Fat Albert's Rotunda, his eighth album released in 1969. Originally intended as a soundtrack to Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert, an animated TV special based on a character created by a pre-bust Bill Cosby (before we knew he was a bad egg).

The LP is an awesome mix of jazz, funk and soul. If you lived in that era, you'll hear a TV show soundtrack, but you might hear it differently without visuals or dialog. It's pretty fucking tight. If you haven't heard TV shows with music like this as a soundtrack, you'll hear an awesome mix of jazz, funk and soul, that's pretty fucking tight. Maybe I should say that again.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
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