Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story
Rod the Mod finds his solo footing, headed for stardom, with the Faces in his wake.
6:00 AM GMT 22/06/2011
Features Disc of the day
Herbie Hancock
Head Hunters
(Columbia 1973)
MOJO's says happy birthday to a living legend.
Blowing across the mouth of a pop bottle to get that spooky "whoooooo" noise is a favourite with kids of all ages, but Herbie Hancock wasn't too grand to make it the jumping-off point for '73's radical jungle-boogiefication of his instant 1962 classic Watermelon Man. 70 this week, Hancock is owed more than almost any other living jazz musician, a trailblazer in almost every post-hard-bop sub-genre, and Head Hunters is the underlining of his genius for sophistication and simplicity, his return to the Afro-funk source after a period of stratospheric journeying. Chameleon sets the scene, with Hancock's stanky Clavinet making it clear we ain't in Kansas (or Chicago, or New York) anymore, although the light-filled Fender Rhodes solo that comes after 8.30-ish builds a bridge with the leader's tenure as piano man with Miles Davis's Second Great Quintet, where he filled Bill Evans's boots with nary a quiver. Above all, enjoy the nasty, swampy groove - a mélange of Harvey Mason's skippety-bip drums, Bill Summers' Puckish percussion support and bassist Paul Jackson's threatening lope. Stevie Wonder and Sly Stone are benchmarks, the latter inspiring track 3, Sly, and indeed it's Head Hunters' tethering to soul that has been its preservation, and it remains fusion music that works for those turned off by the high-intensity blowing of Lifetime, Return To Forever and their ilk. Hancock's snobbery-free journey through music would embrace the shimmering, vocodered disco of Sunlight (home of the still-exquisite I Thought It Was You) and the aggressive electro ground-breaking of Rockit, while '07's excellent River: The Joni Letters featured Hancock once more thinking outside the box, but he was never, ever, quite this funky again.
Danny Eccleston
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 15/04/2010
Further Listening
Herbie Hancock – Takin’ Off (1962, Blue Note)
Herbie Hancock – Blow-Up OST (MGM, 1966)
Herbie Hancock – Future Shock (Columbia, 1983)
Previous Disc of the day
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Earl Brutus - Larky
Last salvo of Ginsters Pasty-Warholism from Britpop ramraiders.
12:04 PM GMT 08/06/2011
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Loudon Wainwright - T-Shirt
An overlooked small wonder from an unpredictable career.
6:00 AM GMT 03/06/2011
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Landscape - From The Tea-rooms Of Mars… To The Hell-holes Of Uranus
Dry computer club Futurists, upon hitting implausible chart paydirt.
6:00 AM GMT 17/05/2011
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-
Causa Sui - Summer Sessions Vol 1-3
Epic Danish jams, for when the neighbours get you down.
6:00 AM GMT 12/05/2011
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An absolut masterpiece.
Posted by M.A.Melo at 11:26 AM GMT 21/04/2010 Report Abuse
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Great album! :)
Posted by Igor at 7:12 PM GMT 07/05/2010 Report Abuse
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