So now we know!
"The image on Herbie Hancock’s 1973 Head Hunters album cover is based on an African mask associated with the Baoulé tribe from the Ivory Coast, used in times of danger, during epidemics or at funeral ceremonies. The image also resembles the tape head demagnetizer used on reel-to-reel audio tape recorders."
Designer Victor Moscoso brilliantly destroyed the cultural gap between indigenous tribal rhythms and electro-funk by creating this unforgettable image.
The sonic and optic impact this album had back in '73 is impossible to appreciate in this diminished age. It leaped from the racks and slapped you upside yo hade in a post-psychedelic day-glo dazzle. I was, like, literally, what the actual fuck? I literally was! Like! For once, the music was as shockingly new as the cover, and as effortlessly creative and ground-breakingly commercial. Look, let's face it, jazz is mostly boring as shit. And Herbie Hancock playing the fucking piano is as boring as shit gets. But when he followed Miles' [Davis - trumpet player - Ed.] advice and sat on his left hand he became the dancin' shaman o' funk. The album isn't really a Herbie album - he's integral to the Headhunters, one of the greatest bands of all time. This is timeless, beautiful, joyous and funky music for whatever godforsaken age you're living in. For those with any stuff left at all, now is the time to strut it.
This post funded in part by Solly And Sarah Sebag's Sebum City©, Carbapenem, CA
Please do avail your bad self of this opportunity to state for the record that you think Thrust is at least as good, if not better.
ReplyDelete... what was the question ?
ReplyDeleteThis week's question is:
Delete"Why don't fish fill with water?"
Once again, for the elderly:
"WHY DON'T FISH FILL WITH WATER YOU STUPID OLD BASTARD?"
No I disagree, Thrust is no way near as good as the Headhunters album, in fact I only played Thrust recently and decided I prefer Herbs Man-Child album ( an Album I discovered here:- https://falsememoryfoam.blogspot.com/2021/06/great-herberts-of-jazz-funk-dept.html )
DeleteMan-Child is my pick, too. The only thing that stops it getting a Perfect Ten (the internet's most sought-after accolade) is the unbelievably shitty cover.
DeleteCorrect, but your new improved cover is the only version I know, though I have seen the original - I quite like the cover illustration on Thrust, but it is 'of it's time'.
DeleteGot know Bill Summers fairly well. We had a mutual friend who also peddled some bad ass cannabis. That's all I got.
ReplyDeleteNuts. No reds?
DeleteSextant is the winner, hands down.
ReplyDeleteFor those who don't know, the second side of "Sextant" is entirely filled by the most irritating, tuneless, annoying, and painful to listen to "Hornets", an aptly-named track if ever there was one. Still, if you're the type who welcomes wasps to your picnic and thinks jellyfish are a plus on vacation, you may well rate it above everything else Herbert recorded. I'm not here to judge.
Deletewith respect sir, wasps and jellyfish are no friends of mine. i would encourage adventurous listeners and fans of truly progressive sounds to ignore the pedestrian insults and enjoy a brilliant move forward in electric jazz.
DeleteFun Fact: Back in the good old enlightened days of Guantanamo, the security forces refused to use "Hornets" as 24hr. aural torture because (and I quote) "people were killing themselves before the side even finished. And I don't mean just detainees."
Deletehey, if you don't get it, you don't get it.
DeleteAbsolutely. Kind of like crabs - maybe he should have called it that.
DeleteMr. Farq, sir, I'm not familiar with these albums, but i'm here to learn.
ReplyDeleteI've trashed more Herbert albums than kept ("Sextant" being among the first to get kicked to the curb) but I'll upload Headhunters, Thrust, and Man-Child later.
DeleteRight after high school I was flailing around, looking for the next big thing. Mott the Hoople broke up, Mick Taylor left the Stones, glam was played out...what do I do next? How about JAZZ? I bought this album, one by Jean-Luc Ponty, a double LP retrospective of John Coltrane...but it didn't stick. I enjoyed it but what I was looking for turned out to be that first Patti Smith album in Nov. '75 followed by the Ramones in April '76. Other than when I digitized a Herbie Hancock Budweiser Concert Hour show, I haven't listened to Hancock in ten years and don't think I ever revisited this one...so thank you! (The Budweiser Concert Hour is at: https://voodoowagon.blogspot.com/2015/08/herbie-hancock-blossom-music-center.html )
ReplyDeleteI have a theory, which I arrived at barely seconds ago, that you have to be raised by a "jazz family" to dig it. And even then, if you heard John and Davis [Coltrane and Miles - Ed.] during your formative years there's every chance you'd rebel against it and find what you wanted in rock, pop, and roll. Anyone trying to reverse into jazz from the rock and roll lane is not going to have a happy time. I'm not saying that today's jazz buffs are mostly a bunch of mealy-mouthed fake hipsters, but that's what I'm thinking.
DeleteMy dad was a swing musician, but only in junior high and high school. It was during the Second World War, so only kids could stay in a band; he lived in Los Angeles and "The Kanteen Kiddies" played at the USO's Hollywood Canteen. There were all kinds of music played (both literally, and via LPs and radios) in our, and his parent's, homes, and swing jazz was certainly one genre enjoyed. My youngest cousin later gave us an LP of "Eric Dolphy In Europe," which was quite a bit hipper than our usual fare, but actually sounded pretty good to the various generations.
Delete"Headhunters" is something I heard on the radio, and then in dorm rooms. Good music!
D in California
The only Hancock lp that I still listen to frequently is Taking Off, with Headhunters in 2nd (but, I really don't think of Headhunters as a Hancock lp).
ReplyDeleteTaking Off, huh? I think that Takin' Off is the debut album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock released in 1962[7] by Blue Note Records. The album features veteran tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, bassist Butch Warren and drummer Billy Higgins. The album is a creative example of music in the hard bop idiom.[8] The bluesy track "Watermelon Man" made it to the Top 100 of the singles charts,[8] and went on to become a jazz standard. Hancock released a funk arrangement of “Watermelon Man” on his 1973 album Head Hunters. Takin' Off was initially released on CD in 1996 and then again in remastered form in 2007 by Rudy Van Gelder. I mean, that's just my two cents worth.
DeleteIMHO, what makes that lp special are the contributions of Gordon and Hubbard (one of the most hated people in the history of music).
DeleteDo you use IMHO in conversation? As a spoken word? I've used LOL for years, at the end of every sentence LOL.
DeleteIMHO, I use IMHO in most of my conversations, whether H or not. But, when I want to FAFO, I do LOL.
DeleteThis here link is where it's at, linkwise:
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/bWuxrLuJwHp
(the great Headhunters Tri-ology)
adding my 2 cents to the listening booth . . . --Muzak McMusics
ReplyDeletehttps://www.imagenetz.de/KoeDi
why don't fish fill with water
ReplyDelete1) eh they do, when you take them out of water, they are out of water
2) fish needs a bike (blurt)
3) 60% of fish is water, and they do not spill their bodily fluids as easy as boys do
4) fish in a blender, very moist
The trip to the edge of town to watch the red lights blink on the radio tower when "Chameleon" was on the car stereo has a certain legendary quality among some old friends.
ReplyDeleteThis, to me, is poetry.
Delete