Album Club, August 2017: Herbie Hancock - 'Crossings'
The Album Club choice for August comes courtesy of Lawrence (HackneyRF) with Herbie Hancock's 'Crossings'. As always, please listen to the album in its entirety before you comment and/or vote.
Apart from ‘Future Shock’ in the 80’s and the more well-known ‘Headhunters’ from the same period as ‘Crossings’, Herbie Hancock’s work had largely passed me by. So it wasn’t until recently when on Spotify and listening to ‘Headhunters’ that I started to dig deeper and discovered a whole box of delights, but more specifically his so called 'Mwandishi period' which includes the albums Mwandishi, ‘Sextet’ and ‘Crossings’. My choice for this Album Club is ‘Crossings’.
Crossings ventures into the more experimental area of Jazz with heavy use of keyboards in the shape of Moog and Mellotrons and electronic trickery, which helps to give the record a spacey, cosmic (man) feeling to it. The opening epic ‘Sleeping Giants’ does remind somewhat of Genesis ‘Supper’s Ready, in the way that it appears to be a number of different sections pieced together. Clocking in at just over 24 minutes it’s a roller coaster of a ride though going through wildly different time signatures and from Jazz Funk, to Jazz Rock and Free Jazz through to the final section where it really takes flight. One small gripe is that this bit doesn’t last long enough. It’s that good.
Quasar is shorter and more concise but does continue to push the boundaries. Water Torture kicks off in a 70’s film soundtrack style, heads off again into Free Jazz exploration before ending in a Tangerine Dream analogue synth haze. Magic!
Anyway I liked this record so much I stumped up £24 for the recently repressed Speakers Corner reissue. A very high quality record which sounds superb. Anyway as always it’s a pleasure to contribute, constructive criticism very welcome but most of all have fun listening!
I enjoyed this album immensely. I have a few of his soundtracks and Fat Albert rotunda is one of my favourite albums, but this was the first time I have listened to Crossings. It's a very engaging album, it seems to hook you in with it's changing styles, almost Avant-garde in places but very much rooted in jazz. It's easy to see from this album what a talent Herbie Hancock is.
Great selection, thank you.
05-08-2017, 10:11
high.spirits
I really struggled to get through the whole album.
I'm sure they are great musicians but not my cup of tea.
Thanks for suggesting as I have never listened to Herbie before even though I have heard his name in the past a lot.
06-08-2017, 11:32
Sand Dancin Donkey Walker
As noted above ‘Future Shock’ and ‘Headhunters’ are better known than 'Crossings'
It is a great album and I don't give this a spin as often as it deserves.
Good choice and a 9/10 from me.
09-08-2017, 15:28
Barry
Dug out my LP copy. Haven't heard it in a long while, but on relistening I remembered that I only really liked Side 2 ('Quasar' and 'Water Torture'); so 8/10 from me.
Even so I enjoyed listening to it again, sufficient for me to dig out and play 'Fat Albert Rotunda' and 'Mwandishi'.
01-09-2017, 14:20
HackneyRF
Blimey only four listens! Is that a record low turnout Barry?
01-09-2017, 14:23
struth
sorry, i missed album club last month. so didnt hear it. will try later:)
Blimey only four listens! Is that a record low turnout Barry?
Well actually no; there have been two other Album Club choices that have only received four comments. One of those was a choice I had made (Sinéad O'Connor's 'The Lion and the Cobra').
What is disappointing in your case is the low number of viewings (384), whereas with in two other cases mentioned there were over 1,300 views. Be patient, the Album Club often receives 'late comers' to long past choices - I am particularly guilty in tha regard. That is one of the reasons why the poll remains open indefinitely.
However, whilst the turnout for your choice has so far been low, it is not the record. That belongs to the choice of Vaughan Williams 'Symphony No.5, with a response of only 2 comments, despite a viewing figure of 1,000.
In all cases the number of Members who reply is always a small proportion (a few percent) of those who look at the choice. This may be because only a few are willing to listen to the choice in its entirety before they comment, or it may be that after listening to some or all of the album, they can't be bothered or are unwilling to comment.
All one can hope for is that one's Album Club choice might be of interest to someone out there; it might be new to them, and might lead on to the discovery of other titles by the same artist(e). Try not to be too downhearted - for all you know there may be Members now enjoying other Herbie Hancock titles as a result of your Album Club choice.