Hallucination Engine

Material | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 25, 1994)
• Original Release Date: January 25, 1994
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Fontana Island
• ASIN: B000005HU3
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #133,087 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Name says it all - music to fly to, January 16, 2004

By 

Vadim Grigorash (Moscow, Russia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hallucination Engine (Audio CD)

If the hypocrites and central scrutinizers of the world weren't so narrow-minded, they would have banned this album as an illicit drug on the date of release. It flows, simmers, grooves and soars inextinguishably in a virtually seamless fusion of a dozen of ancient and modern styles with a nod to eternity. Powerful and mesmerizing enough to make a Sufi twirl. Highly recommended, even if some find it a bit recycled or repetitive after Laswell's one-too-many subsequent offerings, or too muzaky to rank on par with 'serious jazz'. Stuff of a quality rarely achieved by today's 'ethno/world' crowd.

For the proverbial desert island collection, I'd put it right next to Mark Hollis, Secrets of the Beehive, Joe's Garage, Hunky-Dory, Glyph, Remain in Light, Within the Realm of a Dying Sun, Dreams of Reason Produce Monsters, Grassy Knoll's Positive, Beginning to Melt, Crimson's Beat and One Hand, Portishead, Mind Bomb, What Means Solid Traveler, Jimi Hendrix and an early 70s funk and soul compilation.

If you're a Laswell novice, here's some hard-picked (the guy is notoriously prolific) highlights:

Unless you're not a Knitting Factory/NY downtown gang buff, avoid other Materials except Seven Souls and Memory Serves.

On a lighter side, go for Laswell's solo outing Silent Recoil, Sacred System exploits, the Dub Chamber series or Laswell/Wobble collaborations Radioaxiom and Heaven and Earth.

For a darker and more disturbing experience, try Blind Light's Absence of Time (with Laswell and Palomino Anton Fier), Equations of Eternity, Veve or Ashes' Corpus (with Laswell, Bernocchi and Almamegretta's Reeno - here's what I call a power trio).

For total anesthesia, put on any of the first two Death Cube K albums (omitting the noise tracks). For the truly adventurous only, but chances are they'll blow your mind to smithereens.

Getting back to Hallucination Engine, definitely give it a try. Even if you end up hating it, it's worth the effort. How many things can you get these days that are not trite, especially if we are talking a piece of plastic worth under $20?

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank God CD's are more durable than vinyl, May 7, 2004

By 

C. Woodman (Perth, Western Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hallucination Engine (Audio CD)

While my review may not be as eloquent as the others on this page, the sentiments are the same. This recording will take you to a hundred different places every time you listen to it, be it night time or day. I have found myself raving about this album to others like some crazy fanatic - but then you just have to get it to see what I mean.

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars mind melting experience, June 1, 2000

By 

George Schaefer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hallucination Engine (Audio CD)

This is an essential cd for any music fanatic. But, be forewarned: It is not for the meek of mind and soul, however. This is an intense experience. Bill Laswell put together an amazing ensemble of musicians for this album. It reads like a whos who of exotic musics: Nicky Skopelitis, Wayne Shorter, Bernie Worrell, Bootsy Collins, Shankar, Sly Dunbar, Jonas Hellborg, Zakir Hussain, Trilok Girtu--Get the message? This is an all star cast. Each piece takes the listener on a journey into their own mind. It is meditation for the hardcore music fan. This international affair will impress--nay--awe and inspire the true music buff. It even features a spoken word track by the late, great William S Burroughs. Words of Advice is a great track. Burroughs adds the proper dose of literary and comic repose to this dense musical mix. The mixture of jazz, funk, blues, rock, psychedelia and international sounds is enthralling. It is one of the deepest albums I have ever heard.