Customer Reviews

Hallucination Engine

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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?

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.

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.

To this day I have attempted to find a record in this genre that is so well laid out from start to finish. Laswell and a seemingly endless cast of collaborators have constructed a nearly flawless record, blending hip-hop beats, jazzy horns, eastern percussion, dubbed bass, and tranced-out effects for an around-the-world and perhaps around-the-universe affair on one CD.

Even amongst Laswell's and Material's other offerings, one doesn't find a record that does so much while maintaining its cohesiveness. The only divergence is the spoken word track featuring William S. Burroughs who offers "Words of Advice" - it's funky, funny, and true.

I guess the reason I haven't been able to find a record in this "genre" is because this particular recording defies the concept of genre. As a studio wizard, Laswell proves his range by going on to produce records from musical giants including Bob Marley (Dreams of Freedom) and Miles Davis (Panthalassa) posthumously. This is probably the record that earned him that right.

This is great music to be sure, a great mixture of different kinds of music: East Indian, Jazz, Funk and Hip-Hop inflections, etc. But you might not get as excited about it as some of the reviewers in this forum have. And one could easily dismiss this album as yet another faceless, if above average, Bill Laswell project . . . right?

Well, there actually is a few things working against that theory. Namely, the tremendous lineup of supporting musicians. Talk about face, William Burroughs has personality to spare and his "Words of Advice" bit is hilarious and dead-on accurate, too. Same goes for his delivery (pretty sharp here unlike some of his other recordings). Wayne Shorter makes some effective low key turns on sax. You also get 1rst rate tripped-out tabla action from some guys named Zakir Hussain and Trilok Gurtu.

I don't even know what part Bootsy Collins (most famous for bassing James Brown) plays but he's on here. In the liner notes, you read a list of musical contributors and what they play, but it doesn't indicate which songs they play on. Bootsy Collins plays "Space Bass." I'm guessing he plays on the opener "Black Light" which feels a bit funky, but maybe he plays the complicated bass lines on "Hidden Garden/Naima."

I'm no expert, but this music sounds pretty darn innovative to me. So many great instruments are put to use and even the violins sound exotic. This is pretty relaxing around-the-house music, but at any given moment you can stop and just let it carry you away. Also true - you will appreciate it more with repeated listens.

I remember back in the eighties when I started listening to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and was an absolute junkie for that album. Over the course of a decade, as my collection of music broke the thousand title mark I continued to listen to that one album again and again like none other, wearing out tapes and records and wearing a deep groove in my soul. I thought I had experienced the pinnacle of musical civilization therein.

Then I found Hallucination Engine.

I wasn't immediately sold, it took several months of hearing my friend rant about it like some religious fanatic before it started to sink in. But once it did, everything changed.

I began to see amazing complexity welling up from deep within the simple subtlety of the sleepy, oozing rythyms. Every listening experience became a further transformation of my mind...balancing , soothing and embracing my soul like a reunion of long-parted lovers. My whole experience of what music was, what it could be, changed forever.

If you only ever own one trance or world beat album, I recommend that this be it.

This is the kind of album that you could use put you to sleep, wake you up, woo your mate, study to, eat to, bathe to, work out to, inspire your every waking thought and carry you through dreams of paradise.

Subtle, serene, powerful, funky, funny, and indescribably deep. Pure auditory bliss. A truly spiritual listening experience reuniting modern recording technology with ancient soundscapes and sensibilities.

Bless you, Bill Laswell...may you someday create a fitting sequel.

P.S. The parental advisory on the case is for William S. Bourroughs typically off-color language in a recitation on one track, "Words of Advice". This spoken word track is a bizzare beat number in the middle of an otherwise predominately atmospheric instrumental album. Still, I like the track, it has psychic merit, and it's eccentric placement seems more like a breather than an invasion to my senses.

This is where jazz is now. Spacy synths and instruments of other cultures mix with bass, drums, guitar, etc., and find new trails through the jungle. Many different new styles come through here, each one of them worthy of further exploration. Funk, trance, world, and trip music are all touched on, but Material never stops for long.

Judging from the other reviews, it looks as if you either don't understand this album at all or you want to marry it, have it's babies, and make sure a copy goes into your casket when you check out. I am one of the latter. I am currently shopping for my second copy of this cd, my old one of 11 years got lost in a recent move and I'm jonesing...best meditation, space, sexy music around. The disc has held up to repeated playings, I am always finding new moments in it to enjoy. It is surely Laswell's greatest; how can I decribe it? Rich orchestrated Trip-hop/acid jazz/world beat, they do stuff here in 'real time' w/ 'real instruments' that most DJ's who have to rely on synths and loops must only dream of. I agree with the other reviewers that Laswell's ouvre is very uneven...but fans of this one take heart, there was an album made about the same time with many of the same musicians which is almost as good as this one...if you're interested, check out Nicky Scopelitis's Ektasis album (he has several with similar titles, look for the one on the Axiom label with the koenline cover with the Horus/ Udjat eye design). I envy those who will discover this album anew...happy listening...

I was lucky enough in college to be introduced to this album right after it first came out, as a friend of mine is a Bill Laswell fanatic. As a big fan of Acid Jazz, Techno, and World Beat, I was willing to check out anything along those lines.

THIS IS, HANDS DOWN, ONE OF THE BEST ALBUMS I HAVE EVER HEARD.

Of course, it was stolen during a party. The good ones always are. Anyway, let me just say that purchasing a new copy recently from Amazon.com was definately worth it. Not just for the trip down memory lane...it turns out that the musical experience is better even than I remember, and the reunion has been wonderful!

This album will blow your mind, especially if you are fond of bands like Weather Report - and of course Bill Laswell's work. It is powerful and haunting....probably THE best fusion album I have come across.

If my 1000 CD collection was going to be destroyed and I could save any five, this would be one of them. It's totally outstanding.