Customer Reviews

The Imagine Project

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

It's not always projects studded with superstars are artistically frugal and satisfying. But here Herbie Hancock and producer/bassist Larry Klein have collected a host of renowned singers and musicians for a truly creative and impressive album. And a CD with an uplifting message of love, peace and understanding. In many ways refelecting Hancock's years long immersion in Buddhism.

In the vein of Joe Zawinul or Santana this is really a melting pot of world music influences, putting an African spin on the title track, while Dylan's "The Times They Are A changing" is presented as a fascinating mix of Irish - vocalist Lisa Hannigan and The Chieftains - with a surprise African finish by the intricate guitarist Lionel Loueke.

There is pure Brazilian jazz-pop with Céu, a surprisingly psychedelic "Tommorow Never Knows" with Dave Matthews. A grooving take on the old Joe Cocker hit "Space Captain" with Susan Tedeschi and her husband guitar star Derek Trucks . While the closing track "The Song Goes On", recorded in Mumbai, is in a beautiful Indian space, Hancock and old friend Wayne Shorter teaming up with sitar goddess Anoushka Shankar while Chaka Khan and K. S. Chitra shares the vocals.

Pink, Seal, Jeff Beck, Alex Acună, India.Arie, Marcus Miller, Los Lobos and a host of others contribute to the fun. And lots of praise for Klein's once again superb production: multi layered and crystal clear and yet with a certain warmth and 'live feeling'. And ofc over and around it all the impressive piano and keyboard work of the man himself.

"Possibilities" and the Grammy winning "River: The Joni letters" found Herbie Hancock collaborating with artists as diverse as Joss Stone, Corinne Bailey Rae, Tina Turner, John Mayer, Angelique Kidjo, and Carlos Santana on songs that were mostly covers.

"The imagine project" continues that but with a concept of love and world unity, and different sounds from around the world. "Imagine" features India.Arie, Seal, Pink, Jeff Beck (on guitar) and some African chanting as well as Hancock's delicate tinkling of the ivories. The atmospheric "Don't give up" features John Legend and Pink.

"Tempo de amor" features Céu and has a Latin feel (of course) and some great guitar and bass. The Bluesey organ-driven "Space captain" has an anthemic Gospel-style chorus and features the soulful Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks. "The times, they are a' changing" features The Chieftains and Lisa Hannigan (who was on the absolutely gorgeous "Don't explain" on "Possibilities") and is a slow shuffle with sprinklings of horns and sitar.

"La tierra" features Juanes and is a beautiful Tango, "Tamitant Tilay/Exodus" is desert Blues with an Arabic touch featuring K'naan, Los Lobos and Tinariwen and sampling Bob Marley's "Exodus".

"Tomorrow never knows" has a psychedelic Middle Eastern feel and features The Dave Mathews Band, "A change is gonna come" is slowed down even more than the original and features James Morrison, and closing is the sitar-drenched "The song goes on" featuring Chaka Khan, Anoushka Shankar and Wayne Shorter giving an Indian sound.

When I first heard about this project, I envisioned a collaboration of different musical styles from around the world creating something new and completely different. This is just a pop recording with artists from around the globe sitting in, not a musical hybrid of something totally new. As a pop record, its okay, but Mr. Hancock's gift is his incredible talent as a composer (Speak Like a Child), and of course, as a pianist. The pop diversion is cool Mr Hancock, but enough already...can you please get back to giving the world some more JAZZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What can I say here? Just when one feels in the middle of some sort of ugly, depressing void, when there is virtually nothing being currently produced worth listening to, Herbie comes along with something to knock us O-U-T!!! And for his 70th birthday no less. Who else but Herbie could bring together these incredibly talented and diverse musicians and make one cohesive whole? Once again, thank you Mr. Hancock! Looking forward to the concert in Lowell!

Herbie Hancock's latest effort at recreating "We are the World" is well produced with sharp vocals and instrumentation, and a variety of music styles. It is extremely well made. However, nothing on this album reached out and grabbed me. I've heard this before, somewhere.

Given this album's orientation, guest musicians, and the Grammy evaluators' tendency to award anything that's remotely PC, this album will no doubt be nominated and win an award at the Grammy Awards in March 2011.

However, I can only award this CD 3 stars, and sum up my review in 3 words: More World Music.

I got this as a new 2 x LP set after seeing Herbie play some of it live.This record is has its moments but overall it is quite bland, overproduced and reminds me of the really dreck laden collaborations that Santana is stuck in a rut doing.At times it is so 'safe' it just grates on my ears.It seems to have some artists/songs on it just to give them exposure to a 'jazz audience'. However 'good music' at its best has some drama and takes risks. This record is a 101% risk free zone .
However The last track with Wayne shorter and Anoushka Shankar is memorably lively.This is
Not a record for jazz,funk and fusion fans who like some edgy surprises.
I am going to file it away and go and play something
on my record player that is more stimulating instead.

Like many dinosaurs of the music industry, Herbie Hancock senses a convenient atmosphere of seasoned lyricism and maturation in that lazy spot somewhere between "adult contemporary" and modern r&b. With this CD, he further stoops to white celebrity fetishizing and vague feelgood liberal sloganeering about our "global community." Vomit.

For a jazz legend who still writes cerebral and emotional music rather than Starbucks jingles, check out anything Wayne Shorter has put out under his own name recently.

I plead, Mr. Hancock. You've lost it; please stop. It's getting embarrassing to listen to your good albums, of which there are many--they were all made before the mid 70s, but hey. For the sake of all that is good and jazzy, please stop.

When I purchased this album I was reflecting on the interview that Herbie had done on the Tavis Smiley Show on PBS in which Herbie said that his goal was to create a piece of work that has an international flavor without sounding foreign to most Americans' psychic and day by day I'm becoming more aligned with this concept.......thanks HH

Original and striking re-invention of favorites by well known composers (Dylan,Beatles).
Wonderful variety of styles, languages, moods. I plan to buy it for others as well.

This recent installment from Herbie is again a disappointment. Most singers are very secondary and some just simply weak and should not be recorded alongside with the quality jazz musicians. This recording seems to me as a follow-up to the Possibilities, a very marginal recoding also, and I would like to see Herbie return to his mainstream piano jazz area as soon as possible. Sorry...