Customer Reviews

Individual Choice

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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This is truly Jean-Luc's masterpiece, for many reasons. First, it's the album where he truly stretched out by exploring many different instruments and textures, not just his violin. Second, every track has a completely different mood, and is in a world of its own, from the happy and upbeat "Far from the Beaten Paths" to the moody, brooding "Nostalgia" and everything in between. The end result is that the album as a whole takes you on an amazing journey. And finally, while JLP's music is instrumental, this album truly speaks. Every song tells a story, a story of strong emotion. And how each listener interprets these stories is left to his or her "individual choice." Wonderful.

This album is one of my favorites because I love the synthesizer sounds of the 80's, and this album is full of it. This album was done almost entirely by Ponty himself, who aside from being an awesome violinist is also a distinguished pianist. Only a couple of the songs have other musicians. The opening track, "Computer Incantations for World Peace" is beautiful, and the song "Individual Choice" was made into a music video, making Ponty, along with Herbie Hancock, one of the first jazz musicians to make a music video. Another track, "Nostalgia", is played with Alan Holdsworth. Overall, a great album.

I bought the LP version in 1983 and I still play it in my turntable. Here in Lima, in the TV morning news, you can listen "Computer" as the dollar exchange values appear. Jean Luc makes an excellent violin solo in this song; definitely, the best track in the CD.

I bought this CD late in my Ponty collection. I was amazed to find it's a companion to Open Mind which I had always thought was a strange little gem in Ponty's work.

Not that it's a departure or anything. But the use of keyboards is prevalent. A nice record. As the other reviewer said, Ponty really doesn't vary his work too much. So it's a case of - if you like one you'll like them all (with a few exceptions.)

Buy the CD and do this: Turn your room lights down very low, if not off. Turn the sound waaay up. Listen to "Computer Incantations for World Peace." Get up - turn on lights, turn off music and go to work. Be amazed at how sharp your mind / mind awareness is for the next few hours, as the mind will tend to replay the programming it received. This song is as rapturous and memorable, as it is beautifully constructed. When you experience this contrapuntal ecstasy, you will fully understand the creative why's behind the "Baby Bach" / "Baby Mozart" series being sooooo popular for parents with young children, and how the mind is stimulated.

JLP was one of the most innovative rock performers to enter the scene. His style and instrumentation set the tone for all electric fiddle performers who are in rock, country or jazz today. This in addition to the immense contributions of the previous decade, by Papa John Creach. The CD is more than worth ONLY having Computer Incantations to listen to / have in your collection, as well as his other songs. Enjoy.

Recalled this album from my college days and glad I was able to find it on Amazon. I am not a music expert but enjoy this album for the violin playing with a twist.

This 1983 album began a musical direction that would be continued magnificantly on the more ethereal classic Open Mind one year later. The basic sound of this album is composed of a series of multi-layored melodies played speedily on synthesizers (somewhat of a trademark of Ponty's variety of fusion) over which Ponty lays down some more of his brilliant playing. "Computer Incarnations For World Peace" is the best example of this sound and an easy candidate (if you could pick one) with it's great candaces of melody,electronic and a sense of playing whimsy."Nostalgia",one of two songs here featuring likeminded guitarist Allan Holdsworth and the title track are not at all far behind it,the former featuring a particularly excellent violin solo from Ponty! Like all of Ponty's recordings this album can be famous for it's detours as well-the bouncy,almost funky "Far From The Beaten Paths" and the similar "In Spite Of It All" both benifit greatly from Ponty's bass partner in crime Randy Jackson springing up and down those strings as always. Now if you want SERIOUS funk Ponty has thought of you too on "In Spiritual Love",teaming up with his old Mothers Of Invention buddy George Duke who throws down some typically inspired moog soloing and the song has that great uptempo 80's funky shuffle. There's also the brief and very classically inspired "Eulegy To Oscar Romero" featuring some of the loveliest melodies you can hear on this album. So what comes out of this recording is Jean-Luc Ponty blending jazz fusion,electronica,funk,classical into a big musical brew that's full of enough technology and grooves for the audiences of the period but full of memorable (and always melodic) musical ideas. Mix with that Ponty's knack of creating fusion that never gets too pyrotechnical or demanding this is music that will truely catch the ear of anyone who hears it.

This album was such a complete and wonderful surprise to a seasoned Ponty fan like myself, it brought a tear to my eye!!! I first bought this album expecting it to be the usual display of exceptional fusion that Jean-Luc was already famous for. This was NOT AT ALL what I expected!! Still, it was a marvelous listening experience!!! Jean-Luc plays about 90% or more of the instruments on this album himself....mostly keyboards, computers and some sequencers, and of course the violin. The only keyboard that is not played by Ponty is a Moog solo played by Jean-Luc's old friend from the days when they both worked for Frank Zappa, George Duke. Occasionally, Randy Jackson steps in on bass, Rayford Griffin steps in on drums, and the incomparible Allan Holdsworth adds his skillful guitar work on 2 songs. This is not your standard fusion album! In fact, only the closing tune 'In Spite of All' (with Randy, Rayford and Allan) goes anywhere NEAR fusion!!! This is a techno-computer-oriented-Ponty-influenced journey that shocked and delighted me!!! I'm not a big computer music nut, and this isn't really what you would call a computer music album. It's Ponty goes 'mod' with keyboards and technology (sometimes minimalist, sometimes texturally complex while not overbearing). It was a beautifully-crafted experiment by Jean-Luc that worked perfectly. It's one of the very few albums to go in this techno direction that TRULY deserves to be called a classic!!!!

The composition and playing on this album are typical Ponty, nothing exceptional. Some catchy hooks and a very eightes sound. I guess if you're a Ponty fan you will dig this, but to me the best stuff was on seventies albums like Aurora and Enigmatic Ocean. In fact, the best thing about this CD is what made 'Enigmatic' the best Ponty album of the seventies, the beautiful, floating and cliche-free soloing of british jazz guitar virtuoso Allan Holdsworth in contrast to the predictable, lick-based Ponty.