Magical Shepherd

Miroslav Vitous | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 6, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 1976
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Wounded Bird Records
• ASIN: B000098ZPS
• Also Available in: Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #343,080 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #32 in Music > World Music > Europe > Eastern Europe > Czech Republic

Track Listings

1. Basic Laws

2. New York City

3. Synthesizers Dance

4. Magical Shepherd

5. From Far Away

6. Aim Your Eye

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From Fusion Jazz to Proto House-music, July 20, 2003

By 

Peter McLuskie aka Prof. EZ (WELLINGTON New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Magical Shepherd (Audio CD)

Magical Shepherd is one of the most significant releases in mid '70's electro fusion jazz music, and ironically remains largely unrecognised. It is most decidedly unlike anything that else Miroslav Vitous recorded, with funky bass lines and extensive tape looping. A collaboration with Herbie Hancock, Magical Shepherd expands beyond the usual format of fusion jazz at the time, and ends up (on side one at least) producing sounds more reminiscent of modern house and jungle music (check out the use of the disco beats and loops in New York city). The atmospheric vocals by Cheryl Grainger and Onike would fit nicely into any recordings by Goldie.

I cannot recommend this album highly enough. If you like electro fusion jazz and do not have a copy, then your life is the poorer for such an omission. If you like Herbie Hancock's electro fusion work then this album is compulsory listening. I have played it extensively on Radio Active 89 FM...and have always received calls from local club DJs amazed at the existence of the recording. As coordinator of Radio Active's Jazz Show it has become my personal mission to ensure that this recording gets the wide recognition that it deserves. Buy it.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars UNDERAPPRECIATED MASTERPIECE, March 13, 2005

By 

Milesfan! (Margate, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Magical Shepherd (Audio CD)

After being ousted from Weather Report, Miroslav Vitous had something to prove. He wanted to show that he could create electronic funk on a level with Zawinul. He didn't reach that level, but he came damn close. He enlisted Herbie Hancock, James Gadson, Airto and Jack DeJohnette and created some of the weirdest, spaciest funk fusion of the 70's. Keyboard players (like me) will instantly recognize that Herbie and Miroslav went ARP all the way. There are no sounds like them. The two female voices are distorted, Airto's bizarre percussion is up front. For Miroslav, clearly commercial success was not an issue. He wanted to make a statement, and he made it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Funked up, in yer face ... and out on CD, November 2, 2004

By 

Gareth Smyth "Enjilos" (Beirut) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Magical Shepherd (Audio CD)

After years and years and years, Magical Shepherd has finally come out on CD and it sounds as funked-up and in-yer-face as when it was recorded a couple of decades ago.

Some might feel a comparison with Herbie Hancock's Headhunters, which was a little earlier, especially because of Herbie's presence on Magical Shepherd, but it's really Vitous's walkie-talkie (almost Sly Stone-ish) bass that gives it a feeling of its own. Not as considered as Vitous' later recordings with ECM but in a way much fresher.