Customer Reviews

Man-Child

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
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"Man-Child" may not be filled with as many hooks as "Headhunters", "Sextant", or "Thrust", but it is still an essential record for fans of Herbie or true electronic funk. "Hang Up Your Hang Ups" has one of the best get-you-going intros with its incessant guitar. As expected, Herbie has a lot of sound effects that he puts to good use, maybe not as crazy as "Headhunters" but spacey nonetheless. This is more of a commercially inclined record, but it still has its share of tempo changes and showcases. Stevie Wonder blows out an amazing harmonica solo on "Steppin' In It" and there is a killer bass solo on "The Traitor". The album ends with "Heartbeat", a dark tune that alternates between a brooding stomp and a funky shuffle; it closes the album on a somber note.

Each song averages 8-9 minutes. There are a multitude of players on this record and its evident by the busy styles you hear. Worth checking out if electric funk is your thing.

Considering that this album is the follow up to Herbie Hancock's brilliant 'Headhunters' and 'Thrust',the albums that wrote the book on the funk-jazz sound 'Man-Child' is bound to be as magical an album as the mysterious cover art suggests and it is."Hang Up Your Hang Ups" is a strident,funky blacksploitation thats chocked FULL of guitar and Moog breaks for you hip-hop samplers!Elsewhere "Sun Touch" and "Bubbles" are smoldering,drippy funky fusion filled with lush,melodic keyboard and analog synth textures."The Traiter","Heartbeat" and "Steppin In It" are harder edged uptempo funk.Overall 'Man-Child' comes off as the 'pure funk album' Herbie was planning to make with his previous two records because the jazz influences are kept to a bare minimum.For fans of fusion and mid 70's electronic Moog/ARP funk this album is a treasure but for those interested in earlier,more abstract fusion this may not be your thing.It's only a pitty that some very similar sounding and conceived albums by George Duke and Jan Hammer from roughly this same period remain out of print.It's a testament to the fact that,luckily,Hancock managed to be connected with Columbia records who have kept classic funk LP's by Herbie Hancock like this in print!

Ok, Headhunters gets the hype, and it deserves hype. Still, Man-Child contains arguably some of Herbie's greatest moments. Enough for my money, in fact, that it is my favorite Herbie album. I can appreciate the earthy, sophisticated groove of Thrust and the cerebral, spacey explorations of Sextant and the Mwandishi recordings. However, no Herbie fusion album simultaneously impresses, entertains, and funkifies as well as this album. With the exception of two tasteful, but slightly misplaced tracks, Man-Child incorporates everything that a good fusion album should (and I've heard plenty of mediocre fusion). The four up-tempo tracks alone more than make up for the two missteps. What sets Man-Child apart in my mind are the ferociously fast-paced changes. The beat and the entire band shift directions effortlessly, whereas sometimes the rhythm section members are the only ones employing constant changes on other Herbie albums. Another outstanding attribute of Man-Child is the style with which Herbie plays the keyboard stacks. Polyrhythms and richness seem to predominate Man-Child's atmosphere more consistently and more successfully than on Headhunters, Thrust, or any other Herbie 70s album. And I've heard them all! Suffice it to say that Man-Child, for all the respect it receives, deserves still far more.

Man-Child is another strong electronic jazz-funk album from Herbie Hancock. Although it's not as consistent or creative as Headhunters or Thrust, it's still pretty good. The opening track "Hang Up Your Hang Ups", with its snappy horn lines and funky guitar, is easily the best track here. Herbie has a great solo near the end of the track as well. "The Traitor", with its funky bass line, and "Heartbeat", which has a great hook and more great playing from Herbie, are great as well. "Steppin' In It" is a cool little jam featuring Stevie Wonder on harmonica. The remaining tracks "Sun Touch" and "Bubbles" are decent ballads, with the latter being the stronger of the two. A solid album. It's worth checking out just for "Hang Up Your Hang Ups", one of the best from his funk era.

Hancock adds a horn section to his then-current r&b/funk/jazz music to good effect, both on the uptempo cuts and on such ballads as SUN TOUCH. At this point, Hancock's unique mix of jazz with funk/r&b was still producing considerably earthier results than the tepid crossover attempts of most of his peers. The hard-core grooves on such cuts as THE TRAITOR and HANG UP YOUR HANG UPS compare favorably with those of the P-Funk crew and James Brown. Effective wah-wah/funk guitar work give the groove-oriented tracks further bite, and Hancock's own synth sounds and solos thankfully haven't lost their edge. Typically timeless solos by the likes of reedmen Wayne Shorter [BUBBLES] and Bennie Maupin indicate that improvisation was still a vital part of Herbie's musical vision at this point in time. Pick this CD up after you get HEADHUNTERS and THRUST, but before SECRETS.

The spacey instrumentals utilized in this album are mind-blowing. One must keep in mind when listening to this that it is not merely electronic; this is band music void of overdubbing with funk and jazz components that the best electronic artists of today could not duplicate with computers. A true musician in every sense.

"Hang up your hangups" may be the funkiest instrumental ever. And "Steppin" and "Heartbeat" are close behind. The other songs are ok. Where Head Hunters really has two funky songs, this album has three and at least two of them are as good as Watermelon Man (aka the beer bottle song). I think 'Thrust' and 'Secrets' are also essential Hancock albums but reaally think Herbie peaked on this one.

This is a must have for any jazz collector, as a audiophile I find the original release CK-33812 on Columbia (Sony) CD the best sounding and extremely close to the original vinyl mix. The Columbia Jazz Masters (Remastered) Series would be my next choice.

In my opinion Man-Child is the funkiest album of Herbie Hancock's early jazz/funk/fusion era, the grooves start off with the funk fusion guitar "Hang Up Your Hang Ups," and the beat just keeps jamming until the album's end. "Sun Touch" and "Bubbles" are slower, but funky cool smooth.

Herbie is the star on keyboards, but guitarist Wah Wah Watson's presence is what puts a new shine on this recording. Others among the all-star players of soloists and accompanists include Wayne Shorter on soprano sax, Stevie Wonder on chromatic harmonica, Ernie Watts Sax and Bennie Maupin on woodwinds.

Do yourself a favor and get the original CK-33812 on Columbia CD before the price goes up. This copy is Out of Print and will be the audiophile collectible I personally believe. -Audiostar

Herbie continues his exploits into the world of funky fusion with Man-Child. The tracks are more varied than on "Headhunters," but don't round out quite as well as a whole. Still worth buying, however, I assure you.

You can almost feel Gershwin seeping out in a couple spots here and there, as the jazz starts to come back into the forefront for Herbie and company's fusion. You can hear him hinting at the upcoming commercial atrocities of "Feets Don't Fail me Now," but in a more enjoyable way.

If you own "Headhunters" and are looking for similar tracks that get less playing-time, "Man-Child" is for you.

just like every other Herbie and The Headhunters album, it is one of the greatest fusion releases of all time, from the opening hook, of Hang Up your Hang Ups, to Stevie Wonders Harmonica Solo, on Steppin in It, Herbie and Co. take your for one funky ride!