Customer Reviews

Monster

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

 

 

For the record the Disco era pretty much died in late 1979. This album is a very energetic funky dance album. Incredible funky latin tune Saturday Night which features Santana and Sheila E killing it on percussion! A very underrated effort from Herbie. Seems like people only want their artists to play only one style of music. Herbie proves he can do it all effectively.

A master composer creates compositions of extraordinary complexity (e.g., on Thrust, Fat Albert Rotunda) and then strips down the writing to the basics, relying more on polyphony to get to the funky heart of the matter.

Why does "Stars in your eyes" work like a charm? I don't know, but it is superb funk that sneaks up on the listener until he/she says "that's it!!" The little keyboard phrase after the vocals sums the song up perfectly, because you are on the beach at night feeling the night breeze. Herbie is among the few composers who is able to use chord progression to evoke emotion or evoke a visual (e.g., Tell me a Bedtime Story, Watermelon Man, Riot).

That disco-funk thing, mastered by the two guys in CHIC, or by Ray Parker, Jr., depends on just the right subtlety to get its funk across. How did an aging jazz musician like Herbie figure out what that funky thing was? I don't know, but his ability to do it proves his mastery of multiple musical mediums.

Herbie was excoriated for doing this record, and no one listened to it; certainly, I didn't know about it until a couple of years ago, although all the jazz bohos knew about "Headhunters," and largely approved, probably because it had some killer keyboard riffs and was more to the point in getting to the Miles-type voodoo funk. But "Monster" has vocals and is just plain romantic in outlook, and it's intended to be danced to, so it is very un-jazzy and un-fusion.

"Monster" contains alot of Herbie-type brilliance but doesn't wear same on its sleeve. Listen and enjoy, and pretend that Ray Parker, Jr. wrote it instead!!

Yes the opening dance-funk of "Saturday Night" features
as honest to goodness jazz piano solo by Hancock along with
Santana's gripping guitar solo-it sounds alot like "Marathon"/
"Inner Secrets"-era Santana band really."Stars In Your Eyes" is
a VERY sexy slow groove with a equally lilting Ray Parker Jr.
guitar solo."Go For It" has it's share of retro disco pleasures
(even if some of those pleasures are guilty" but the meat of
"Monster" is in the uncontrolable DINASAUR fonk of "Don't Hold It In" grooving,jamming and throwing killer guitar and electronics at you!Even with "It All Comes Down"'s bizzare
fusion of funk and progressive rock fans of "Feet's Don't Fail
Me Now" era Hancock will be at home here.

This was one of the first albums that I purchased after my record collection was stolen. And one of the few that I had actually sought out following my transition to CDs. It is fun to listen to, it has some depth and it really is like a monster, it is an arm full. The vocals could have been left aside or someone else do them, but the instrumental phrasing is absolutely stellar. One of those discs that gets played over and over.

This is even not a bad effort of Herbie Hancock. I respect Herbie Hancock for doing the step into disco, R&B, Pop and Funk. Some people turned the back to Herbie when he started off with Headhunters. Some turned the back to Herbie when he started with albums like "Monsters". This is okay, but I respect Herbie for doing a step into this direction. And it's an enjoyable listen to me!
Except "Don't Hold it in" and "It all comes round" this is a good Cd.
No Jazz here!

Previously unavailable, this fine album by Herbie displays forward thinking in Jazz with it's early use of Apple computers on Stars in Your Eyes. The range of the songs runs from Rock oriented tracks courtesy of Carlos Santana to classic smooth jazz on Making Love.
Although not as commercially successful as other albums it is an easy album to listen to and a welcome relief from his attempts to enter the electric funk/dance/pop world ala Rockit.

True HH fans won't want to miss this album while it is still available

Once again, Herbie's jazz talents are in hibernation as he concocts probably the worst album of his career. On STARS IN YOUR EYES he comes up with a decent effort in the attempted genre, but some of the tracks are pathetic, particularly IT ALL COMES AROUND, which doesn't even bother with tweaking the production-line mainstream rock genre that was then popular. SATURDAY NIGHT has a fiery solo by Carlos Santana on an otherwise average Latin-disco cut. Herbie himself is basically a sideman with few opportunities to solo. At the time of its original release, I recall this was the album where I jumped ship on HH's career (I did return later, though!).

That's what I mean! Why even bother gathering all these talented people to produce such a boring album? At times these "songs" seem simply predictible and even cliche. I felt relieved when it was over.
I bet Carlos Santana, Alphonse Mouzon and Wah Wah Watson (as well as Herbie himself) would gladly forget about this session!

Picked this up in an antique store for a few bucks. Herbie in 1980 disco-dance mode. Very disappointing if you want jazz. Some interest due to guest stars like Carlos Santana. The cover by Gahan Wilson is better than the music inside.