Customer Reviews

One Down

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

 

 

"Take A Chance",Let Me Have It All","Come Down" and the

utterly memorable "Busting Out" are the hallmarks of Material's

most commited foray into funk,a genre that the bands far reaching albums generally skimmed over.With guest vocalists like

Bernard Fowler and Nona Hendryx on board the sound is very much

tight,prototype electro-funk;hooks and melodies play a much bigger part in the sound of the music.The next album 'Memory

Serves' would only hint at a particular groove as it swung into

a more obtuse avante garde jazz style.But for a consistant sample of the influence Bill Laswell has had on contemporary

funk 'One Down' is the album to go to!And to hear Whitney

Houston singing totally outside the pop context on the chilling

"Memories" is worth the price of admission to me!

On one hand, sounding VERY much a product of its time (early 80's), yet oddly edgy and unusual, Bill Laswell actually found a way to slither into the mainstream, relatively speaking.

This is his "dance music experiment" so to speak, taking funky grooves, getting top vocal talent like Nona Hendrix and Bernard Fowler and overlaying it with his subversive experimentalism. "Busting Out" is one of the most successful tracks (and ya gotta love Nona Hendrix's soulful voice!) along with "Take A Chance", "Let Me Have It All" "I'm The One" and the unsettling "Time Out". Whitney Houston, of all people, shows up to give a vocal turn on "Memories".

WHo says dance music has to be boring?

Nearly every song on this cd is superb. Hearing about Whitney Houstons death today reminded me of what I considered as possibly her best work, Memories.

And of course, Nona hendrix is also featured. Great CD!

....subtitled "Meet the Original Material Girls"

This is Laswell and Bienhorn's foray into funky-pop, and synthet dance moves. 'Course Material has been much more experimental in it's day...taking it's cue form the 80's East Coast avant-punk, intellectual electronica and performance art as culture era. Look up Laurie Anderson, Phillip Glass, Blondie and David Byrne w/ Talking Heads, Art of Noise, etc, etc, etc.....

This is as funky as it wantsa be with the rendition of Sly Stone's "Let Me Have It All" featuring vocals by funk-rocktress-goddess Nona Hendryx. Listen to Laswell on that bass-line. He and Stone shoulda done something together.

What makes this album historic is that this is probably the first vocal solo effort from pop-RandBee artiste Whitney Houston on the dance ditty "Memories". As such, however, don't kick down any doors trying to get this because she's featured on it. This is Laswell and Bienhorn's party and they can cry if they want to... jam if they want to.

And they do. From "Take a Chance" to "Holding On" co-written by the great Brian Eno. It worth a mention or two primarily because of the deluge of turntablists and ambient/electronica/trance/triphop/acid jazz folks who need more of an idea of how these 'new sounds' originated and evolved.

I have not heard the entire cd but I think Whitney Houston was @ her FINEST when she sang Memories. The lyrics are so haunting especially after her recent passing. I was hoping that if she lived her singing style would have progressed more in the direction of jazz and blues....R.I.P.

I'm on the road in Kuala Lumpur today and just heard about Whitney Houston's untimely death. And the first thing I thought of was: I need to go back and listen to the really funky Material album that she sang on, which of course is the one here. Very, very solid collection of songs, more funky and dance-oriented than other Material albums, but I ain't complaining. I consider "Seven Souls" to be the best Material album, but this is a close second in my book. The grooves on here are outstanding! And young Whitney sings her heart out too.

The absence of a change of tempo really brings this material down. I expected so much more given the nice stable of singers that were enlisted. It is sometimes hard to distinguish one tune from the next, and the substantial punch that is present in most other Laswell works is missing as well. To hear this approach done much better, try the CD "Soft Machine" by the Teddybears.

you will be very upset if you liked the other material albums and you then buy this one. beware ....