Customer Reviews

Perfect Machine

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

 

 

Don't buy an artist's new work expecting it to sound like old work. If you can't get past an artist's old work, buy an old album. Right?

True artists are all about evolution. Duh. Nothing evolves into the same old thing. To compare this to his 60s work is stupid. And how does one confidently critcize someone with a hand in the development of a standard for breaking from it?? He PIONEERED a type a jazz and set the standard at one point. If he breaks from that standard to explore the possibility of new ones, that's his business. Just keep working on YOUR outstanding standard Jazz masterpiece. hahahaha

My fave tracks on here are Maiden Voyager/P. Bop and Chemical Residue. Check this album out and see what you think about it. As an artist myself I'm glad Mr. Hancock made this album. It boosted my creative exploratory confidence.

An uneven Herbie Hancock record (and I wish this were his only one!), but several of the tracks work well. The title track is groove heavy fusion, and its subsumed vocoder vocals make it even catchier. Of the three tracks with Sugarfoot, only "Vibe Alive" is catchy and interesting - the other two sort of hold place on the album with little or nothing going on (I must admit, however, to laughing when Sugarfoot sings, "Why do I talk like this?/Obsession."). "Chemical Residue" is a dreamy but still modestly interesting fusion ballad. "Maiden Voyage/P Bop" (which probably should be called "P Bop/Maiden Voyage") is an agreeable number with HH's classic "Maiden Voyage" tacked onto the middle for no apparent reason - still, the one track here I'll find myself humming later in the day. The remixes aren't bad but certainly aren't essential - you may want to save some dough and buy the cheap-y cut-out version while you still can.

Herbie Hancock's last installment of the Rockit band let the funk capture the groove.

In what was also the last album Hancock released for Columbia Records, Bootsy Collins (b) and Sugarfoot (v) deliver outstanding performances, while Bill Laswell's production keeps the beat moving without too much clutter.

Vibe Alive comes very close to capturing the freshness of the classic cut, Rockit, and an extended dance mix is included on the CD. Beat Wise - two versions also appear - is another clubland original.

Hancock digs deep into his vast archive and reworks his 1965 hit, Maiden Voyage, with electronics & couples it with P. Bop. Perfect Machine, Obsession and Chemical Residue are interesting cuts and again demonstrates that the Hancock/Laswell collaboration were taking solid ideas and backing them up with quality work on the mixing board.

An outstanding music video was issued for Vibe Alive.

When released in 1988, the album was ripped by critics and questions were voiced on how much input Hancock actually had in the project. But by casting the drama aside and letting the music speak for itself, Perfect Machine shows there was still some hop left in the hip robot.

I have heard a lot of Herbie's sstuff, going all the way back to the 60's with the original Maiden Voyage, a favorite, for sure, but I am not a music snob, who cannot relate to contemporary music and an artist's changes and experimentation.

This new "Voyage" reinterpretation blew my mind. Loved it! Didn't love the whole album, this new Voyage and "Chemical Reside", (the slow "groove" piece). VERDICT: People hear what they want to hear, and music is a personal thing. I checked this out of the library the other day, and really dug it, now I'm buying it for my collection!

Herbie Hancock spent one too many albums on this style, in my opinion. This album certainly isn't worthless, but it certainly isn't fantastic either. Bootsy Collins does fairly good (if reserved) bass work, but Sugarfoot (from the Ohio Players) seems a bit overused - vocal numbers were never Herbie Hancock's strong suit. The latest in the "remake" family, "Maiden Voyage/P Bop" does fairly well, and the opening and closing tracks (instrumentals, basically) have held up.

There's no real content here. This is not Kraftwerk, this is not Bill Laswell at any kind of peak, this is not Herbie Hancock at any kind of peak. It's a group of people at a creative dead end pumping out "product". The music is washed-out minimalist R&B.

The three Hancock/Laswell albums (FUTURE SHOCK, SOUND SYSTEM,and this one) are great demonstration records for the 1980ssynthesizers / programming / MIDI / sampling revolution in music. As music that actually attempts to take these revolutionary means to an aesthetic end--to actually SAY something with this technology--the results were mixed. 1988's PERFECT MACHINE does move beyond the ROCKIT formula, although the results are inconsistently satisfying. The presence of Ohio Players' vocalist Sugarfoot on three tracks is an inspired choice to bridge the technology with an earthy style such as funk. While OBSESSION is marred by brain-dead lyrics, VIBE ALIVE fares much better. Sugar's vocals rival his best efforts with the Ohio Players, and the lyrics don't impede the forward-motion groove. He is also a welcome ingredient of BEAT WISE. Note that when the innovative production effects are used in a supportive role--behind a vocalist or instrumentalist--the results better sustain one's interest on repeated hearings. Herbie's skills as a jazz pianist make a welcome appearance on the P.BOP/MAIDEN VOYAGE medley. CHEMICAL RESIDUE is the closest any of the three Hancock/Laswell albums comes to presenting an actual ballad. Of the three Hancock/Laswell collaborations, FUTURE SHOCK is the recommended first purchase. I'd give PERFECT MACHINE a slight edge over SOUND SYSTEM if you want more of what FUTURE SHOCK has to offer.

This CD would provide the perfect elevator music in a school for the deaf.

My cat could do better scratching and the singing makes me cringe. The drum beats are unimaginative and the repetiton is mind numbing.

After hearing this music, I'm almost embarassed to be a Herbie Hancock fan. However, Chameleon more than makes up for the horrible quality heard on this CD. Spare yourself and get Headhunters.

It's A Pretty Good Disc not Herbie's Best or One of His Best.Vibe Alive With SugarFoot is still Slamming.Herbie was Going For The 80's Electric Groove A Little Too Much.He is a Musical Genius but His Best Grooves were In The 70's.HIM&His Band were Super Funky.Beat Wise is Very George Clinton Influenced.Too Many Drum Machines&Sounds Water this Album down.it has some Moments.

I like all of Herbie's stuff from the 60s and 70s. I picked this one up on a whim, curious to hear what it sounded like, expecting it to be something of a mixed bag but hoping there'd be at least one or two pleasant surprises. It's godawful. Painfully cheesy 80s synthesizer (like a bad flashback to the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack), together with a bunch of very tired sounding electric drumbeats, bad lyrics, weak scratching. I suppose this album has some value to a musicologist, as a historical document, and so on. But as something to listen to, ugh, to my ears the cheese factor is just way, way too much. I think it's great that Herbie has experimented with lots of different styles. But this album is an ugly mess better left collecting dust.