Time Control

Hiromi | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 27, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Telarc
• ASIN: B000N4SADC
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,340 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #27 in Music > World Music > Far East & Asia > Japan

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The new release by keyboardist Hiromi Uehara and her trio doesn't fit easily into jazz categories. Electric and high-propulsion at times, it aligns with aspects of fusion, but shouldn't be limited by what that term has been burdened with over the years. Hiromi's Sonicbloom is international in its membership, with a Japanese leader, a Slovakian drummer (Martin Valihora), and a British bassist (Tony Grey). They're joined by guest guitarist Dave "Fuze" Fiuczynski (from Screaming Headless Torsos, Lunar Crash, and other outfits), and they recorded in--gasp--Nashville! Time is the thread that runs through many of the compositions, and they successfully bend its perception. From the multi-part "Time Out," which finds one part bursting out of another like nesting dolls, to the expansive tapestry of "Deep into the Night," which feels like a part of the continuity that is always blanketing half the earth, Hiromi and her compatriots go from being as precise as a clock to as haunting as a memory to as playful as a kitten (the wonderful "Time Flies" feels like it was composed in honor of a cat's darting attentions). --David Greenberger

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bach would be proud! (4.75 stars), May 15, 2007

By 

Curtis Anthony Parks "Jazz-head" (NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Time Control (Audio CD)

This is a mixed bag of a concept album.

First off, this kind of music should not be viewed of in terms of modern songs. This is a continuation of her concept of orchestra, what she introduced on Spiral. The music is more like an improvised concerto, with solos less having to do with playing riffs on top of chords, but more to do with improvising freely in the style of the mood and the group concept.

This is NOT jazz music, but more like orchestral fusion. If you could imagine a classical orchestra of master players playing and improvising in modern grooves, this would be it.

Even concepts such as time signatures mean nothing, because with Hiromi's music, it could change at any point in time. This music is to be consumed as a whole: do not try to categorize this music into chunks with solos and choruses.

The most conventional song she sets up is on Time Out, with an outrageous classic solo taken by Dave Fiuczynski in the Scofield style.

However, give it some time, and like Spiral, Hiromi's genius will continue destroy categories and conventions. You will catch traces of all kinds types of music here: Bach, Jimi Hendrix, New Age stuff, smooth jazz, as well as Ornette Coleman, and even Miles Davis Bitches' Brew.

The best way to enjoy this is to quit thinking and just listen, and then you will understand what is going on here: Hiromi has become THE biggest force in instrumental music.

LIKE ALL OF HER MUSIC, NOTHING COMPARES TO THE LIVE PERFORMANCES OF THESE PIECES.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stimulates the Mind and the Spirit, April 28, 2008

By 

PScooter63 (Pelham, AL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Time Control (Audio CD)

Hiromi's star continues to rise with this album. This is one sizzling quartet, with all the chops to make her compositions breathe fire, and yet all the passion to keep it genuinely human and warm. Let's run down the track list:

The opening of "Time Difference" seems at first to harken back to Rick Wakeman's prototypic "Six Wives of Henry VIII". But the pot is stirred very early on, with lots of slithering, microtonal dialogue between Hiromi and guitarist Fiuczynski. On balance, a wonderfully virtuoso opening for the album.

"Time Out" is a rollicking up-tempo shuffle with an infectious sense of fun, even as it revels in its dissonances. Some great solo work by Fiuczynski here.

"Time Travel" is a complex episodic work. The feeling of floating exhilaration at the beginning (nice solo work from Grey) gives way to a caffeinated drum riff whose challenge is soon taken up by the rest of the group with zeal. The highlights throughout this composition are too numerous to list, but my personal favorite is Hiromi's distortion-laced Rhodes solo (both a rarity and a delight).

The wistful "Deep Into the Night" brings us down to earth with what begins as a soulful ballad, but eventually slips into "power ballad" territory. There is drama here, but it is never overblown. Lovely work all around, though there was a moment or two I wish might have been mixed with as much care as the artists were pouring into it.

"Real Clock vs. Body Clock = Jet Lag" returns the sense of edgy fun to the proceedings. For some reason, this composition seems like the kindred spirit of Bela Fleck's "Couch Potato" to me, what with all the mercurial moods swings and broad humor.

"Time and Space" is a loping (and occasionally lurching) minimalist groove in search of a melody. Though it veers dangerously close to filler territory, there are some tasty solos that redeem the track's diffidence.

"Time Control, Or Controlled By Time" begins as a furious tarantella, but alternates moods several times during its eight-and-a-half minutes. The centerpiece is a remarkable solo from drummer Valihora, capped off with another excellent piano solo excursion.

"Time Flies" returns to the sense of the ethereal, introduced by a keening whistle-like solo that seems suspended in time alongside lush piano chords. Eventually the track reveals a ballad-rock mood whose chorus takes me back to, of all things, vintage early-80's Yellowjackets (my musical equivalent of comfort food, in other words). Even after eight minutes, I didn't want this track to end.

Finally, "Time's Up" closes the book on this gem of an album in a manner totally appropriate to the proceedings.

This was my very first Hiromi purchase... though I have also purchased "Brain" and "Spiral" since then, I keep coming back to "Time Control". I expect it to stay in my CD changer well beyond her next release (which is due pretty soon now).

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's fun and very well done but not inspiring., December 24, 2007

By 

Thomas Stearns (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Time Control (Audio CD)

I know no one's going to agree with my review but I've had six months to listen to this album now and I just can't get into it the way I enjoy the other Hiromi albums.

It's fun to listen to and I'm not questioning the tremendous talent of the artists on this album. But this album seems to lack the emotional intensity I've come to expect from them. I can't find on this album the sense of "purpose" you feel in such songs from previous albums as Green Tea Farm, Love and Laughter, Brain, Another Mind, Legend of the Purple Valley, Music for Three-Piece Orchestra.

The melodies just aren't memorable or meaningful, the harmonies get pretty repetitive in too many places. But the songs are of course very technically challenging and executed very well. I think on an artistic level it's not totally fair to compare previous work to new work, but the fact remains I own 4 Hiromi albums and only one of them I never listen to anymore.