I love it, Laety! It's awesome indeed. I just listened to this fairly recently, and it's such an enthralling album. Geez, I can't even put into words the way I feel about the music contained within Head Hunters...simply amazing! I think my favorite piece is "Watermelon Man", but I'm not totally sure. I adore the whole album, in all reality.
Yeah, it's a nice slice of progressive, synth-heavy jazz/funk. It's one of the better albums from the early 70's fusion era, I think. 'Chameleon' and 'Sly' are my favorite tracks on this album - some of the instrumental breaks are jaw-dropping.
This is one of two albums I own featuring Hancock (the other being Nefertiti, a Miles Davis album though Hancock was in his group at the time), and I'm a great admirer. The funk grooves are solid, and they way the group expands on them is incredible. I forgot the instrument Herbie uses on this album... some sort of electric keyboard, I forgot the name, but it produces such an incredible sound. I remember reading in the liner notes how it was used because it had a guitar-like sound, and he decided to use it instead of a guitar, as many fusion groups were at the time.
The clavinet is the instrument that he uses to produce a facsimile to the guitar. And yes, it is a kind of electric keyboard.
Yes, the Hohner D6 Clavinet. Stevie Wonder was also a big user of the clavinet and used it in a similar way - think of his track 'Superstition,' which features one of the most memorable clavinet riffs of all-time. On Head Hunters, Herbie also uses a Fender Rhodes Electric Piano, an ARP Odyssey synthesizer, and an ARP Soloist synthesizer.
Yeah, I love this album too. Although I think my favourite Hancock track is probably 'Hang Up Your Hang Ups' from his Man-Child album.. Actually... Both Thrust and Man-Child are great albums if you like Head Hunters ..
Thrust is also a great album from HAncock. ITs more my style of his earlier works. Im a big electronic music fan and my friend recommended I pickup "Sextant" by Hancock. It's really a great album that shows Hancock exploring new teritorries with jazz. He uses a Fender Rhodes, Hohner D-6 Clav with Fuzz-Wah and Echoplex, Dakha-Di-Bello, Melotron, and more. The album cover is awesome too. Lots of Futurisitc Afro sounding synth work!
