Future Shock (album)
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| Future Shock | |||||
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| Studio album by Herbie Hancock | |||||
| Released | January 1, 1983 | ||||
| Recorded | 1982 | ||||
| Genre | Jazz fusion, Electro, Jazz-funk | ||||
| Label | Columbia Records CK-38814 |
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| Producer | Material Herbie Hancock |
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| Professional reviews | |||||
| Herbie Hancock chronology | |||||
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Future Shock is Herbie Hancock's thirty-fifth album and first of his Electro-jazz era.
Contents |
Composed in 1983, Hancock enlisted avant-garde bassist and record producer Bill Laswell to record an album that would go towards a post-modern direction, instead of his usual straight-ahead jazz. The result was a hip-hop influenced album, which ingeniously combined Hancock's keyboard mastery with Laswell's innovative arrangements and Grand Mixer DXT's turntablism. According to 1999 re-issue's liner notes, when Laswell went to buy speakers at a music equipment store he would insist on testing them by playing the demos of "Rockit" and "Earth Beat". While those songs were played through the speakers, passing by customers apparently liked what they heard and danced to the music. Soon after Laswell let Hancock know about the incident, eventually telling him: "We got something good here."
"Rockit", the album's big hit, was accompanied by one of the most successful music videos ever. The video, directed by Godley and Creme, featured dancing robots, moving around to the beat of the music and the turntable scratching. Hancock won several MTV Music Video awards in 1983, as well as the Grammy award for best R&B performance.
Unlike "Rockit", the track "Future Shock" (a song originally written and performed by Curtis Mayfield) was greatly underappreciated.
Hancock performed the song "Rockit", at the 1985 Grammy Awards in a synthesizer jam with fellow synthesizer masters Howard Jones, Stevie Wonder and Thomas Dolby.
All songs written by Hancock/Laswell/Beinhorn (except where noted).
- "Rockit" - 5:22
- "Future Shock" (Curtis Mayfield) - 8:02
- "TFS" - 5:15
- "Earth Beat" - 5:10
- "Autodrive" - 6:25
- "Rough" - 6:57
- "Rockit (mega mix)" - 6:18 (remastered CD only)
- Herbie Hancock: Piano, synthesizer, Fairlight CMI, keyboards
- Bill Laswell: Electric bass
- D.S.T.: Turntables, "FX"
- Pete Cosey: Electric guitar
- Michael Beinhorn: Keyboards
- Daniel Poncé: Percussion
- Sly Dunbar: Drums, percussion
- Dwight Jackson Jr.: Lead vocals on "Future Shock"
- Bernard Fowler, Roger Trilling, Nicky Skopelitis: Backing vocals