Herbie Hancock

8-14-09 Herbie Hancock

I only recently got the full set of re-mastered Herbie Hancock ‘electro’ albums from the 80’s, “Future Shock”, “Sound System” and “Perfect Machine”. I have always liked Herbie Hancock, whether in his electronic period, or as a straight jazz musician.

CD5 BEAT WISE COLUMBIA US CSK 1241

1988 1 TRK CD Single CD5 promo-only

CD DANCE SINGLES (Collection) SONY JPN SRCS 7542

1995 13 TRK Collection; Japan-only

LP FUTURE SHOCK COLUMBIA US FC 38814

1983 6 TRKS Rock It

CD FUTURE SHOCK re COLUMBIA US CK 65962

1983 7 TRKS (1 x bonus track) ('99 issue)

7" MEGA-MIX / (Same) COLUMBIA US 38-04473

1984 2 TRKS no pic sleeve, promo

LP PERFECT MACHINE COLUMBIA US FC 40025

1988 6 TRKS Beat Wise

CD PERFECT MACHINE re COLUMBIA US CK 65960

1988 8 TRKS 'DDD' (2 x bonus tracks) ('99 issue)

7" ROCKIT (short) / (long) CBS/SONY JPN 07SP 719

1983 2 TRKS with pic sleeve

CD SECRETS COLUMBIA US CK 34280

1976 7 TRKS jazz

CD SOUND-SYSTEM re COLUMBIA US CK 65961

1984 7 TRKS (1 x bonus track) ('99 issue)

CD V.S.O.P. COLUMBIA US CGK 34976

1977 8 TRKS jazz; Live; double album on a single CD

CD5 VIBE ALIVE COLUMBIA US CSK 1097

1988 3 TRK CD Single CD5, promo

The tray liner of “Perfect Machine” says “With a crisp re-mastering…” – and they really are. The original CD’s were ‘crisp’, too! But all three have ‘bonus material’, though not very much.

“Future Shock” has the famous Godley & Crème-made video song – “Rockit” (Hancock’s most successful single ever!) and the CD features Bill Laswell, Grand Master D.S.T., Sly Dunbar, Bernard Fowler, Nicky Skopelitis, Michael Beihorn (a bunch of guys from the band ‘Material’) etc. The bonus track is “Rockit (Mega Mix)” (includes Rockit, Autodrive, Future Shock, TFS, Rough and Chameleon).

“Sound System” has basically the same people, adding Henry Kaiser, Anton Fier, Foday Musa Suso, Toshinori Kondo, Wayne Shorter…and for some reason “Grand Master D.S.T” is now known simply as “D.S.T.”! Bonus track here is “Metal Beat (Extended Vers.)”, very cool!

“Perfect Machine” is perhaps my favorite of these three titles. It sounds like a Ryuichi Sakamoto album! (Which is a compliment!) Slight different personnel: Mico Wave (who the liner notes call ‘Micro Wave’), Bootsy Collins, D.S.T., Sugarfoot, Jeff Bova and Nicky Skopelitis. Two glorious bonus tracks: “Vibe Alive (Extended Dance Remix)” and Beat Wise (12 inch Edit)”. I have also retained my promo CD singles of these two tracks, for further entertaining variants.