Song of the Week
December 9th, 2008
This week we have something from the everchanging Herbie Hancock. This is from his 1973 release “Head Hunters”, and is named “Watermelon Man”. It is funkalicious!
Categories: Entertainment | Tags: song of the week
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I actually prefer the ‘62 version,… less studiotastic.
Actually I have the same problem with a lot of Herbies work. His live stuff is great, his studio stuff is overproduced. He likes the dials and knobs too much.
That said, the piece is ingrained in my head. Never mind the quality of it on its own; do you know how many movies, and commercials use it (or pieces of it) and how many other versions there are or samples are taken from it (something like 400).
I must confess to being a jazz neophyte. This piece is new to me, as most of them are. The genre overall is pretty complex, and I have been trying to sort my way through it to find stuff that is enjoyable. As for music overall, there is not much that won’t be at least considered if someone turns me on to it.
Dragonforce, for example, was a band that was never encountered before I found it on your site one day. There are a couple of their albums on my Zune now.
As for the ‘62 version, that is the one I heard first, and after finding this one on YouTube, I liked it more. Herbie’s weirdness has appealed to me for a while, but I can see where you are coming from for sure. It is still a novelty to me, and could get old after a while.