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Saturday, May 9, 2009

Herbie Hancock's Hodge Podge Collage









Herbie Hancock in my eBay store

Jazz keyboardist, pianist and composer Herbie Hancock has had a long career moving in and out of different genres of music. His foray into Disco was extremely successful and made for some very smart dance floor music.

In 1978 his vocoder laiden track I thought it was You was an early mix of Electro, Vocoder and Disco/Funk. 1979 was filled with gems from his Feets Don't Fail me Now l.p. with You Bet Your Love, Honey from the Jar and Ready or Not being pressed onto 12" vinyl.

1980 double A side of Go For It and the sublime Stars in Your Eyes has become his most coveted 12" single. The double A side with Stars in Your Eyes on both sides features the 11:21 version which is in the zip I provided above. I had two copies and I sold them both on Ebay about five years ago for just under $200.00 each. They have since become less coveted with I Thought it Was You often fetching the higher bids of the two. 1980's Monster l.p. was over the top. Gavin Christopher's vocal performance on Stars in Your Eyes, Saturday Night and Don't Hold it In were nothing short of perfection. Gavin had his own best chart showing more then ten years later when the House record Don't Lose the Magic went to #1 on the Billboard dance chart.

a couple Herbie classics


1981 was another hot year for Herbie Hancock with his dabbling in hip hop, Everybody's Broke which seems like it would be just as appropriate in 2009 as it was then. Also the phenomenal collaboration with Sylvester, Magic Number again fusing Funk, Disco, and R&B.

1982's 12" release was Lite Me Up while in 1983 with Electro and breakdance so prominent, Herbie had the biggest hit of his career with RockIt but I chose to stick to the disco era stuff in my zip.

Herbie Hancock is an ultimate chameleon.