Herbie Hancock had already long
established his jazz credentials, primarily with his own now classic releases
on Blue Note, and also with his wide array of sideman work; with among many
others, Miles Davis. With 1973’s ‘Head Hunters’ though, he successfully crossed
over into funk territory, with even more popular and commercial rewards; but
still maintaining a strong jazz personality, including through his next
subsequent releases.
With ‘Secrets’ however, his fourth in the
jazz-funk vein, an alarming realisation of creative diminishing-returns comes
to the fore. The previously strong mix of two genres melded together had started
to feel a little too smooth-sounding with his third effort ‘Man Child’, which
added guitars to the mix, as well as increasing the band roster quite heavily.
‘Secrets’, continuing this move, gives even more greater playing time to the
guitars, and also sounds more funk-pop than anything funk-jazz.
For one, the emphasis here is on the
mellower, softer side of the musical palette, with very little approaching
up-tempo, and that which does is still given a distinctly relaxed edge. There’s
no high-energy here, just rolling head-nodding grooves - many of which tend to
go on far too long. ‘Doin’ It’ is a great example of this; opening with a
slight disco inflection and sounding like a killer dancefloor hit - albeit for
just two minutes. Repeating itself over six minutes, nothing much changes or
happens, and it flatly wears its welcome out. ‘People Music’ sounds better, but
basically feels like an attempt to re-do ‘Butterfly’, but in a different groove.
And much in the way the Hancock classic
‘Watermelon Man’ was re-worked successfully as an electric and funkier number
for ‘Head Hunters’, here he takes another of his previous hits, ‘Canteloupe
Island’ (arguably his most well-known number), and attempts to do something
similar. But it really does not work at all. Almost unrecognisable, an electric
guitar leads a yawning saunter, with the familiar melody coming in buried under
an array of keyboard and synthesizer effects. It’s a largely lazy-sounding failure
that surely can’t have anyone preferring it to the original.
The second half of the album is better
however, with some nice seguing and an overall build to something close to
climactic. The whole album though convinces that perhaps the energy, the
enthusiasm and the ideas have all gone, and Hancock doesn’t know where to go
from here. The drumming, previously a high-voltage and highly enjoyable part of
the Hancock funk sound, is here just basic and simple, supplying little more
than an at times metronomic beat for everyone else to follow. Another notable difference
is Melvin Ragin AKA the self-dubbed ‘Wah Wah Watson’ on guitar and vocals.
Whilst his guitar is flamboyantly good and well-suited, he also assists heavily
on the composition and production duties, and you sense that it’s these contributions
that have moved the album to its more ‘flat-sounding’ territory.
Yet there is still a good deal to enjoy
and appreciate; Bernie Maupin emerges again as the hero, with his variety of
saxophones and flutes, leading most of the solos along with Hancock’s numerous
electric keyboards (no acoustic pianos here at all). Paul Jackson’s basslines too
are as ever solid anchors for the band.
If you loved ‘Head Hunters’ and ‘Thrust’,
those same vibes and sounds aren’t here. But if you liked ‘Man Child’, then
there’s probably maybe something here for you. The multiple rhythms and layers,
infectious grooves and spaced-out keyboards that made his earlier fusion efforts
so good are sadly absent, replaced with a variety of not-quite-funky guitar and
mellow sounds, and a decidedly more Caribbean feel. Not a great deal of it is
very memorable however, and much of the tracks drag on without developing or finding
a direction. If it sounds like the man had lost his hunger for it, tellingly
his next few releases would be with the new all-acoustic quintet, alongside his
Miles Davis cohorts and the swaggering trumpet of Freddie Hubbar, V.S.O.P. Buy those
instead.
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