For being one of the greatest innovators and forward thinking minds in jazz, I feel that Herbie Hancock's importance is understated. He was instrumental in the development of jazz fusion, and this was one of his earliest forays into said development. What we have here are seven extremely well rounded and solid jazz-funk tracks. It's not as funky as, say, Head Hunters, but the sound is undeniable. Thus, most of these tracks, especially "Oh! Oh! Here He Comes" are very catchy, and some even danceable. From a songwriting standpoint, each of the compositions generally work in the same way, with infectious rhythms and refrains dominating the record. That is, except for "Jessica", which is a much slower and more traditional jazz number, famously used as the main sample for Mobb Deep's "Shook Ones, Part II". Hancock himself puts in a very nice performance on the keyboard, as was the usual, and though he'd easily top this record a number of times in his career, it really helped get him going when it came to fusion jazz.
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