Track Listing

1. Perfect Machine
2. Obsession
3. Vibe Alive
4. Beat Wise
5. Maiden Voyage/B. Bop
6. Chemical Residue
7. Vibe Alive [Extended Dance Mix][*]
8. Beat Wise [12-Inch Edit [Bonus Track] [12" Edit][*]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #159009 in Music
• Released on: 2000-02-08
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .50" h x 5.50" w x 5.00" l, .20 pounds

Album Description
Perfect Machine

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Amazon.com
Originally released in 1988, Perfect Machine was the third installment in Herbie Hancock's electronic trilogy that began with Future Shock and followed with Sound System. Of the three, Perfect Machine is the most minimal and groove heavy, thanks mainly to the presence of bassist Bootsy Collins (of James Brown and Parliament-Funkadelic fame) and Ohio Players vocalist Sugarfoot. In fact, Perfect Machine, more so than its two predecessors, could be thought of as Hancock's stab at making an updated version of his 1970's Headhunters success. With early techno and industrial shadings coming mainly from Bill Laswell's Kraftwerk-influenced production, the album may sound surprisingly up to date to electronic music fans. With a scaled-down band (compared to Sound System) present on each track, "Perfect Machine" succeeds in creating minimalist funk grooves that integrate washes of sound from Hancock's banks of synthesizers for an effect that was enormously influential to scores of hip-hop and electronic-music producers at the time. With remastered sound and two bonus tracks (the remix of "Vibe Alive", which layers snippets of P-Funk's "Atomic Dog", is particularly tasty), Machine concludes with a rambling Laswell interview in the liner notes. Columbia Records should be commended for reissuing these albums but should be taken to task for the unimaginative packaging. --Ezra Gale

Customer Reviews

Don't do that.
Don't buy an artist's new work expecting it to sound like old work. If you can't get past an artist's old work, buy an old album. Right?

True artists are all about evolution. Duh. Nothing evolves into the same old thing. To compare this to his 60s work is stupid. And how does one confidently critcize someone with a hand in the development of a standard for breaking from it?? He PIONEERED a type a jazz and set the standard at one point. If he breaks from that standard to explore the possibility of new ones, that's his business. Just keep working on YOUR outstanding standard Jazz masterpiece. hahahaha

My fave tracks on here are Maiden Voyager/P. Bop and Chemical Residue. Check this album out and see what you think about it. As an artist myself I'm glad Mr. Hancock made this album. It boosted my creative exploratory confidence.

Pretty Bad
There's no real content here. This is not Kraftwerk, this is not Bill Laswell at any kind of peak, this is not Herbie Hancock at any kind of peak. It's a group of people at a creative dead end pumping out "product". The music is washed-out minimalist R&B.

One Robot Under A Groove, For The Last Time
Herbie Hancock's last installment of the Rockit band let the funk capture the groove.

In what was also the last album Hancock released for Columbia Records, Bootsy Collins (b) and Sugarfoot (v) deliver outstanding performances, while Bill Laswell's production keeps the beat moving without too much clutter.

Vibe Alive comes very close to capturing the freshness of the classic cut, Rockit, and an extended dance mix is included on the CD. Beat Wise - two versions also appear - is another clubland original.

Hancock digs deep into his vast archive and reworks his 1965 hit, Maiden Voyage, with electronics & couples it with P. Bop. Perfect Machine, Obsession and Chemical Residue are interesting cuts and again demonstrates that the Hancock/Laswell collaboration were taking solid ideas and backing them up with quality work on the mixing board.

An outstanding music video was issued for Vibe Alive.

When released in 1988, the album was ripped by critics and questions were voiced on how much input Hancock actually had in the project. But by casting the drama aside and letting the music speak for itself, Perfect Machine shows there was still some hop left in the hip robot.