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After a two-decade-long hiatus, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters returned to action in 1998 with their funk groove pretty much intact, allowing for some technological and stylistic updating. The core of the band -- the too-long-neglected Bennie Maupin (saxes, bass clarinet), Paul Jackson (bass), Bill Summers (percussion), and the group's second drummer Mike Clark -- still has the complex funk telepathic interplay down pat, though occasionally the rhythms are simplified for contemporary audiences. Hancock himself only appears on four tracks, where he tries to comp and stomp out on latter-day digital instruments (alas, he doesn't quite generate the same superfunky feeling that he once could on analog clavinets, Fender-Rhodes pianos and ARP synths). Billy Childs fills the keyboard chair in more genteel fashion on the other six tracks, with occasional help from Patrice Rushen, Mark Goodman and Darrell Smith. The main hangup here is that the revived Headhunters didn't come up with much memorable material, the strongest tracks being the back-to-1974 retro workout "Funk Hunter," and the rhythmically tricky "Kwanzaa," and "Watch Your Back," which features the obligatory rap honoring elder statesmen of music (strange how reverential the nominally rebellious younger set often can be). ~ Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide
Evanescence plots return
Goth poppers will release The Open Door, followup to 2003's multiplatinum Fallen, on October 3.
The three years since goth-poppers Evanescence released their multiplatinum debut album have been about as tumultuous as it gets.
Evanescence's
Fallen
In that time, guitarist and chief songwriter Ben Moody left the band in the midst of its European tour, guitarist Terry Balsamo had a stroke, and singer Amy Lee sued her former manager for financial misconduct, sexual assault, and battery.
But now the Little Rock, Arkansas-based band is set to return with its sophomore album, The Open Door, although fans will have to wait until October 3 to get it.
It will likely be one of the biggest releases of the year, as 2003's Fallen sold 6.5 million copies in the US. Fallen spent 100 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart.
The Open Door includes "songs of introspection, longing, doubt, self-respect and ultimately, empowerment and anticipation," the band said in a statement. Several songs include a choir, as well as strings recorded in an old chapel.
"The making of this record has been really intense, but I've come out feeling purified," Lee said in a statement. "I've grown so much since Fallen, and Terry is the perfect writing partner--I feel like I've been lifted up to a whole new level of inspiration and possibilities. After all the things we've seen over the past couple of years, beautiful and tragic, in the end I'm really grateful. It has made us create music I could not be more in love with."
The disc will feature 13 tracks, including "Good Enough," "Weight of the World," and the first single, "Call Me When You're Sober."
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