Sound-System is the thirty-sixth

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

Herbie Hancock and the second of three albums co-produced by

Bill Laswell William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, ...

with the ‘Rockit’ Band. Guest artists include saxophonist

Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Shorter came to prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he joined Miles Dav ...

, guitarist Henry Kaiser, kora player/percussionist Foday Musa Suso and drummer

Anton Fier Anton Fier (June 20, 1956 – September 14, 2022) was an American drummer, producer, composer, and bandleader. Family Fier, known as Tony, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Ruthe Marie Fier and Anton J. Fier Jr., a former Marine and electrician. ...

Background

The second of the three Rockit band albums, ''Sound-System'' was another smash for Herbie Hancock. Winning his second Grammy award for Best R&B Performance (his second-straight award), this album tried to capture the success of the previous ''

Future Shock ''Future Shock'' is a 1970 book by American futurist Alvin Toffler, written together with his spouse Adelaide Farrell, in which the authors define the term "future shock" as a certain psychological state of individuals and entire societies. Th ...

'', with some more twists and turns. "Junku" for instance, featured Foday Musa Suso and also was written for the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. It served as the "Field" theme. It also was used during Hancock's appearance on the long-running

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...

. "Sound System" sounded like "Junku" in many ways, while "Karabali" featured

(playing a

lyricon The Lyricon is an electronic wind instrument, the first wind controller to be constructed. Invented by Bill Bernardi (and co-engineered by Roger Noble and with the late Lyricon performer Chuck GreenbergIngham (1998) p.184), filed for patent o ...

, instead of a traditional

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

) and went back to the days of Hancock's African themed Mwandishi band.

Reception

Robert Christgau commented "''Future Shock'' was a pretty good album despite its dink quotient; this is a better album despite its schlock quotient. Where's-the-melody is beside the point, because even when they're just hooks the melodies seem a little obvious, without the physical or intellectual bite of the rhythm tracks (nowhere mightier than on the amazing "Metal Beat," recommended to those who think Trevor Horn is into something heavy). And me, I doubt Herbie should be playing more "jazz"—several of the false moments here are provided by Saint Wayne Shorter himself. The African exotica of Foday Musa Suso and Aiyb Dieng, on the other hand, sounds right at home. As does the South Bronx exotica of D.St." Richard S. Ginell of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

noted "In the grand tradition of sequels, Sound-System picks up from where Future Shock left off – if anything, even louder and more bleakly industrial than before... Hancock's electric music still retained its adventurous edge.

Track listing

#"Hardrock" (Herbie Hancock, Bill Laswell, Derek Showard) – 6:10 #"Metal Beat" (Herbie Hancock, Bill Laswell) – 4:56 #"Karabali" (Herbie Hancock, Daniel Poncé) – 5:17 #"Junku" (Herbie Hancock, Bill Laswell, Foday Musa Suso, Aiyb Dieng) – 5:32 #"People are Changing" (Timmy Thomas) – 6:05 #"Sound System" (Herbie Hancock, Bill Laswell, Foday Musa Suso) – 5:55 Bonus track from CD reissue #

"Metal Beat (Extended Version)" (Herbie Hancock, Bill Laswell) – 6:44

Personnel

Musicians

* Herbie Hancock –

Yamaha DX7 The Yamaha DX7 is a synthesizer manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1989. It was the first successful digital synthesizer and is one of the best-selling synthesizers in history, selling more than 200,000 units. In the early 1980 ...

(1, 2, 4, 5, 6),

Fairlight CMI The Fairlight CMI (short for Computer Musical Instrument) is a digital synthesizer, sampler, and digital audio workstation introduced in 1979 by Fairlight. — with links to some Fairlight history and photos It was based on a commercial lic ...

(1–4, 6), Rhodes Chroma (1, 4), E-mu 4060 digital keyboard (1), Apple IIe computer (1), acoustic piano (3, 4, 5),

Memorymoog The Memorymoog is a polyphonic electronic music synthesizer manufactured by Moog Music from 1982 to 1985, the last polyphonic synthesizer to be released by Moog Music before the company declared bankruptcy in 1987. While comparable to other polyph ...

(4), clavinet (6) * Will Alexander – Fairlight CMI programming (1, 2, 3, 6) * Rob Stevens – synthesizers (1, 4), programming (4) * D.S.T. –

turntables A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

(1, 2, 6), sound effects (1, 2, 6) * Henry Kaiser – guitar (1, 2) *

Nicky Skopelitis Nicky Skopelitis (born January 19, 1960) is an American guitarist and composer of Greek descent. He also has performed on banjo, oud, lute, keyboards and other instruments. Although Skopelitis has recorded few albums as a bandleader, he has ap ...

– guitar (1, 6) *

– electric bass (1, 4, 6), Oberheim DMX (1, 2, 4, 6),

tapes Tape or Tapes may refer to: Material A long, narrow, thin strip of material (see also Ribbon (disambiguation): Adhesive tapes * Adhesive tape, any of many varieties of backing materials coated with an adhesive * Athletic tape, pressure-sensiti ...

(1, 4), shortwave electronics (2) *

– Simmons drums (1, 2, 6), percussion (1, 2, 6), cymbals (2),

Synare The Synare was a series of electronic drums made by Star Instruments in the mid-1970s through the 1980s. The Synare was a drum synthesizer, meaning that it was essentially a synthesizer, but instead of being controlled by a keyboard, it was triggere ...

(6),

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally ...

(6) * Daniel Poncé – assorted percussion (1, 3) *

Aïyb Dieng Aïyb Dieng is a Senegalese drummer and percussionist specializing in hand drums. He has recorded two solo album, including '' Rhythmagick'' (1995), and has worked with a wide range of musicians, including as a regular collaborator of bassist/pr ...

– assorted percussion (2, 4, 5, 6), Roland TR-808 (5) * Foday Musa Suso – assorted percussion (2, 6), dusunguni (2, 4),

balafon The balafon is a gourd-resonated xylophone, a type of struck idiophone. It is closely associated with the neighbouring Mandé, Senoufo and Gur peoples of West Africa, particularly the Guinean branch of the Mandinka ethnic group, but is now f ...

(2), kora (4, 6),

kalimba Mbira ( ) are a family of musical instruments, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. They consist of a wooden board (often fitted with a resonator) with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in the hands and p ...

(4), guitar (6) * Hamid Drake – cymbals (3) *

–

(2), soprano saxophone (3) *

Bernard Fowler Bernard Fowler (born January 2, 1960) is an American musician. He is known for a long association with The Rolling Stones, providing backing vocals since 1989 and on their studio recordings and live tours. Fowler has been a featured guest vocali ...

– voice (2), vocals (3, 5), vocal arrangements (3, 5) *

Toshinori Kondo was a Japanese avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion trumpeter. Career Kondo was born in Ehime Prefecture. He attended Kyoto university in 1967, and became close friends with percussionist Tsuchitori Toshiyuki. In 1972 the pair left university, and ...

– speaking voice (2),

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

(6)

Production

* Herbie Hancock – producer *

– producer *

Material Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geolo ...

– producers * Tony Meilandt – associate producer * Rob Stevens – engineer, recording * Lawrence A. Duhart – engineer * Billy Youdelman – engineer * Carolyn Collins – assistant engineer * Sam Fishkin – assistant engineer * Haun Rowe – assistant engineer * Lothar Segeler – assistant engineer *

Dave Jerden Dave Jerden is an American record producer, engineer, and mixer who has worked with artists in various genres including alternative rock, punk rock and metal. However, Jerden has stated that he dislikes the term "producer", preferring to refer t ...

– mixing *

Howie Weinberg Howie Weinberg is an American audio mastering engineer with over 2,257 mastering credits, three TEC Awards, 21 Grammy Awards, two Juno Awards, and one Mercury Prize. Career Weinberg mastered Herbie Hancock's 1983 album '' Future Shock''. Other ...

– mastering *

David Em David Em (born 1952) is an American artist known for his pioneering breakthroughs in computer art. Early life David Em was born in 1952 in Los Angeles, California. His father was a petroleum engineer and his mother was an illustrator and water ...

– cover image artwork *

Norman Seeff Norman Seeff (born March 5, 1939, in Johannesburg, South Africa) is a photographer and filmmaker. Since moving to the United States in 1969, his work has been focused on the exploration of human creativity and the inner dynamics of the creative ...

– photography Studios * Recorded at Evergreen Studios (New York City, NY); Studio Media (Evanston, IL); El Dorado Studios and Garage Sale Recording (Los Angeles, CA). * Mixed at El Dorado Studios (Los Angeles, CA). * Mastered at Masterdisk (New York City, NY).

References

External links

Sound-System
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

{{Authority control 1984 albums Herbie Hancock albums Albums produced by Bill Laswell Columbia Records albums