Vinyl Me Please Anthology

uvwxVinyl said:
What are your guys thoughts on what would be considered essential albums in a Herbie Hancock anthology.

I assume they're not doing any that would have been reissued by them or Blue Note recently, or the major ones that have been on the MM/AP audiophile series or RSD releases.

So what's left really? Anything out of print or hard to come by?
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The great thing about Herbie is that there are clearly defined stages within his musical career. Sure there are several options for each era, but as long as one is picked from each of these it will be an interesting set.

Do we know if Herbie is involved in the selection process? In his book he places a lot of emphasis on Mwandishi and VSOP. Future Shock was another big one for him (he won a grammy for Rockit) as was River: The Joni Letters (I will be surprised if this isnt picked if he does have an involvement).
 
Selaws said:
The great thing about Herbie is that there are clearly defined stages within his musical career. Sure there are several options for each era, but as long as one is picked from each of these it will be an interesting set.

Do we know if Herbie is involved in the selection process? In his book he places a lot of emphasis on Mwandishi and VSOP. Future Shock was another big one for him (he won a grammy for Rockit) as was River: The Joni Letters (I will be surprised if this isnt picked if he does have an involvement).
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VMP said Herbie was involved, but I'm assuming it's to the extent that Storf was involved in choosing the BN albums... they just gave him a list of ones they would allow to be reissued and didn't cost too much to license.
 
MikeH said:
VMP said Herbie was involved, but I'm assuming it's to the extent that Storf was involved in choosing the BN albums... they just gave him a list of ones they would allow to be reissued and didn't cost too much to license.
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You would hope that with it being an 'Anthology' of his career he would carefully consider it, he seems like the kind of person to do that and lets face it, he doesn't need the money. Im excited for this for sure, I really really hope they do a good job.
 
Selaws said:
You would hope that with it being an 'Anthology' of his career he would carefully consider it, he seems like the kind of person to do that and lets face it, he doesn't need the money. Im excited for this for sure, I really really hope they do a good job.
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I assume he doesn't own his own masters though...I'm trying not to get too excited. We saw what happened with the Grateful Dead anthology...although it's a bit different...
 
MikeH said:
I assume he doesn't own his own masters though...I'm trying not to get too excited. We saw what happened with the Grateful Dead anthology...although it's a bit different...
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Fingers crossed. It would be cool to get an interview or something from him. Does each anthology come with the podcast or is it just certain ones?
 
Selaws said:
Fingers crossed. It would be cool to get an interview or something from him. Does each anthology come with the podcast or is it just certain ones?
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They all come with a podcast, but IMO it isn't much added value. The BN one was just kinda boring and regurgitated a lot of stories I had already heard from Don Was. I got the Zamrock Anthology too but haven't given it a listen yet. They haven't been great at actually telling you when things go live (unless it's all going to spam for me). I found out about the "exclusive Zamrock documentary" when I saw the filmmaker post the link to it on instagram hah.
 
MikeH said:
They all come with a podcast, but IMO it isn't much added value. The BN one was just kinda boring and regurgitated a lot of stories I had already heard from Don Was. I got the Zamrock Anthology too but haven't given it a listen yet. They haven't been great at actually telling you when things go live (unless it's all going to spam for me). I found out about the "exclusive Zamrock documentary" when I saw the filmmaker post the link to it on instagram hah.
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Classic VMP! Im a nerd for jazz books and podcasts so im hoping for something cool with this tbh. I saw Herbie a while aog and he was so chatty on stage in between songs, I bet there's still loads of stories he has yet to tell.
 
Selaws said:
The great thing about Herbie is that there are clearly defined stages within his musical career. Sure there are several options for each era, but as long as one is picked from each of these it will be an interesting set.

Do we know if Herbie is involved in the selection process? In his book he places a lot of emphasis on Mwandishi and VSOP. Future Shock was another big one for him (he won a grammy for Rockit) as was River: The Joni Letters (I will be surprised if this isnt picked if he does have an involvement).
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The idea of a $40 audiophile reissue of Future Shock is wild to me.

It will be interesting to see if they try to do a big career encompassing set like you guys are guessing or not. I doubt I can afford this set anyway, but I would be far more interested in one that picks great albums (he has so many to choose from) over 1 each decade as I would very rarely play the latter ones.
 
dhodo said:
The idea of a $40 audiophile reissue of Future Shock is wild to me.

It will be interesting to see if they try to do a big career encompassing set like you guys are guessing or not. I doubt I can afford this set anyway, but I would be far more interested in one that picks great albums (he has so many to choose from) over 1 each decade as I would very rarely play the latter ones.
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Yeah, i get what you mean but if you consider albums of importance in Herbie's career, it's a pretty big one. Rockit alone won a Grammy, 5 MTV Awards, and the music video was one of the most successful of all time (if there was an award for freakiest I'm sure it would have got that too). But yeah, I could certainly do without a $40 audiophile copy.
 
Selaws said:
Fingers crossed. It would be cool to get an interview or something from him. Does each anthology come with the podcast or is it just certain ones?
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They're all on spotify, except for Stax and Grateful Dead. Not sure if Grateful Dead podcast has been released yet, though. No idea why Stax isn't on there.
 
Selaws said:
Yeah, i get what you mean but if you consider albums of importance in Herbie's career, it's a pretty big one. Rockit alone won a Grammy, 5 MTV Awards, and the music video was one of the most successful of all time (if there was an award for freakiest I'm sure it would have got that too). But yeah, I could certainly do without a $40 audiophile copy.
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Sure, but that is the definition of a dollar bin album. If I wanted it, I'd have an original free or for less than $5.

When I do manage to splurge on a box set, the experience (like a great booklet, which VMP won't do even though their sets are more than double what I paid for some of mine) is secondary to getting albums I really want to spin. I don't really want a museum piece or an autobiography, unless almost every album is one that I really need. At this price point, that is certainly amplified.

Just my opinion though, no judgement if that's what anyone else wants. Just would seem a shame to me when they could make a killer set with many to choose from in the 60s/70s.

Honestly, without picking a specific Herbie era, I think it'd be really hard to know what to pick from his enormous catalog. I don't think any other companies have the problem of trying to pick an obscure or out of print pick in their box sets to ramp up the FOMO. Until VMP, my experience with box sets was that they were actually money savers and ways to get quick collections of great albums by an artist. Except the RSD Neil Box with faulty glue I got ripped off on. :ROFLMAO: At least every one of those albums is incredible though.
 
Ericj32 said:
They're all on spotify, except for Stax and Grateful Dead. Not sure if Grateful Dead podcast has been released yet, though. No idea why Stax isn't on there.
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Stax is on iTunes, but as a stand-alone series, “Vinyl Me, Please Anthology: The Story of Stax Records”
 
MikeH said:
Empyrean Isles would be great. I know it had a BN75 but those suck and the MM is long sold out. I was going to say My Point of View but looks like that's getting the Tone Poet treatment. Thrust could use an AAA repress. Maybe Sextant?
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I really hope Thrust and Empyrean Isles are included in the Boxset! 🤞

I want Man-Child and Secrets to be in the Boxset too! But I know that’s impossible as all those 3 albums were released next to each other! 😅

I’m super keen to see what the albums in the Herbie Hancock Anthology Boxset are! I’m so excited for that announcement! 🎉🎉🙇‍♂️
 
NathanRicaud said:
I really hope Thrust and Empyrean Isles are included in the Boxset! 🤞

I want Man-Child and Secrets to be in the Boxset too! But I know that’s impossible as all those 3 albums were released next to each other! 😅

I’m super keen to see what the albums in the Herbie Hancock Anthology Boxset are! I’m so excited for that announcement! 🎉🎉🙇‍♂️
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are they teasing an announcement of this sometime soon?
 
This is how I would put together the Herbie Hancock box.

Inventions and Dimensions
Speak Like A Child
Mwandishi
Thrust
V.S.O.P
Sound-System
The New Standard
Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall

Inventions is where his experience with Miles really starts to show. Speak is when he starts searching for his own musical identity, which he finds by the time Mwandishi arrives.

Thrust is the pick to represent his Head Hunters period, and VSOP shows him taking a step back to recharge. I chose Sound-System to represent his 80s electronic music because I cannot stand the whimpy vocal on the title track (of Future Shock, I forgot to add), a horrible imitation of Curtis Mayfield.

I could've gone many different ways to wrap up this story, but I kinda went with the ones that are consistent with the story of this artist. Herbie has always been a musician with a clear sense of purpose; he would announce a course and pursue it until he was satisfied before changing direction for a new challenge.

The New Standard and Directions in Music both attempt to merge jazz with the late 20th century popular music, while giving Herbie a chance to interact with a fresh group of musicians from different generations and traditions. I could've gone with Possibilities, but John Mayer is on it. ;)
 
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