BLOW-UP (OST)

3.5 stars really!!!

When all of the focus of the jazz purists' hatred was focusing on Miles Davis, it seems that most of those "specialists" couldn't have cared less of what Hancock was doing. Already with Watermelon Man in the early 60's, then the present soundtrack of Antonioni's mega-important and seminal movie Blow-UP, a sort of testimony of the Swinging London's revolution

Much of the (sometimes very short) tracks are pulled from moments where there were images that needed sound illustrations, like the main theme opening up the soundtrack. There are some fairly standard jazz like Verushka, Jane's Theme (although electric guitar and organs are used, it's standard jazz), The Kiss, Curiosity or The Bed and more. Other tracks are avant-garde like the tremendous Naked Camera and its poignant piano/sax interplay. Some more tracks are much less "jazz" like the R'nB Bring Down The Birds and The Thief.

Not of Herbie's doing are three tracks from then-young artistes, like The Yardbirds with Stroll On, (you can see the group in the movie playing, with both Beck and Page) which resembles Train Kept a Rollin All Night Long, with screaming buzzing guitars, but also Steve Howe's then group Tomorrow (not seen or heard in the movie, but commissioned for it) with two closing tracks.: Am I glad To See You and the Blow- Up "title track, tat was not to be".

A very important and somehow often overlooked Hancock album (although this soundtrack holds three tracks from different artistes, it is just as essential to progheads as the movie is. Indeed, Antonioni's movie is one of counter-culture most important statement to movie-making as well, following on the French "Nouvelle Vague" and preceding many more films about drugs and hippydom, including Antonioni's next movie Zabriskie Point, holding music from Floyd and The Dead. If you're looking at more names of such type of movies, you'll have Barbet Shroeder's More and La Vallée (both holding Floyd music as soundtrack and respective albums, but Peter Fonda's The Trip and Easy Rider, and some years later Nicholson's Cuckoo's Nest.. In the meantime, Hancock's Blow-Up soundtrack is excellent.

What a wonderful surprise it was to read my colleague Sean Trane's insightful and informative review of this hidden gem. (I'm just happy that someone else treasures this soundtrack as much as I do. The man obviously has good taste!) "Blow Up" demonstrates as well as any other why a wide variety of music is essential to this website in that it exposes unsuspecting listeners to other kinds of prog music. As a teenager starving for hard-as-nails rock & roll I bought this LP because the Yardbirds had a smash- mouth song included, but Herbie Hancock's high-quality instrumentals that surrounded it went a long way in opening my head up to what was happening in the world of mid-60s jazz/rock. It's a record so amiable that for years I would put this disc on the turntable and let it be the background score for whatever activity I was doing around the house.

The liner notes indicate that director Michaelangelo Antonioni, being an avid jazz fan, hand-picked Herbie to compose/assemble the music for his ground-breaking film. Producer Carlo Ponti gave Mr. Hancock a generous budget and free reign to employ whatever musicians he wanted. I'm thinking Herbie was ecstatic to get the opportunity to create his music without having to worry about what the label bigwigs thought. There's no listing of the players involved but you can be sure that he brought in the best he could gather so no telling what big names contributed their skills to this project. The result is a delicious gumbo of jazz styles that have a strong current of relaxed ease running through them from start to finish.

"Main Title - 'Blow Up'" is a tricky little cut. It starts out dated and corny like something out of an Austin Powers flick, then suddenly turns on a dime and becomes a light jazzy deal with a cool trumpet. "Verushka, Pt. 1" is a nondescript bluesy shuffle but Pt. 2, while continuing the same basic feel, is more in the traditional jazz vein with a fine sax ride. Things get much more avant garde on "The Naked Camera" as the muted trumpet maneuvering around the brash saxophone is a treat to hear. "Bring Down the Birds" is nothing more than 60s go-go shtick but "Jane's Theme" features sultry jazz guitar, bass and subdued Hammond organ and it's smooth as new silk.

"Stroll On" is a killer track and highly significant in its own right. I get the feeling that the Yardbirds got the same memo as Herbie did in that they were instructed to do as they pleased as long as they delivered an in-your-face rave-up that was over-the-top outrageous and feedback-laden heavy to the extreme. If there's such a thing as proto-metal then this is the poster child for it and, in 1966, THIS was the brand of wild abandon we young rebels were yearning to hear. Simply rewriting the words to "Train Kept a' Rollin'" so they could receive royalties, this song may be the only studio recording by that terrific band that has both Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck in the line-up and you'll be hard pressed to find anything as balls-to-the-wall in the history of rock. No thin, tinny fuzz-tone effects were allowed, either. Both guitarists cranked their amps to the max, unleashed a furious duel that few (if any) have ever equaled and tacked on a throw-down finale that'll rip your head clean off. It resides permanently in my top five of pure, unadulterated rock & roll numbers and that's saying a lot.

Hancock takes over once more and impresses with his Jimmy Smith-styled Hammond organisms on "The Thief," a song that also features a slinky upright bass solo. "The Kiss" is a moody, laid-back ditty where the guitar and saxophone create a soothing aura to bathe in, followed by "Curiosity," a Miles Davis-ish horn ensemble thriller. "Thomas Studies Photos" has a conga-led groove with densely- packed horns blaring and "The Bed" is an acoustic piano/bass/drums piece that makes you feel like you're sitting in a smoky lounge. "End Title" is a fast-paced jazz orchestra work that's over in less than a minute.

Too many of these cuts are way, way too brief in duration and I'd love to hear the longer studio out- takes that these snippets were culled from. But that's just wishful thinking. "Blow Up" is a great sampling of the spirit of musical freedom that was starting to blossom in the mid-sixties for two reasons. The jazz included is a superb blend of old and new school and the rip-roarin' tune from the Yardbirds was one of the first to truly blow the roof off the sucker. This is one of those vinyl platters that brings back nothing but good memories for me. 3.4 stars.

The original soundtrack album of the film Blow-up directed by Michaelangelo Antonioni in 1966.Even if movie itself was a cult film for years after of its release, this album stayed forgotten for years. And I believe it's a big mistake.

First of all, recorded and released in 1966, this album contains rare Hancock's electric music, which contains elements of jazz and rock both. For sure, this music is soundtrack first of all, so you have the collection of 13 short compositions, not the usual jazz or jazz rock album. Even more - one composition on this album is played by The Yardbirds, not Herbie Hancock (on later CD re-releases there are one more The Yardbirds composition and two Tomorrow's compositions added as bonuses).

But - music there is very eclectic, you will easily find there elements of early psychedelic rock, smooth " soundtrack" jazz, post-bop, free jazz and pre-jazz rock. Most interesting for me are two moments: first of all this album is real soundtrack not only for Antonioni's movie, but for all culural (or better - counter cultural) life of late 60-s.And second - even if a bit simplistic to jazz standards, some compositions there contains Hancock, playing psychedelic rock on relaxed manner of jazz musician, and you can hear that very soon jazz-rock will be born!

Possibly not so attractive album for newcomers, but really great one for Hancock true fans and everyone with love to this freaky atmosphere of late 60-s.

This is the Hancock-composed soundtrack to the Michelangelo Antonioni film of the same name (1966). There are some certain shining moments here, for sure. The degree to which this will appeal to your average "prog rock music collector", though, is unknown to me. It will appeal to those fans of perhaps Proto-Prog, but even that is a stretch. The most notable thing to me here is the incredible lineup featured. Next to Herbie, we have such Jazz greats as Freddie Hubbard, Phil Woods, Joe Henderson, Jim Hall, Ron Carter and Jack DeJohnette. Good Lord. Sorry to say that I don't know Joe Newman, but it appears that I really should... Paul Griffin has appeared on The Royal Scam and Aja by Steely Dan! Apparently involved in a lot of rootsy music, otherwise. And to think that British trumpeter Ian Carr of Nucleus was nearly on this as well! [Herbie scrapped the idea of using those British musicians with whom he, in the least, rehearsed this material.] One track, "Stroll On", was performed by The Yardbirds, and, I would say most significantly, it features both Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck.

"Blow-Up", the main theme, is a pretty great opener. A mix of sort of rockin' feel with awesome jazz instrumentation in its (short-lived) latter half. Perhaps, if anything. there's some parallels to what was done by contemporary bands like The Free Spirits. "Verushka, Pt. 1" really had nothing to offer. Its second part was far more sultry and slower paced. That track features a tenor solo by the great Joe Henderson.

Following "Verushka", "Bring Down the Birds" brings back the more rockin' instrumentation, driven by the straight-ahead drums and Jim Hall's rhythm guitar. Another stellar solo here, this time by Woods on Alto. Some more very of-the-time jazz on one of the more satisfying numbers, "The Naked Camera", we are then back to a quieted moment on the soft "Jane's Theme".

The one track different from the rest in just about every way is the Garagey, straight-ahead Rock song by The Yardbirds, "Stroll On". This is certainly, too, far from their finest moment... The guitar solo, I assume performed by Page, is definitely the best part.

We return to swingin' '60s Jazz on "The Thief", a rolling number prominently featuring organ. This track, in the middle-to-end, features a sort of low-lying Post-Bop section [I'm speaking here with more confidence than I should...]. Not a whole lot to say or see here. We then return to the feeling and softness on "The Kiss", with a light solo from Hall. This is matched then with a blazing and loud solo from (what I can tell) Henderson. "Curiosity" feels a whole lot like something off of Kind of Blue, perhaps. Very lovely.

We get into something that is stylistically rather interesting on "Thomas Studies Photos"... Very cool. It's hard for my mind, personally, to not go to the Wazoo era for Zappa. I know I've made similar comparisons previously. Believe me when I say, I would have loved it for longer than its minute runtime... Real beauty and grace is featured on the next, "The Bed", featuring an airiness from our rhythm section and acoustic piano from Herbie. Frisson, baby! So lovely and sweet. This then is juxtaposed sharply by the strong, forward-running "Blow-Up (End Title)", our brief album closer.