The Imagine Project
ERSTWHILE JAZZ GENIUS DELIVERS HORRIFIC CheesY MUZAK
Patrick Freyne, 14 Jul 2010
Sometimes if you leave a good thing in a corner for a long time, it starts to reek of cheese. This is apparently what has happened to poor old Herbie Hancock. A genius jazz pianist and composer, here he has compiled a recording of classic duets on seven continents featuring a wide array of musicians, all in the interest of spreading world peace. Sadly, I should imagine that far from contributing to world peace, having Pink singing a warbly muzaky afro-beat version of 'Imagine' is probably more likely to cause a fight. It certainly made me want to punch someone.
Despite gently tipping the hat towards polylinguism, world-music, and internationalism (to best effect on 'The Song Goes On' featuring K.C. Chitra), the record too often falls back on the kind of tasteful licks, piano key voyages, and on-the-button rhythm sections, gospel choirs and celebrity guests that really have no place in a post-Ga Ga world (except on a Michael Bublé record).
One moment of relief comes when Lisa Hannigan's dulcet tones begin crooning a version of 'The Times They Are a-Changin', but even this is hampered by the incontinent jazzifying of Hancock and his session pals. Jesus lads, can't you see Lisa's trying to sing? To be fair, this track eventually regains some semblance of interesting-ness with a segue into Chieftain-assisted folk. But the damage has already been done.
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