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Yet more evolution in the HH line-up of collaborators: only horn player Bennie Maupin remains from the Mwandishi lineup, and bassist Paul Jackson from the Head Hunter days. Besides the new sounds, the work of Melvin "Wah-Wah" Watson as both multi-instrumental performer and co-composer of five of the seven songs is particularly notable. The man was a creative force!

A1. "Doin' It" (8:00) funky rhythm guitar, bass, and "Voice Bag" all performed by Wah Wah Watson while the James Gadson and Ray Parker team helped out on the sides. Herbie's Fender Rhodes sounds pretty standard but the clavinet, organ, and synthesizer work alongside the "Just keep on doin' it" vocal chant is wild and definitely mega- funky. Do they think their Sly & The Family Stone? or the Ohio Players? Great funk tune that is especially notable for all of the advanced sound technologies used (and how they're used). (13.5/15) A2. "People Music" (7:07) cool Bob James- like funk-lite tune within which Bennie Maupin plays some weird horn (most likely the lyricon though it could be the saxello) to smooth effect. The song has many twists and turns, stops and starts, including a complete change in direction around the three-minute mark into a really cool spacey synth section over which Herbie helps re-establish the funk with his Fender Rhodes solo. I love Paul Jackson's bass play as well as the sophisticated compositional structure and spacey synth presence--and the fact that it just keeps getting better the further you get into it. (14.5/15)

A3. "Cantelope Island" (7:06) there's nothing like the revisitation to an old classic (now a "standard") from one's own repertoire and compositional legacy. I actually love how Herbie and Billy Cobham have been unafraid to "update" their popular/iconic compositions as there is so much to be said for the technological (and stylistic) progressions presented in each successive decade. While I like this version--it's pretty wild on the sound and solo side--but there's something that feels a bit like drag or a "too cool for your own shoes" attitude coming through. It's also difficult when you love the original. (13.333/15)

B1. "Spider" (7:20) dramatic like a film soundtrack song (think Shaft), this one harkens back to the Fat Albert Rotunda album in its urban soundtrack feel; one can just picture the montage of scenes as Huggy Bear, Bootney Farnsworth and/or Biggie Smalls walked through the streets of Harlem or Chicago's South Side. Cool, fun song with lots of virtuosic-though-understated individual work. (13.75/15)

B2. "Gentle Thoughts" (7:01) more gentle Pop-Funk with Wah-Wah and Herbie laying back while Bennie solos again on lyricon (and/or saxello). Nice melodies and interesting sounds being melded together, but, again, the similarities to the music Bob James was now making are not unnoticed. (13.5/15) B3. "Swamp Rat" (6:25) back to some really complex (and, I would think, demanding) funk that somehow still manages to come across as smooth and laid back. I love the syncopation being demanded of all performers--with Paul Jackson, Herbie and Wah Wah Watson particularly stepping up to the task. Interesting that Bennie's sax solo starts out far in the background but then slowly, gradually moves to the front and center. Was that an engineering choice or due to Bennie's distance to/from the recording microphone? The song becomes much more animated as it goes, even threatening to derail--but not if drummer James Levi can help it! (9.3333/10)

B4. "Sansho Shima" (4:50) Bennie Maupin's lone composition on the album, the song definitely brings the band back into some of the more jazz-oriented super-funk that was being explored by the more jazz-dedicated purists of the time (and beyond). Very demanding hyper-speed jazz performances are herebeing demanded of the musicians. Well met! Not as engaging of a tune as the previous ones but definitely impressive (9.125/10)

Total Time: 48:01

The performances are all loose and relaxed though tightly-synchronized: this band feels well-oiled and all on the same page. The compositions are all sophisticated and interesting, requiring virtuosic skills to perform, though some fall into the Bob James vein of Smooth Jazz that is beginning to take over and will soon dominate the Jazz-Rock Fusion idiom.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of funk-leaning Jazz-Rock Fusion that covers the spectrum of both hard-core jazz as well as the insidious pull of the more commercially enticing and easy listening movement toward Smooth Jazz.

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