Blow-Up: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

 (8 customer reviews)

The Amazon review does a great disservice to this score by putting the focus on the pop cuts by the Yardbirds and Tommorrow, and I much prefer the original vinyl release that deleted Tommorrow altogether. It is Hancock's sassy, melancholic piano and organ tracks that fuel this CD, and jazz and acid-jazz fans would do just as well to program 'out' the pop cuts for a seamless experience of cool, dark blues. Cuts like "The Bed" and "Thomas Studies Photos" rank high, and the title cut has been heavily sampled by mixmasters already (DeeLite's "Groove is in the Heart" stole the opening bass line). At the risk of sounding like a druggie (which I'm not!), BLOW-UP is the consummate opium CD: dreamy, disjointed in a coherent way if that makes sense, and certainly not confined to its 60s origins. It's neither camp nor kitsch, but a form of organ-based jazz that has finally come around to appreciative ears again. It's almost a must for any music fans...Read more

This is one of Herbie's best albums. With an all-star lineup and a terrific independent movie to go along with it, this is one of my favorites. It goes from funky jazz-pop like "Bring Down the Birds" to raw rock and roll from the Yardbirds back to super-chill lounge straight out of that wood-paneled rumpus-room your parents had in the finished basement.If you're already a jazz buff and you think you have everything, you need this album. Just the personnel on this one should be enough for you. If you're new to jazz, this is a good place to start, too. It's extremely accessible and stays closer to earth than some of Herbie's more popular work from the 70's.Either way, this is a must-have for any jazz collection, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

This is one of the most enjoyable soundtracks I've heard. Many of the songs have a bluesy-jazz feel, with a few cuts going into an either more jazzy or more poppy style. It's great for relaxing, as background music, or to get in a groovy mood. I hate the word groovy (probably Austin Powers' fault), but I guess it's the best word to describe the music on this album. The sound of the recordings is incredibly clear and crisp, especially for a 35 year old recording. Like the two other reviewers, I would have to disagree with the Amazon editor who believes Hancock's compositions are dated and the pop tunes are the highlights; I have a completely opposite opinion - the pop tunes, especially those by Tomorrow, sound much more dated than Hancock's compositions. I have no problems with The Lovin' Spoonful song (credited to its writer John Sebastian) and the Yardbirds song which are both great and fit in well with the rest of the album; it's the two Tomorrow songs that just aren't very...Read more