TWO KILLER SIDES, dramatically better sounding than the other copies we played it against. Both sides here are incredible — rich and warm with a huge bottom end and lots of space around the instruments. About as quiet as they come, Mint Minus to Mint Minus Minus throughout.
We’ve been saving up copies of this album for years in hopes we could find a top copy to put on the site; we were pleasantly surprised to find one this good on an early label with decent vinyl.
This is a great album, with a killer lineup that includes Grant Green, Donald Byrd, Tony Williams, Hank Mobley and more. If you’re a fan of Herbie’s debut album Takin’ Off, you’ll find much to like here. The typical pressing leaves much to be desired though — many copies we’ve played sounded a bit hollow and flat. Hot Stamper copies give you richer, fuller sound and more energy, qualities that really help this music shine.
The overall sound is lively and dynamic with wonderful transparency. The bottom end is absolutely stunning, there’s incredible immediacy, and the top is extended and open. You get strong separation between the various instruments which really lets you appreciate the considerable contributions of each of the players.
LondonJazzCollector Review
Hot on the heels of his debut album Takin’ Off Hancock piled on the punishment with another must-have recording, My Point of View. He assembled an astonishing septet for the sessions – Byrd,Mobley and Grachan Moncur III gave him three brass voices to play with, the contrasting luminous flow of Grant Green, with free-swinging Anthony Williams and Chuck Israels at the anchor. On top of that you get Herb: if music is food for the soul, it’s celebrity come dine with me, under Master Chef Hancock.
The album’s promoted feature track Blind Man, Blind Man is a Watermelon Man shoe-in, which can be overlooked if you prefer, or enjoyed for itself if you like. I prefer the more adventurous and slightly more challenging King Cobra and Tribute to Someone. Not that I am in using the term “challenging” in the sense embraced by free jazz apostles out there, champions of unstructured cacophony, Post-Postbop, but in stretching the modern jazz genre towards greater freedom in improvisation, to include the unexpected.
TRACK LISTING
Side One
Blind Man, Blind Man
A Tribute to Someone
Side Two
King Cobra
The Pleasure Is Mine
And What If I Don’t
AMG 4 Star Review
Takin’ Off was an impressive debut effort from Herbie Hancock, and his second record, My Point of View, proved that it was no fluke. Hancock took two risks with the album — his five original compositions covered more diverse stylistic ground than his debut, and he assembled a large septet for the sessions… . It’s a little more relaxed than Takin’ Off, but in its own way My Point of View is nearly as stunning.