Dick Hyman – The Age Of Electronicus

Kolumbo is an absolute trip. can you imagine hearing that in 69? so ahead of it's time in both production and songwriting.

but the covers of Time Is Tight, Alfie (sampled by J Dilla), Get It Up... & Aquarius also make this record worth a buy. recommend!

I feel this album by Dick Hyman is a little up and down for me. The fact that it was electronic reworkings of the big hits of the day (1969) render that feeling. With what - one original? Which was Kolumbo. This is the definitive track on this album. There's all of the elements of techno involved - Robot drumbeat made by a machine, repetitive bassline (ostinato or riff or pattern), and two soloist synthesizer voices with lots of free-time tweekage. That's techno right? Whereas Dick and programmer Walter Sear used an elementary mechanical drum machine and the Moog provided the "other parts", they just as well could have been a TR-909 or 808, an SH-101, and two TB-303s. For that reason alone, check out Kolumbo. The other tracks that stand out in particular on this album are (above all else) Give It Up Or Turn It Loose (two thumbs way way way up), Obla-di Obla-da (excellent synth programming and fantastic drumming by a human), Blackbird (hey, I just like the song and the all-Paul McCartney melody), and Time Is Tight (same as Obla-di Obla-da). The rest are the "down" feeling of this album, they just don't shine as brightly. Definitely worth buying though, if you love all music electronic.