Magical Shepherd

Magical Shepherd

ASIN: B000098ZPS

Track Listings

1. Basic Laws

2. New York City

3. Synthesizers Dance

4. Magical Shepherd

5. From Far Away

6. Aim Your Eye

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Miroslav Vitous is best known as one of the foremost young bassists in the jazz-rock movement of the late 60's and early 70's. He was a founding member of Weather Report and made numerous solo albums. This album, Magical Shepherd, is making its worldwide CD debut. It features such jazz luminaries as Herbie Hancock, Jack DeJohnette & Airto Moreira. It was originally issued on LP in 1976 on Warner Brothers. Wounded Bird. 2003.

Tracks:

Basic Laws
New York City
Synthesizers Dance
Magical Shepherd
From Far Away
Aim Your Eye

Album Description

Miroslav Vitous is best known as one of the foremost young bassists in the jazz-rock movement of the late 60's and early 70's. He was a founding member of Weather Report and made numerous solo albums. This album, Magical Shepherd, is making its worldwide CD debut. It features such jazz luminaries as Herbie Hancock, Jack DeJohnette & Airto Moreira. It was originally issued on LP in 1976 on Warner Brothers. Wounded Bird. 2003.

Customer Reviews:

A Wild Ride!.......2007-05-11

This may be an old album, but the music can pass in many of today's "raves." It can get kind of "out there" at times, but a constant groove is maintained.

UNDERAPPRECIATED MASTERPIECE.......2005-03-14

After being ousted from Weather Report, Miroslav Vitous had something to prove. He wanted to show that he could create electronic funk on a level with Zawinul. He didn't reach that level, but he came damn close. He enlisted Herbie Hancock, James Gadson, Airto and Jack DeJohnette and created some of the weirdest, spaciest funk fusion of the 70's. Keyboard players (like me) will instantly recognize that Herbie and Miroslav went ARP all the way. There are no sounds like them. The two female voices are distorted, Airto's bizarre percussion is up front. For Miroslav, clearly commercial success was not an issue. He wanted to make a statement, and he made it.

Still as awful as ever!.......2005-03-02

Miroslav Vitous deserves immense credit for having performed on one of the two two-bass masterpieces of popular music, namely Weather Report's BOOGIE-WOOGIE WALTZ. (The other two-bass classic, to my ears, is Pink Floyd's ONE OF THESE DAYS, if you're interested.)

Some years after leaving Weather Report, Miroslav also recorded the sublime JOURNEY'S END for ECM. But in between, he recorded this total bummer, MAGICAL SHEPHERD. Critics at the time panned it. The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide gave it two stars out of five. (But I still bought it.) Everyone was expecting Vitous to follow the path of Weather Report's MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER and create something in the jazz-rock or world music vein. Definitely something semi-cerebral. Instead we got an early funk prototype which was almost danceable. Although the vocals were more Henry Cow than Chic, I would imagine Nile Rodgers and Bernie Edwards learnt many lessons from this album on how not to do funk. The influence of Herbie Hancock (pre-Headhunters) is everywhere. Jack DeJohnette plays on just two of the tracks, and he would probably prefer not to remember them.

Somewhat akin to Return to Forever, there was an interest in matters of space, the universe, religion and ... um ... New York City.

The album is no clearer on CD than it was on LP. The CD inlay card mentions that 'the anomalies on track 1 are part of the original recording', and by the 'anomalies', I assume they mean the singing, the composition and Vitous's guitar-playing.

This is definitely one to avoid, unless you're writing a history of either the evolution of funk or the tragic paths of Weather Report's bassists. Fortunately Vitous managed to pick himself after this one and recorded the half-decent MAJESTY MUSIC, which is currently unavailable on CD.

Funked up, in yer face ... and out on CD.......2004-11-02

After years and years and years, Magical Shepherd has finally come out on CD and it sounds as funked-up and in-yer-face as when it was recorded a couple of decades ago.

Some might feel a comparison with Herbie Hancock's Headhunters, which was a little earlier, especially because of Herbie's presence on Magical Shepherd, but it's really Vitous's walkie-talkie (almost Sly Stone-ish) bass that gives it a feeling of its own. Not as considered as Vitous' later recordings with ECM but in a way much fresher.

From Fusion Jazz to Proto House-music.......2003-07-21

Magical Shepherd is one of the most significant releases in mid '70's electro fusion jazz music, and ironically remains largely unrecognised. It is most decidedly unlike anything that else Miroslav Vitous recorded, with funky bass lines and extensive tape looping. A collaboration with Herbie Hancock, Magical Shepherd expands beyond the usual format of fusion jazz at the time, and ends up (on side one at least) producing sounds more reminiscent of modern house and jungle music (check out the use of the disco beats and loops in New York city). The atmospheric vocals by Cheryl Grainger and Onike would fit nicely into any recordings by Goldie.

Jazz Music:

Jazz Music

Jazz Music