Jerry Goodman & Jan Hammer
Jerry Goodman & Jan Hammer, "Like Children, " Nemperor NE 430
Jerry & Jan, respectively former violinist and keyboard man for Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, on their first duo album show the influence of the Maha, but it does not stifle in any way their own creative instincts. The music is full of pleasant surprises. "Country and Eastern Music", marred slightly by a tuneless vocal (next time, it would be wise if J & J stuck to straight instrumentals), is an otherwise delicious stew of American and Mitteleuropa folk motifs. "Topeka" is a rocker of the first water. "I Remember Me" and "Night" are carefully built tone poems which remind me strongly of Mahavishnu Orchestra's Birds of Fire work. Except for the aforementioned weak vocals, the only faults I can pinpoint are inadequate drum-work (by Hammer) and slight overdependence on the Moog. All in all, Hammer's keyboards, especially his Moog leads on "Earth" and "Night," and Goodman's work on all the V's (viol-in,-a, and electric violin) make this an album to sit back, wonder at and enjoy.
--Paul Grant
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Subjects
Freeing John Sinclair
Old News
Ann Arbor Sun