Dreadlocked electric guitarist Hiram Bullock is best known as a monster of modern jazz fusion, with legendary associations stretching from Jaco Pastorius to Gil Evans, David Sanborn, and the Brecker Brothers.
He's also amassed an impressive catalog of solo recordings but offers a unique twist on his usual presentation on Try Livin' It, by working with a handful of legendary peers (Will Lee, Ricky Peterson) and offering more of his stellar string crackle -- all in the service of pop-oriented vocal tunes.
It's always exciting listening to Bullock's raging bed of electricity, but he has to mellow it out a bit for harmonic anthems like "After the Fall" and worldbeat lite tunes along the lines of "Try Livin' It." His voice is convincing on tunes like the up-groovin' title track, he gets a good groove going on "Can't Fight the Funk," and his attempts at thoughtful social commentary ("Greed," "Melancholy Night") are thought-provoking.
But in the end, it's pretty much a well-played, slickly produced urban adult contemporary project with a few crunchy guitar lines and lots of little pleasantries that aren't half as exciting as his instrumental music.
That's not to say it's not appealing, just that his singer/songwriter persona will most likely always be secondary to his fusion guitar god status.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | After the FallHiram Bullock | Hiram Bullock | Play | 06:29 | 14 MB | 46 MB |
| 2 | A Little BitHiram Bullock | Hiram Bullock | Play | 04:35 | 10 MB | 32 MB |
| 3 | Try Livin' ItHiram Bullock | Hiram Bullock | Play | 04:34 | 10 MB | 30 MB |
| 4 | Wild in the StreetsHiram Bullock | Hiram Bullock | Play | 06:16 | 14 MB | 42 MB |
| 5 | Can't Fight the FunkHiram Bullock, Jeremy Gaddie, Frank Gravis | Hiram Bullock | Play | 04:38 | 10 MB | 32 MB |
| 6 | GreedHiram Bullock, Charley Drayton | Hiram Bullock | Play | 04:57 | 11 MB | 37 MB |
| 7 | Melancholy NightHiram Bullock, Paul Peterson | Hiram Bullock | Play | 04:48 | 11 MB | 33 MB |
| 8 | When You're Lovin'Hiram Bullock, Paul Peterson | Hiram Bullock | Play | 06:37 | 15 MB | 47 MB |
| 9 | Facts of LifeHiram Bullock, Ricky Peterson | Hiram Bullock | Play | 06:39 | 15 MB | 47 MB |
| 10 | Born 2 Love UHiram Bullock | Hiram Bullock | Play | 05:46 | 13 MB | 40 MB |
| 11 | Summer FeelingHiram Bullock | Hiram Bullock | Play | 04:37 | 10 MB | 32 MB |
| 60 mins | 137 MB | |||||
| 60 mins | 421 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jennifer Armstrong | Production Coordination |
| 2 | Joe Barbaria | Engineer |
| 3 | Katreese Barnes | Vocals (Background) |
| 4 | Joachim Becker | Executive Producer |
| 5 | Chris Bertolotti | Engineer |
| 6 | Hiram Bullock | Composer, Engineer, Guitar, Keyboards, Primary Artist, Producer, Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 7 | Greg Calbi | Mastering |
| 8 | Dan Connor | Engineer |
| 9 | Dave Connor | Engineer |
| 10 | Clint DeGanon | Drums |
| 11 | David Delhomme | Engineer, Keyboards, Synthesizer |
| 12 | Charley Drayton | Composer, Drums |
| 13 | Jeremy Gaddie | Composer, Drums |
| 14 | Frank Gravis | Bass, Composer |
| 15 | Kenya Hathaway | Vocals (Background) |
| 16 | Holger Keifel | Photography |
| 17 | Will Lee | Bass, Guest Artist, Vocals (Background) |
| 18 | Tom "Bones" Malone | Horn |
| 19 | Colin McArdell | Engineer |
| 20 | Paul Peterson | Composer |
| 21 | Ricky Peterson | Composer, Engineer, Fender Rhodes, Keyboards, Organ, Piano (Electric), Vocals (Background) |
| 22 | Tom Tucker | Engineer, Mixing |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |