Feets, Don't Fail Me Now

Feets, Don't Fail Me Now
Studio album by Herbie Hancock
Released	February 18, 1979
Recorded	1978 The Automatt, San Francisco
Genre	Electronic, funk, jazz, disco
Length	40:38
Label	Columbia
Producer	David Rubinson, Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock chronology
Directstep (1979) Feets, Don't Fail Me Now (1979) The Piano (1979)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[3]
Smash Hits	5/10[2]

Feets, Don't Fail Me Now is the twenty-seventh album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock. The record was released in February 1979 by Columbia Records.

Overview

This was the first of Hancock's albums to discard jazz completely in favor of a more commercial disco sound, with vocoder effects and repeating lyrics. Background vocals were provided by 'The Waters', a family vocal group from Los Angeles. All LP and CD editions after the first pressing use an alternate 'Disco Mix' version of "Tell Everybody". The original version was included as a bonus track on the disc in the Complete Columbia Albums Collection box set.

Track listing

1. "You Bet Your Love" (Herbie Hancock, David Rubinson, Allee Willis, Jeffrey Cohen) – 7:41
2. "Trust Me" (Hancock, Rubinson, Allee Willis) – 5:44
3. "Ready or Not" (Ray Parker Jr., Cohen) – 6:48
4. "Tell Everybody" (Hancock, Rubinson, Bruce Good, Cohen) – 7:49
5. "Honey From the Jar" (Hancock, Cohen) – 6:53
6. "Knee Deep" (Hancock, Melvin Ragin) – 5:43

Personnel

• Herbie Hancock – lead and backing vocals, all keyboards
• James Gadson – drums
• Eddie Watkins – bass
• Ray Obiedo – guitar
• Bill Summers
  – percussion
• Julia Tillman Waters, Maxine Willard Waters, Oren Waters and Luther Waters – backing vocals
• Ray Parker Jr. – guitar and drums on "Ready or Not"
• Coke Escovedo – timbales on "Ready or Not"
• Sheila Escovedo
  – congas on "Ready or Not"
• James Levi – drums on "Knee Deep" and "Trust Me"
• Freddie Washington – bass on "Knee Deep"
• Wah Wah Watson – guitar on "Knee Deep"
• Bennie Maupin – soprano saxophone on "Knee Deep"

Additional personnel

• Produced by – David Rubinson & Friends Inc. and Herbie Hancock
• Associate producer – Jeffrey Cohen
• Engineers – Fred Catero and David Rubinson
• Assistant engineers – Chris Minto, Leslie Ann Jones, Ken Kassie and Cheryl Ward
• Mastering engineer – Phil Brown
• Keyboard and Vocoder engineer – Bryan Bell
• Synthesizer Programming - Gordon Bahary

References