Material includes: Bill Laswell (bass, programming).
Additional personnel includes: Liu Sola, Fahim Dandan (spoken vocals); Nicky Skopelitis (guitar, electric sitar, baglama, Fairlight synthesizer); Simon Shaheed (violin, oud); Jeff Bova (synthesizer); Zakir Hussain, Trilok Gurtu (tabla); Williams S. Burroughs, Jonas Hellborg, Wayne Shorter, Shankar, Bootsy Collins, Sly Dunbar, Bernie Worrell.
Personnel: Nicky Skopelitis (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, 12-string guitar, baglama, electric sitar, synthesizer); Simon Shaheen (oud, violin); Lakshminarayana Shankar (electric violin); Ali Jihad Racy (ney); Wayne Shorter (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Bernie Worrell (electric piano); Jeff Bova (synthesizer); Jonas Hellborg (bass guitar, fretless bass); Sly Dunbar (drums); A‹yb Dieng (congas, percussion); Vikku Vinayakram (ghatam); Zakir Hussain (tabla); Bill Laswell (loops, sampler).
Audio Mixer: Robert Musso.
Photographer: Ira Cohen.
Unknown Contributor Role: Vikku Vinayakram.
Arranger: Bill Laswell .
Longtime fans of this urban funk/electronic collective should now be aware of the kindred spirits inhabiting the Material world. Your pilots on the transport powered by the HALLUCINATION ENGINE hail from disparate corners of the globe and from genres as radically equidistant. But they intuitively communicate using the many dialects of the language of world-beat. In bringing together an ensemble of musicians (Jonas Hellborg, Wayne Shorter, Bernie Worrell, Bootsy Collins, Trilok Gurtu, Shankar, Zakir Hussain, ad infinitum) whose credits are encyclopedic in their scope and whose musical senses stretch the boundaries of their respective "genres," Bill Laswell has fashioned perhaps the most telling hybrid to yet emerge from the foggy regions of contemporary music.
HALLUCINATION ENGINE is sensual ethno-psychedelia from the topographic theater. Points on the audiological compass are easily recognizable--Shorter's signature sax riff on the opening "Black Light;" the Shankar/Gurtu liquid dub of "Mantra;" William Burroughs' throaty streams-of-consciousness proclaiming "Words of Advice" over slippery Laswell-funk. Material even covers Weather Report's "Cucumber Slumber," with a Middle Eastern twist and no beat amiss.
Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (3/10/94, p.65) - 4 Stars - Very Good - "...a post-modern BITCHES BREW...fusing disparate sounds into one groovy om of exhiliration and release. For sonic gorgeousness, funky trance states and technical bravado, this bid is the boldest...."
Musician (3/94, p.88) - "...Laswell knows how to make every beat and shred of melody accessible--and without condescension...."
