Peace

Cherry Blossoms 2011-03-29, originally uploaded by Rodger Coleman.

Playlist Week of 3-26-11

* Hildegard von Bingen: 11,000 Virgins (Anonymous 4) (Harmonia Mundi CD)
* Tallis: “Spem in Alium” (Tallis Scholars) (Gimell CD)
* Tudor Organ Music (Smith) (Naxos CD)
* Stan Getz & João Gilberto: Getz/Gilberto (Verve CD)
* Antonio Carlos Jobim: The Composer of Desafinado Plays (Verve CD)
* Andrew Hill: Passing Ships (Blue Note CD)
* Sun Ra: Space Probe (Expanded Edition) (Saturn/Art Yard CD)
* Sun Ra: The Paris Tapes: Live at Le Théâtre Du Châtelet 1971 (Art Yard/Kindred Spirits 2CD)
* Sun Ra: Disco 3000 (Saturn/Art Yard CD)
* Sun Ra: Beyond The Purple Star Zone/Oblique Parallax (Saturn/Art Yard CD)
* Evan Parker: Boustrophedon (ECM CD)
* Tortoise: TNT (Thrill Jockey CD)
* Paul McCartney: Wingspan: Hits & History (Capitol 2CD)
* Bob Dylan: The Bootleg Series Vol.4: Live 1966 (Columbia 2CD)
* Blind Faith: Blind Faith (Deluxe Edition) (Polydor/Universal 2CD)
* King Crimson: THRAK (DGM CD)
* Grateful Dead: Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL 6-27-76 (d.2) (SBD 3CDR)‡
* Grateful Dead: Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL 6-28-76 (SBD 2CDR)‡
* Grateful Dead: Road Trips, Vol.4 No.2: April Fool’s ’88 (GDP/Rhino 3CD)
* Lucinda Williams: Blessed (Lost Highway CD)†/‡)
* Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians: Element of Light (Yep Roc CD)
* Patti Smith: Gone Again (Arista CD)
* Ciccone Youth: The Whitey Album (Geffen CD)
* Sonic Youth: Made In USA (Soundtrack) (Rhino CD)
* Sonic Youth: Experimental Jet Set, Trash And No Star (Geffen CD)
* Sonic Youth, et al.: Demonlover (Soundtrack) (Labels/EMI CD)
* Sonic Youth, et al.: All Tomorrow’s Parties 1.1 LA (ATP CD)
* Sonic Youth: The Eternal (Matador 2LP)
* Sonic Youth: Simon Werner A Disparu (Soundtrack) (SYR-9 LP)
* Thurston Moore: Psychic Hearts (Geffen 2LP)
* Thurston Moore: Trees Outside The Academy (Ecstatic Peace! CD)
* Tool: 10,000 Days (Volcano CD) †/‡
* Lifeguards: Waving At The Astronauts (Serious Business LP)

†=iPod
‡=car

Commentary:

Astonishingly, Mom continues to linger…She has not taken any nourishment—not even water—for nine days now. We’ve been repeatedly told by the hospice nurse that her death is “imminent”—yet she keeps on going, unconscious, but hanging on. This has been an agonizing week of intensely complicated emotions. Every time the phone rings, I think it’s going to be “The Call” and my heart jumps. As the days drag on, I can feel my heart becoming calloused—and that is a terrible feeling.

It has been suggested Mom has some “unfinished business” here on earth she wishes to complete, but at this point, it’s impossible to know what it might be. Life is messy; not every loose end can be gathered in the time we’re allotted. And she is definitely a worrier—she worries about anything and everything and cannot be consoled by facts and reason. Then again, it could also simply be Mom has a cast-iron constitution and an indomitable will to live. She certainly can be stubborn—she had to be just to survive. After losing her father as a child and growing up during the Great Depression, she and my dad worked tirelessly to escape poverty and achieve the “American Dream.” She was—is—a remarkable woman.

But witnessing her slow-motion demise is just unbelievably wrenching, especially from such a great distance. I like to think it would be easier if I could see her every day. Then again, I’m selfishly glad my last memory of Mom will be of a happy and vibrant person—I’m not sure I could stand to see her in the state she is in now. My sister has shown admirable strength taking care of her these last years and I am forever grateful for that—and not a little guilt-ridden.

Life is messy and death is a mystery. There is a rare, awful beauty to old age and death by “natural causes”—so many people are killed by senseless violence or cataclysmic disease. I’m forced to contemplate my own mortality and I wonder how it would feel to be eighty-two years old and facing the end of life. It's almost too horrible to think about. Mom has been remarkably brave during this whole process and I hope she finds peace—soon.

What does any of this have to do with music? Nothing—and everything. Music and art communicate the inexpressible and aspire to immortality. Listening to music can (sometimes) let me get out of myself and glimpse larger truths. This week, Sonic Youth really hit the nerve, particularly some of their later albums and experimental film soundtrack work. This is a band I’ve loved since the mid-1980s and it has been gratifying to watch them grow older and develop into a universally revered avant-rock institution. Their beautifully clangorous guitars and elliptical vocals were just what I needed this week. Sure, maybe they should change their name to “Sonic Seniors,” but so what? Youth is overrated—maturity is life fully lived. I look forward to hearing what they do next—it gives me hope for this horrible world.

UPDATE: My mother passed away at 7:15PM. Rest in peace, Mom.

Sun Ra Sunday

Sun Ra & His Mythic Science Arkestra:
The Paris Tapes: Live at Le Théâtre Du Châtelet 1971 (Art Yard/Kindred Spirits 2CD)

Before moving on to 1974, I need to catch up a bit and comment on The Paris Tapes: Live at Le Théâtre Du Châtelet 1971, recently released by Art Yard (in collaboration with the Dutch label, Kindred Spirits). This nicely packaged two-CD set officially came out last fall, but has been somewhat difficult to find here in the States. I’m not sure why that is, but it’s worth making the effort to track down. As we know, this concert from November 29, 1971 was broadcast by French radio and a horribly degraded tape fragment circulates amongst collectors. Therefore, this upgraded and expanded edition is a most welcome addition to the official discography. Even so, don’t be throwing away that crummy-sounding bootleg just yet—some very interesting and unique music has been edited out of this otherwise excellent release! Mastered from what appear to be the pre-broadcast reels, the sound quality is superb with spacious ambience and startling instrumental clarity. But according to producer, Peter Dennett, about an hour of music was omitted due to technical problems with the tapes and to limit the release to a more economical two CDs. That is completely understandable, if unfortunate for us crazy completists, who would love to hear every note, sonic warts and all.

What we do get is very good indeed, with an extra-generous serving of Sun Ra’s incredibly outrageous electronic keyboard playing. Right from the start, Sonny is shooting laser beams and cracking whips with his MiniMoogs, summoning up torrential storms of noise and distortion, pounding out thundering low-register grumbles on the organ, or stringing delicate and wobbly portamentos against thick, dissonant tone clusters. That's just the "Introduction!" Then he turns in a groovy, blues-inflected electric piano solo on a “pre-mitotic” version of “Discipline 27” while the hypnotic, dark metallic funk of his organ comping dominates an extended version of “Love In Outer Space.” The rarely-heard “Third Planet” also features a tasty, reedy Rocksichord excursion a la Night Of The Purple Moon while Ra’s space-age barbeque organ makes an appearance on “Discipline Number Unknown.” And, finally, the album concludes with an astonishing tour de force of Sun Ra’s patented, mad-scientist-style mayhem: fifteen minutes of spooky murmuring, shrieking sirens and bursting bombs, all culminating in the arrival and departure of the alien spaceship to take us back to Saturn. Wow! This is truly one the all-time great Sun Ra epics! If there was ever any doubt of Ra’s visionary genius and sheer instrumental prowess, this release should put that notion to rest for good.

In between, there’s the usual thing—yet the vocal numbers such as “Somebody Else’s Idea,” and “Space Is The Place” as well as the dance/drums workout, “Watusi” greatly benefit from the luxurious sound quality and tightly focused performances (notorious drummer, Clifford Jordan, exhibits remarkable restraint throughout). A meandering “Angels and Demons At Play” is perhaps overlong, but Marshall Allen’s evocative flute periodically adds interest to the percussion jamming. Particularly noteworthy is the discovery of yet another never-before-heard “Discipline” composition on disc two wherein characteristically interlocking horn riffs are cast upon an enchantingly off-kilter space-groove in seven. During a series of solos (Kwami Hadi on trumpet, Ra on BBQ organ and Eloe Omoe on bass clarinet), the arrangement gradually morphs into a wild group improvisation for massed saxophones and skittering, clattering polyrhythms. Pretty exciting stuff!

So, what’s missing? The “Enlightenment” after the opening improvisation has been cut and while that in itself is no great loss, the following unknown “Discipline” piece has also been omitted. Now, that’s a real shame as this is the only known performance of one of Ra’s most strikingly beautiful compositions (and the bootleg tape appears to be incomplete). Moreover, there are no big John Gilmore solos on either of these two discs, which feels wrong given his usual prominence in the Arkestra—I suspect “The Shadow World” made an appearance at this concert and no doubt Gilmore did his thing there (and elsewhere). So, that’s a little frustrating. Regardless of any technical anomalies, I, for one, would love to hear the rest of the tapes from this gig and would have gladly paid extra for a complete, three-CD set. Oh well. Perhaps, if this sells well, a volume two will be forthcoming.

But I quibble. Art Yard and Kindred Spirits have done a fabulous job with The Paris Tapes and it is an essential purchase for any self-respecting Sun Ra fan (if you can find it). Despite the absence of certain crucial material, Sun Ra’s performance here more than makes up for the loss with amazing displays of keyboard pyrotechnics. And the overall sumptuous sound quality will gratify even the most casual of listeners, making this a most highly recommended release.

Playlist Week of 3-19-11

* Vivaldi: La Stravaganza: 12 Violin Concertos (Arte Dei Suonatori/Podger) (Channel Classics 2SACD)
* Maderna: Quadrivium, etc. (Sinf. des Norddeutschen Rundfunks/Sinopoli) (DG CD)
* Stan Link: In Amber Shadows: Electro-Acoustic Music (Albany CD)
* Andrew Hill: Grass Roots (Blue Note CD)
* Andrew Hill: Dance With Death (Blue Note CD)
* Sun Ra: The Paris Tapes: Live at Le Théâtre Du Châtelet 1971 (Art Yard/Kindred Spirits 2CD)
* Henry Threadgill & Zooid: Stadtgarten, Köln, Germany 11-04-08 (FM CDR)
* Matthew Shipp String Trio: By The Law Of Music (Hat ART CD)
* Matthew Shipp String Trio: Expansion, Power, Release (Hat ART CD)
* John Zorn: The Big Gundown: John Zorn Plays the Music of Ennio Morricone (Nonesuch LP)
* George Harrison: Live In Japan (Capitol 2SACD)
* George Harrison: Brainwashed (Capitol CD)
* Grateful Dead: Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL 10-26-71 (SBD 2CDR)‡
* Grateful Dead: Tower Theatre, Upper Darby, PA 6-21-76 (SBD 3CDR)‡
* Grateful Dead: Tower Theatre, Upper Darby, PA 6-22-76 (SBD 3CDR)
* Grateful Dead: Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL 6-27-76 (d.1) (SBD 3CDR)
* Love: Forever Changes (Elektra/Rhino CD)
* King Crimson: Discipline (DGM CD)
* King Crimson: Beat (DGM CD)
* King Crimson: Three Of A Perfect Pair (DGM CD)
* R.E.M.: Out Of Time (Warner Bros. CD)
* R.E.M.: Automatic For The People (Warner Bros. CD)
* R.E.M.: Monster (Warner Bros. CD)
* Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots 5.1 (stereo) (Warner Bros. CD/DVD-A)
* Beck: Odelay (Geffen CD)
* Lifeguards: Waving At The Astronauts (Serious Business LP/CD)
* Tool: 10,000 Days (Volcano CD)‡

†=iPod
‡=car

Commentary:

On Tuesday night, Lizzy and I went to Zeitgeist Gallery to hear a program of electro-acoustic music by our friend, composer Stan Link, who would be there to participate in a discussion session with local critic David Maddox. Although we are notorious homebodies, this was an event not to be missed! The contemporary art gallery is an appropriate venue for Stan’s kind of cutting-edge music and it was a unique opportunity to hear him talk about his work.

The first piece, “In Ida’s Mirror,” for alto flute and tape, was particularly moving. Stan talked about how the title was inspired by seeing Ivan Albright’s painting, “Into The World Came a Soul Called Ida” at the Art Institute of Chicago, and further informed by the video work of Bill Viola and Ridley Scott’s film, Blade Runner. A clip was shown where, just before he dies, the replicant says: “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe…All those moments will be lost in time like tears in the rain.” This quotation, explained Stan, was the key to understanding the work’s meaning—and, perhaps, his own personal cosmology. Very interesting…

Sandra Cox (photo) navigated the labyrinthine score with ease, plumbing the mournful depths of the almost atonal melodies. It was an incredibly affecting performance: her warm, breathy tone on the rarely heard alto flute a sensuous, primordial sound projected against the vast cinematic soundscape of voices and electronics. “In Ida’s Mirror” is a profoundly discomfiting meditation on birth, life, death, time and eternity—just the thing I needed to hear during this difficult time, as my mother lay slowly dying a thousand miles away from me—and tragedy unfolds in Japan, where my brother in law is living with his wife and child—and I ponder the meaning of it all. Thank you, Stan, for reminding of the redemptive power of art, its power to express the ineffable.

An excellent CD of Stan Link’s electro-acoustic music is available on Albany Records entitled, In Amber Shadows, which came out in 2006. While “In Ida’s Mirror” is not contained therein, it is still highly recommended as an introduction to this fascinating composer.

More photos from the event can be found here and on my Flickr Photostream (click on the photo above).

Sun Ra Sunday

THE NAME OF SOUND

The name can be music
Played by infinite instruments
The name can lift nothingness
From nothing to reality
And keep the myth parable apparent.

Like once silent voices burst into song
The name strikes the ear
And the sound of it
Rushes like a wild thing
To take its place
As the core
Of the music, the infinite instruments
And the vital vibration
Of the meaning
Of the name.

--Sun Ra

Playlist Week of 3-12-11

* Biber: The Rosary Sonatas (Manze/Egarr) (Harmonia Mundi 2CD)†
* J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations (Hewitt): Royal Festival Hall, London 4-29-09 (FM CDR)
* J.S. Bach: Solo & Double Violin Concertos (AAM/Manze/Podger) (Harmonia Mundi SACD)
* Antheil: Ballet Mécanique, etc. (Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orch.) (Naxos CD)
* Poulenc: Works for Piano (Parkin) (d.2) (Chandos 3CD)
* Sun Ra with Wilbur Ware: House of Ra, Philadelphia, PA 1973 (AUD>FM CDR)
* Sun Ra & His Mythic Science Arkestra: The Paris Tapes 1971 (Art Yard/Kindred Spirits 2CD)
* Anthony Braxton: Sextet (Philadelphia) 2005 (New Braxton House FLAC>2CDR)
* Anthony Braxton: Septet (Pittsburgh) 2008 (New Braxton House FLAC>CDR)
* Anthony Braxton Diamond Curtain Wall Trio: hr-Sendesaal, Frankfurt, Germany 10-30-08 (FM CDR)
* Henry Threadgill & Zooid: Folkets Hus, Umea, Sweden 10-25-08 (FM CDR)
* William Parker/In Order To Survive: The Peach Orchard (AUM Fidelity 2CD)
* Matthew Shipp: Art Of The Improviser (Thirsty Ear 2CD)
* Mat Maneri: Blue Deco (Thirsty Ear CD)
* Weasel Walter/Mary Halvorson/Peter Evans: Electric Fruit (Thirsty Ear CD)
* Herbie Hancock/Future 2 Future: Columbia Halle, Berlin, Germany 11-27-01 (FM 2CDR)
* Tortoise: Beacons of Ancestorship (Thrill Jockey)†/‡
* Scanner with The Post Modern Jazz Quartet: Blink of An Eye (Thirsty Ear CD)
* Marvin Gaye: What’s Going On (Motown/Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab SACD)
* Marvin Gaye: Let’s Get It On (Motown/Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab SACD)
* Parliament: Live: P. Funk Earth Tour (Casablanca CD)
* P. Funk All Stars: Urban Dancefloor Guerillas (CBS CD)
* The Beatles: The Beatles [a/k/a The White Album] (2009 stereo) (Apple/EMI 2CD)
* Grateful Dead: Music Hall, Boston, MA 12-01-73 (SBD 4CDR)
* David Crosby: If I Could Only Remember My Name… (Atlantic DVD-A)
* Chicago: VIII (Columbia LP)
* Chicago: X (Columbia LP)
* Chicago: XI (Columbia LP)
* U2: The Joshua Tree (Deluxe Edition) (d.1) (Island 2CD)†/‡
* Beck: Sea Change (Geffen/Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs CD)†/‡
* Robert Pollard: Space City Kicks (GBV, Inc. LP)
* Lifeguards: Waving At The Astronauts (Serious Business LP)
* Tool: Lateralus: (Volcano CD)†
* A Perfect Circle: Mer De Noms (Virgin CD)
* A Perfect Circle: Thirteenth Step (Virgin CD)

†=iPod
‡=car

Commentary:

I know I’m an African-American, and I know I play the saxophone, but I’m not a jazz musician. I’m not a classical musician either. My music is like my life: It’s in between these worlds.
–Anthony Braxton

Anthony Braxton is, in my estimation, America’s greatest living composer—and the most underappreciated and misunderstood. As he acknowledges above, part of the problem is that he is black man who plays the saxophone. In the cultural hierarchy we inhabit, he is ipso facto a “jazz musician,” with every negative stereotype the term entails. This not only reflects the deep-seated racism of our culture, but also a concomitant disdain for the instrument itself, a late-19th Century invention which has always been treated as a bastard “band instrument” by the classical music establishment ever since. Of course, Mr. Braxton plays the entire family of saxophone instruments, from contrabass to sopranino and anyone who has listened to more than a handful of his records will have to acknowledge that his music, for the most part, has more to do with so-called “classical” music than what is commonly thought of as “jazz.” But, as a black man with a bunch of saxophones, his work has never been taken seriously as “Art Music” by the classical music establishment, who narrowly defines the term. Of course, Mr. Braxton does not make it easy to understand what he’s up to. While he has written about his music extensively in liner notes, essays, and multi-volume monographs, he insists on opaque, hyper-academic linguistic constructions and inscrutable graphic representations which only serve to obscure his meaning from casual observers. This is, of course, intentional and part of its appeal to initiates, who aspire (or pretend) to understand. There is an element of willful Sun Ra-esque absurdity about his public persona that will forever prevent over-serious people from ever taking it seriously. And that’s too bad, because the proof is in the music itself, which is always at least interesting and often profoundly moving in a way that neither “jazz” nor “classical” music ever could be within their culturally-imposed restrictions. Braxton is an important composer because he occupies a place outside those arbitrary limitations and makes music that is, like he says, like life itself, “in between.”

While Braxton has made hundreds of recordings over the course of his five-decade career, most are on tiny labels produced in vanishingly small editions, making them almost impossible to find and further marginalizing him from mainstream culture. However, all this is about to be remedied with the ambitious launch of the Tri-Centric Foundation website, considerably raising Mr. Braxton’s online profile and making his music widely available to any “friendly experiencers” who might be interested. Hooray! The long out-of-print Braxton House recordings from the 1990s are available there for download in FLAC and MP3 formats and the New Braxton House label promises two releases per month of previously unreleased music. To celebrate the unveiling, they are offering a FREE download of Septet (Pittsburgh) 2008 for a limited time, just for setting up an account. A magnificent live recording of Braxton’s recent “Accelerated Ghost Trance Music,” it features his core group of devoted young musicians: Taylor Ho Bynum on trumpet and other brass instruments; Mary Halvorson on electric guitar; Jessica Pavone on violin, viola and electric bass; Jay Rozen on tuba; Carl Testa on acoustic bass and bass clarinet; and Aaron Siegel on drums, percussion and vibraphone. Impossible to describe, Braxton’s late-period music is unlike any other you're ever heard and rewards repeated, concentrated listens. I highly recommend everyone reading this post to immediately grab this gem and have a listen for themselves. You won’t regret it! And it just might change your life!

The price per download is a little on the high side, in my opinion, but subscriptions can be purchased for $12+1 per month (afficianadoes will appreciate the humor) which entitles you to two free downloads and 10% off on catalog items, a reasonably good deal; moreover, it all goes to support a very worthy cause. Of course, I’ve gleefully signed up and am digging Sextet (Philadelphia) 2005, another fantastic live recording from this most fertile era in Braxton’s long career. Future releases will include: Three Orchestras (GTM) 1998; Solo (Allentown) 1990; Composition 19 (For 100 Tubas) 2006; and Sextet (Boston) 2005. I can’t wait. Just to sweeten the deal, they’ve also set up a “bootleg page,” offering FREE downloads of various verité recordings which have circulated in hardcore collector’s circles. Naturally, I have most of these already, but I applaud the Tri-Centric Foundation for making them available to casual listeners. Of those available so far, I would heartily recommend Quartet (New York) 1993, an excellent soundboard recording from The Knitting Factory of the so-called “classic quartet” with Marilyn Crispell on piano, Mark Dresser on bass and Gerry Hemingway on drums. This would be an excellent place for the merely curious to begin investigating Mr. Braxton’s oeuvre.

There’s also a long video segment from Braxton’s first Sonic Genome Project at Wesleyan University in 2003, an eight-hour, hundred-musician extravaganza that must be seen to be believed. The site also promises to make available more videos and writings to round out the experience. My dearest hope is they will eventually upload scores and composition notes to the site, to enable the fullest possible understanding of Braxton’s work. Regardless, the Tri-Centric Foundation is providing a long-overdue and most welcome service and is worthy of support. Due to unexpectedly high traffic, the site was experiencing a number of technical difficulties in its first week of operation, but that's a good thing and all seems to be working smoothly now. So, by all means, go check it out!

Sun Ra Sunday

Sun Ra Arkestra with Wilbur Ware: House of Ra, Philadelphia, PA 1973 (CDR)

In 1987, Columbia University's WKCR-FM embarked on a “Sun Ra Festival,” broadcasting 116 straight hours of music and interviews with members of the Arkestra, including the man himself, who brought with him several never-before-heard recordings for the occasion. A tape of this broadcast circulates widely amongst collectors and contains a wealth of interesting material, including this twelve-and-a-half minute piece recorded at The House of Ra in 1973 with bassist, Wilbur Ware. Born in 1923, Ware had worked with Sonny briefly back in Chicago and can be heard on one of Ra’s earliest known recordings as a leader (see Campbell & Trent p.43). Ware was well-regarded for his bebop skills, playing with folks like Stuff Smith, Sonny Stitt, Roy Eldridge and Art Blakey but he was probably best known for his work with Thelonious Monk in the late-1950s. By 1973, however, his career was at a standstill due to a combination of health issues and drug abuse and he had relocated to Philaldephia, where he hooked up with the Arkestra for this impromptu jam. “It’s quite different, you know, to hear him play what you might call avant-garde,” Sonny remarks during the interview. “It sounds very nice.”

Actually, it’s more than just a jam and while it would appear that Ware is leading the way, it is actually Sun Ra who guides the Arkestra through the improvisation, cueing entrances and exits and various changes in feel in his own inimitable way. Despite Ware's personal difficulties during this time, he sounds great here, playing with supreme confidence and big-eared sensitivity, exploring the entire compass of the instrument and even pulling out the bow for a short interlude. Rarely do all eight musicians play at the same time, giving this piece an austere, modern chamber music quality while Ra moves from slippery synthesizer to a wobbly, wah-wah organ, emphasizing a rising portamento which is echoed by the bass throughout. Soloists include John Gilmore, who introduces a long-breathed melody and multiphonic variations on tenor saxophone; blurry trumpet from Akh Tal Ebah (later joined by Marshall Allen and Danny Davis on alto saxophones); and Eloe Omoe on bass clarinet. Sometimes the horns drop out altogether, leaving Ware to duet with Sun Ra’s keyboards; at other times they engage in fleeting bouts of group improv. Drummer Lex Humphries makes only a brief appearance mid-way through only to conclude the piece with a solo of his own. Amazingly, Ware keeps things going with strong yet supple support, no matter what’s going on around him.

It’s tempting to speculate this was a sort of audition for Ware, since the bass chair was often empty due to the comings and goings of the brilliant Ronnie Boykins (who would leave the band for good after 1974). From the evidence, it seems like Ware would have been a good fit for the Arkestra. Although he was rooted in the language of bop, Ware was obviously a good listener. As Sonny points out in his interview, the ability to listen is the most valuable skill a musician can possess and key part of his cosmo-philosophy:

Every band has something to say. The good part about it is that you have men together, who are not in the army to destroy people, they—it’s something to have men working together for beauty, and for precision and discipline. It’s wonderful. It’s the most wonderful thing about the planet that you do have men who are in the armed forces—who have to be in there—but you have some more who are doing some other things that’s not destructive, with unification and discipline. Because they have to be disciplined to play music. If they’re in a band, they got to listen to somebody and that’s what all men ought to learn, that they need to listen to somebody. Because you take the basketball players, they got to listen. Prizefighters got to listen. Actors got to listen to a director. So I would say every individual person needs to listen to somebody because successful people are those who listen to somebody and do as they’re told. Or try to.

Sadly, Ware withdrew from the music scene altogether and died of emphysema in 1979. This tape presents an opportunity to hear this underappreciated musician in an unusual context and, for that reason alone, is worth checking out. (Photo of Wilbur Ware by Francis Wolff/Blue Note Records.)

Playlist Week of 3-05-11

* Hesperion XXI (Savall): “St. Paul Sunday,” MPR Radio Studios, St. Paul, MN 3-10-01 (FM CDR)
* Accademia Bizantina (Dantone/Scholl): Schauspielhaus, Dresden 6-12-08 (FM CDR)
* Bach: Cantatas, BWV35, etc. (Accademia Bizantina/Dantone/Scholl): Schwarzenberg 6-18-06 (FM CDR)
* Sun Ra: Flushing Meadow Park, Queens, NY 7-04-73 (Pre-FM CDR)
* Sun Ra w/Wilbur Ware: House of Ra, Philadelphia, PA 1973 (AUD>FM CDR)
* Sun Ra: Out Beyond The Kingdom Of (Saturn LP>CDR)
* Albert Ayler, et al.: New York Eye and Ear Control (ESP-Disk’ CD)
* Sunny Murray: Sunshine/An Even Break (Never Give a Sucker) (BYG/Actuel/Fuel 2000 CD)
* Henry Threadgill’s Zooid: Teatro Communale, Cormòns, Gorzia, Italy 10-23-08 (FM CDR)
* Anthony Braxton: Septet (Pittsburgh) 2008 (New Braxton House FLAC>CDR)
* Evan Parker Quartet + Frut: Teatro alle Tese, Venezia 9-26-10 (FM CDR)
* Matthew Shipp: Art of The Improviser (Thirsty Ear 2CD)
* Mary Halvorson & Joe McFee: WKCR-FM Studios, New York, NY 12-15-10 (FM CDR)
* Joelle Leandre & Mephista: The Stone, New York, NY 6-25-10 (AUD CDR)
* Praxis: Profanation (Preparation for a Cosmic Darkness) (M.O.D. Technologies CD)
* Deltron: Deltron 3030 (75 Ark CD)†/‡
* DJ Shadow: Endtroducing… (MoWax CD)
* Muddy Waters: The Woodstock Album (Chess/MCA CD)
* Elvis Presley: Command Performances: The Essential ‘60s Masters II (RCA 2CD)
* George Harrison: Living In The Material World (Capitol CD)
* Bob Dylan: Bootleg Series Vol.8: Tell Tale Signs: Rare & Unreleased 1989-2006 (Columbia 2CD)
* Grateful Dead: Uptown Theatre, Chicago, IL 12-05-79 (SBD 3CDR)
* Tom Waits: Small Change (Asylum LP)
* Big Star: Keep An Eye On The Sky (d.1-3) (Ardent/Rhino 4CD)†/‡
* Lucinda Williams: West (Lost Highway CD)
* Lucinda Williams: Little Honey (Lost Highway CD)
* Lucinda Williams: Blessed (Deluxe Edition) (Lost Highway 1+1CD)
* Die Kreuzen: October File (Touch & Go LP)
* Die Kreuzen: Century Days (Touch & Go LP)
* Tool: Lateralus (Volcano CD)†/‡
* Robert Pollard: Moses On A Snail (GBV, Inc.)†/‡

†=iPod
‡=car

Commentary:

On 2008’s Little Honey, Lucinda Williams sounded like she was, for the first time in her life, genuinely happy. But this newfound happiness made for an uneven album, her usual eloquent songwriting padded out with giddy schoolgirl love-songs, comedy routines and a winking cover of AC/DC’s “It’s a Long Way to The Top.” Thankfully, the Poetess of Pain is back on her new album, Blessed, but with a broader, deeper and more mature perspective. The opening track, “Buttercup,” is a bitter kiss-off like only Lucinda can sing—which might lead you to believe she’s just up to her old tricks. But as the album progresses, the songs begin to take on a cumulative weight as big themes emerge: not just love and heartache, but also death, suicide, the horrors of war and the salvation of friendship, community, family, faith—in other words, the search for meaning in a world full of endless toil and senseless strife. Just what I want from a Lucinda Williams record—especially these days.

Legendary producer Don Was frames Lucinda’s vocals in a warm, naturalistic space, every note perfectly placed, slickly polished yet still organic and pure. This is certainly one of her best-sounding records ever (so much so I’m seriously tempted to pick up the 2-LP vinyl edition). The L.A. session pros deliver just the right balance of chops and taste with Greg Leisz’s weeping pedal steel adding a suitably country-ish atmosphere where needed and Elvis Costello (of all people) contributing some searing electric guitar on three tracks. Lucinda’s voice has ripened with age and she sounds better than ever here, singing with a passionate intensity yet always in pitch-perfect control. I’m a long-time fan, but I have to admit this is probably her best album in a decade—so good it makes me think it’s just the first in a series of mature masterpieces. Seems to me she is just getting started. A limited “Deluxe Edition” (with eight (!) different covers) comes with a bonus CD called, The Kitchen Tapes, containing demos of all twelve songs recorded at her kitchen table, a fascinating, intimate glimpse into her songwriting process and well-worth seeking out. Either way, the appropriately titled Blessed is soul-nourishing music in these difficult times and most highly recommended.

Sun Ra Sunday

Sun Ra: Flushing Meadow Park, Queens, NY, July 4, 1973 (CDR)

As it turns out, I was mistaken in my review of What Planet Is This?: Not only did a copy of the July 6, 1973 Carnegie Hall concert circulate amongst collectors prior to its release by Leo Records, but this “bootleg” edition also included Sun Ra’s appearance at the memorial tribute to Louis Armstrong held in Flushing Meadow Park in Queens, New York on the afternoon of July 4. In fact, I used to have a copy, but threw it away after purchasing What Planet Is This?, not realizing this track was missing on the official release. Oh well—just goes to show I should never get rid of anything without more careful consideration! Big thank you to the Sun Ra fans who pointed out my error and kindly provided me with a copy.

Like the Carnegie Hall concert, this was recorded by Voice of America but never broadcast, the tapes deposited into the Library of Congress and promptly forgotten (see Campbell & Trent p.199). It’s a curious fragment, about six minutes of music played by a small band consisting of Ra on electric piano, John Gilmore on tenor sax, Ronnie Boykins on bass and Beaver Harris on drums, in his only known appearance with the Arkestra. The whole thing has a very impromptu, ad hoc feel to it, as if it had been organized at the last possible minute. The announcer is harried and clueless, first introducing the bassist as Reggie Workman and then, after the band corrects him, calling him “Ronnie Barkin” (and, later, “Ronnie Bodkin”) Sheesh! Sonny gingerly fingers a Fender Rhodes piano, an instrument he was not associated with at this time, and its politely chiming, bell-like tone clearly displeases him. So, he starts to work it, cranking up the gain, making it distort, adding skittering, polyphonic voices while Boykins and Harris set up a churning, free-jazz groove. Now Ra is really going for it, attacking the keyboard with two-fisted fury—but the engineer freaks out and turns down Sonny’s volume, greatly reducing the effect. Argh! Gilmore enters with what sounds like a pre-composed, modal theme and a set of full-throated, late-Coltrane-style variations. Despite the wonky sound, this is pretty exciting stuff! Harris gets maybe a little too excited and starts to overplay while Boykins tries his best to rein him in. Suddenly, Harris gets the message and drops out altogether, leaving Gilmore to solo a cappella, continuing in an atonal, post-bop vein, peppered with bluesy call and response effects and concluding with a dramatic flourish. Although brief, this is yet another incredible Gilmore solo!

In the aftermath of Gilmore's stunning display, piano filigrees float up from the stillness and Boykins picks up the bow, accompanied by softly tinkling cymbals. Ra sets the mood with celeste-like chording to surround the pleading, arco bass solo while Harris starts to turn up the heat. Then Boykins plays alone for a minute before the full band returns with a bashing storm of dissonant wailing. Sadly, the mix is horribly unbalanced by this point, with Ra’s dense figurations appearing way off in the distance while the tumultuous drums and squealing saxophone are way up front. The intended texture is obviously thick and rich, but is rendered thin and incoherent on tape (maybe it sounded better in person). Eventually, even Gilmore wanders off-mic, leaving Ra to bring it all to an end with a huge, harsh tone cluster. Our hapless M.C. rushes back to the microphone to defend this outburst of avant-garde mayhem to an audience that was perhaps expecting to hear a more traditional-sounding tribute to “Satchmo”: “I know a lot of you are thinking…well, you know...but it’s the energy that Louis had and all musicians have which comes out in a little bit different form, and yet a very valid thing as far as these men are concerned.” Well, he gets that right!

Too bad Leo declined to include this track on What Planet Is This? since it would have easily fit (and dodgy sound quality has never prevented them from releasing stuff in the past). It’s an interesting if not altogether successful piece, marred somewhat by Harris, who while a fine drummer, does not quite fit into Sun Ra’s cosmic equation here. And it’s really a shame Sun Ra’s Fender Rhodes assault is mixed so far back, as a more balanced recording would have made this a much more powerful and effective listening experience. Even so, the diminutive, four-piece Arkestra packs a lot of music into a short amount of time, Boykins holding it all together with his sure-footed bass playing while Gilmore is his typically brilliant self. Not essential by any means, but if you’re a Sun Ra fan, this little artifact is definitely worth seeking out—and holding onto.

Playlist Week of 2-26-11

* Collegium Vocale Gent (Herreweghe): Église des Minimes, Brussels, Belgium 6-09-09 (FM CDR)
* Collegium Vocale Gent (Herreweghe): Église des Minimes, Brussels, Belgium 2-09-10 (FM CDR)
* Cage: Complete Piano Music Vol.8: Hommage à Satie (Schleiermacher) (MDG CD)
* Jimmy Giuffre 3: 1961 (Fusion/Thesis) (Verve/ECM 2CD)
* Matthew Shipp: The Art of the Improviser (Thirsty Ear 2CD)
* John Lee Hooker: Chill Out (Pointblank CD)
* Parliament: Mothership Connection (Casablanca CD)
* Parliament: Funkytelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome (Casablanca CD)
* Parliament: The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein (Casablanca CD)
* Elvis Presley: Memories: The ’68 Comeback Special (RCA 2CD)
* Grateful Dead: Dream Bowl, Vallejo, CA 2-21-69 (SBD 2CDR)
* Grateful Dead: Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY 2-18-71 (SBD 2CDR)
* Grateful Dead: Hofheinz Pavilion, Houston, TX 10-14-77 (selections) (SBD 3CDR)‡
* The Band: Music From Big Pink (Capitol/MoFi SACD)
* Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Weld (Reprise 2CD)
* Chicago: Chicago Transit Authority (Rhino 2LP)
* Chicago: Chicago [a/k/a II] (Rhino 2LP)
* Chicago: III (Columbia 2LP)
* Chicago: V (Columbia LP)
* Chicago: VI (Columbia LP)
* Chicago: VII (Columbia 2LP)
* Fleetwood Mac: Rumours (Warner Bros. DVD-A)
* Steely Dan: Gaucho (Warner Bros. DVD-A)
* Tom Waits: The Heart Of A Saturday Night (Asylum LP)
* Lucinda Williams: West (Lost Highway CD)†/‡
* The Police: Ghost In The Machine (A&M SACD)
* Yo La Tengo: And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out (Matador CD)
* Yo La Tengo: Danelectro (Matador CDEP)
* Spiritualized: Lazer Guided Melodies (RCA/BMG CD)
* Robert Pollard: Space City Kicks (GBV, Inc. CD)
* Lifeguards: Waving At Astronauts (Serious Business LP/CD)
* Beck: Mellow Gold (Geffen CD)
* Tool: Ænima (Zoo/Volcano CD)†/‡
* Animal Collective: Strawberry Jam (Domino CD)
* Animal Collective: “Peace Bone” (Domino CDEP)
* Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino CD)

†=iPod
‡=car

Commentary:

I told a friend recently that I no longer feel so guilty about my guilty pleasures. That’s right: I’m proud to admit I still enjoy Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, no matter how many billions of times I’ve heard it. And I’m not ashamed to have listened to Chicago’s first six studio albums this week, indulging in an orgy of nostalgic, feel-good music. Heck, I threw in some Elvis Presley to boot, just ‘cuz The King always cheers me up. And then Lizzy and I danced around the house to some Parliament/Funkadelic last night. And the Police are cranking as I write. What can I say? I love super-modern, hyper-intense music as much as the next guy, but I also like pop music of all kinds—I always have. It moves me.

Sure, music can be “Art” but it can also be utilitarian, simultaneously. One of the most amazing things about music is that it can make us feel better—physically and emotionally better—just by listening to it. Over the years, I’ve continually discovered that being a snob only serves to deny me access to the most fundamental thing music does. Music makes you feel something profound and ineffable, impossible to explain. But it’s real. And it doesn’t really matter how or why it happens; as long as you’re moved then, wow! Isn’t that amazing? I love literature, movies, painting and sculpture and the other arts, but let’s face it: they don’t do what music does. Music is primal, you know what I mean? Who am I to say what’s good or bad music? As the kids say, it’s all good.

I’ve always considered the connoisseur more interesting and useful than the critic. I might have strong opinions about what I personally think is better or worse music, but except for some obvious and extreme examples, I cannot say with absolute certainty that any particular iteration is objectively “bad.” What’s interesting is that it exists at all! A connoisseur is more interested in knowledge for its own sake. Of course, the more you know, the better equipped you will be to distinguish good from bad—but the connoisseur will quickly notice that technique alone does not guarantee artistic greatness. Connoisseurs acknowledge that some of the finer things in life are an “acquired taste” which requires effort to appreciate and will revel in that work rather than glibly disparage what they don’t understand. Unlike the critic, the connoisseur seeks to gather and share information rather than issue dubious commandments. I like to think of myself as a connoisseur, not a critic.

So I tend to write about music I like rather than music I don’t like. But that doesn’t mean I’m some sort of Pollyanna. Sometimes, I think about trying to generate blog traffic by being intentionally controversial and writing about my own personal musical antipathies. Well, let’s see…here’s one: (ahem) Wynton Marsalis has assumed an overlarge and extremely pernicious influence on the culture of jazz, doing more damage to the art form than any of the myriad “heretics” he condemns in his revisionist history (as canonized in Ken Burns’s Jazz documentary and institutionalized by Jazz At Lincoln Center). How’s that for a strong opinion? Then again, I think, well, maybe someone might hear the music for themselves, be moved by it, learn more—and rightly conclude his opinions are just so much egomaniacal blather. Wynton is an OK trumpet player, but a terrible musicologist. Does this make his music “bad” music? Maybe. But so what? There was a time, long ago, when all this seemed to matter but now I just want to enjoy music rather than criticize it. Unless someone starts paying me to do so, I’m not going to waste my time listening to and writing about music I actively dislike. For the right price, I would gleefully crank out heated rants by the yard. But on my personal blog, I’ll continue to write about what I like, what I love—even if it’s cheesy pop music. Perhaps that makes my blog boring to read; I don’t care.

Has Spring Arrived?

It's been unseasonably warm the past few days here in Middle Tennessee and the first dandelions have popped up out of the ground. Does this mean spring is here? Or does it just mean my lawn has weeds?

Playlist Week of 2-19-11

* Miles Davis: Bitches Brew Live (Columbia CD)
* Roscoe Mitchell Transatlantic Art Ensemble: Composition/Improvisation Nos. 1, 2 & 3 (ECM CD)
* Charles Lloyd New Quartet: Rose Theatre, Lincoln Center, New York, NY 1-29-11 (FM 2CDR)
* David S. Ware String Ensemble: Threads (Thirsty Ear CD)
* William Parker Quartet w/Leena Conquest: Raining On The Moon (Thirsty Ear CD)
* Myra Melford’s Be Bread: Image of the Body (CryptoGramophone CD)
* Grateful Dead: Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ 6-17-76 (SBD 3CDR)‡
* Grateful Dead: Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, CO 8-30-78 (set 2) (SBD 2CDR)
* Grateful Dead: Manor Downs, Austin, TX 7-04-81 (selections) (SBD/AUD 3CDR)‡
* Bob Dylan: Bootleg Series Vol.7: No Direction Home (soundtrack) (Columbia 2CD)
* Van Morrison: Astral Weeks (Warner Bros./Rhino LP)
* Neil Young: Silver & Gold (Reprise CD)†/‡
* The Wipers: Is This Real? (Zeno CD)
* Sonic Youth: The Destroyed Room: B-Sides and Rarities (Goofin’ 2LP)
* Sonic Youth: Simon Werner a Disparu (soundtrack) (SYR9 LP)
* Sonic Youth + I.C.P. + The Ex: In the Fishtank 9 (Konkurrent EP)
* Dirty Three: Ocean Songs (Touch & Go 2LP)
* Wilco: Sky Blue Sky (Nonesuch CD)†/‡
* Guided By Voices: Live in Daytron ?6° (Rockathon 3LP/FLAC>WAV>CDR)
* Lifeguards: Mist King Urth (Fading Captain Series LP)
* Lifeguards: Waving at Astronauts (Serious Business LP)

†=iPod
‡=car

Commentary:

It’s been a hard week.

After a long series of hospitalizations, my mom has finally been released into hospice care. So last weekend, Lizzy and I flew out to Kansas City to see her, where she has been living near my sister’s family in Olathe, Kansas. It was so awful to see my mother—who was once “The Iron Lady” of our family—looking so frail and she seemed more and more diminished every day we were there. Nevertheless, she was lucid and in remarkably good spirits and we had a nice visit. Thank goodness Lizzy was there to keep the conversation going and brighten the room with her innate warmth and genuine cheerfulness. As for me, I tended to get sad and quiet or distract myself by playing with the camera and taking photographs. Looking at the pictures now just makes me want to cry.

You see, I’m not handling it very well. I’m doing my best, but nothing in life has really prepared me for this moment. The range and intensity of emotion is overwhelming: not just the expected sadness and self-pity at her impending death but also guilt and shame and anger and bitterness—and also a deepened love and affection for my extended family and an impossible desire to make everything OK for everyone. But mostly I just feel helpless. Nashville is not as far away as Boston, but it might as well be. And nowhere is really “home.”

I try not to write about personal stuff on the blog and I am not mentioning this in order to elicit any kind of sympathy from the handful of people who bother to come here to read my drivel. But perhaps you will understand why I do not really feel like writing record reviews right now, at least not today. Instead, I just want to honor my mom and acknowledge these feelings, painful as they are. Please bear with me.

Sun Ra Sunday

TRUTH IS BAD/GOOD

Truth is bad
Or truth is good
It depends upon where
And how and who you are.
The word truth must be considered carefully
And the precepts of that which is called truth
Must be equationized and balanced
And understood.
Or else, it must be abandoned
And another truth placed in its place.
This is the idea of the greater age
The outer worlds of etherness
This is the word from the Cosmic-Cosmo-Tomorrow.

--Sun Ra

Playlist Week of 2-12-11

* J.S. Bach: Cantatas BWV12, etc. (Collegium Vocale Gent/Herreweghe): Brussels 11-03-08 (FM 2CDR)
* Concerto Madrigalesco (Gugliemi): Mozartsaal, Konzerthaus, Vienna 1-21-10 (FM CDR)
* Carter: Chamber Music (Oppens/Arditti Quartet) (Montaigne/Naïve CD)
* Lennie Tristano & Warne Marsh: Intuition (Capitol/Blue Note CD)
* Jeanne Lee & Ran Blake: The Legendary Duets (RCA/Bluebird CD)
* Sun Ra: Concert For Comet Kohoutek (ESP-Disk’ CD)
* Sun Ra: The Paris Tapes 1971 (Art Yard/Kindred Spirits 2CD)
* Andrew Hill: Dusk (Palmetto CD)
* Andrew Hill: Time Lines (Blue Note CD)
* Roscoe Mitchell & The Note Factory: Nine To Get Ready (ECM CD)
* Roscoe Mitchell & The Note Factory: Song For My Sister (Pi CD)
* Roscoe Mitchell & The Note Factory: Far Side (ECM CD)
* James Blood Ulmer: Odyssey (Columbia LP)
* Matthew Shipp: 4D (Thirsty Ear CD)
* Otomo Yoshide/Bill Laswell/Yoshigaki Yasuhiro: Soup (P-Vine CD)
* Otomo Yoshide/Bill Laswell/Yoshigaki Yasuhiro, et al.: Soup Live (P-Vine 2CD)
* Manu Dibango: Electric Africa (Celluloid LP)
* George Harrison: All Things Must Pass (d.1-2)(Capitol 3CD)†/‡
* Grateful Dead: Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ 6-19-76 (SBD 3CDR)
* Grateful Dead: Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ 6-18-76 (SBD 2CDR)‡
* Grateful Dead: Road Trips Vol.1 No.2: October ’77 (GDP/Rhino 2+1CD)‡
* Bob Dylan: Shot of Love (Columbia CD)
* Neil Young: Harvest Moon (Reprise CD)†/‡
* Patti Smith: Radio Ethiopia (Arista CD)
* Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino CD)†
* Animal Collective: Fall Be Kind (Domino CDEP)†

†=iPod
‡=car

Commentary:

As I was idly browsing around Amazon.com, I was surprised to discover that a new CD by Roscoe Mitchell & The Note Factory had been released last November on the ECM label, entitled Far Side. How did I miss this?! Of course, I immediately ordered a copy and have listened to it quite a bit this week. This long-standing group has gone through several personnel changes over the years, although the unique, two-piano format has remained consistent. Moreover, Mitchell’s compositional approach has become steadily more abstract, moving steadily away from jazz idioms and scoring into more ambitious “contemporary classical” realms. In that sense, Far Side sounds a lot more like Mitchell’s Transatlantic Art Ensemble than any of The Note Factory’s earlier releases and may disappoint fans of the kinds of fun and funky vocal numbers featured on those previous discs. However, the rewards are great for the intrepid listener.

Recorded live by Bayerischer Rundfunk at Stadtsaal in Burghausen, Germany on March 17, 2007, the disc opens with the lengthy title track (actually entitled, “Far Side/Cards/Far Side”), which develops slowly and deliberately across its thirty minutes, beginning with barely audible scrapes and scribbles and culminating in a ferocious group improvisation. Remarkably compelling from beginning to end, the piece demonstrates Mitchell’s fine-tuned control of his material and the band’s sympathetic and inspired responses. Pianists Craig Taborn and Vijay Iyer manage to stay out of each other’s way, while still generating densely intricate webs of sound at just the right moments. The same can be said of the double rhythm section (Jaribu Shahid and Harrison Bankhead on bass; Tani Tabbal and Vincent Davis on drums), who provide supple, sensitive support while also raising the temperature where appropriate. Corey Wilkes’s beautiful trumpet playing incorporates expressive extended techniques with full-bodied blowing and he continues to be the most perfect foil to Mitchell’s reed outings since Lester Bowie’s untimely passing in 1999. This track is a tour de force of dynamic group interplay and consistently rewards repeated listenings.

The remainder of the disc is given over to shorter pieces, each of which subdivides the largish band into smaller, subtly shifting ensembles. While none are as overwhelmingly powerful as the opening track, they do explore a variety of interesting harmonic and rhythmic territories, perhaps hinting at possibilities more than fully realizing them. However, they provide further evidence of Mitchell’s compositional prowess and the band’s superlative interpretative abilities.

Recorded and mixed with ECM’s usual meticulous attention to detail and bathed in the kind of warm, reverberant ambience that has become their trademark, this is an outstanding release. Surely one of the best records of 2010—wish I’d known about it sooner!

More Snow

Yesterday afternoon, another snowstorm moved in and dumped three-to-five inches in a couple of hours, quickly icing over the roadways and turning these hills and hollers of Kingston Springs into treacherous toboggan courses. I was able to make it home, but poor Lizzy got stuck on bus for four (!) hours in downtown Nashville, which had become completely gridlocked. Thankfully, she was able to escape and stay in town overnight with a kind friend. Good grief!

I am so ready for spring! Unfortunately, we still have a ways to go yet.

Sun Ra Sunday

Sun Ra: Concert for the Comet Kohoutek (ESP-Disk’ CD)

It’s unclear when exactly the Arkestra returned to the states, or what they did (if anything) until the end of the year, when ESP-Disk’ mounted an ambitious Concert for Comet Kohoutek at New York City’s prestigious Town Hall on December 22, 1973. Given the supposedly cosmic significance of this astronomical event, Sun Ra was asked to headline a marathon concert featuring other ESP-affiliated artists such as the Miamis, Randy Burns, Amanda, Buddy Hughes, Donald Raphael Garrett and Paul Thornton (of the Godz). Like the eponymous comet, the concert was something of a bust. I’m old enough to remember the hype surrounding Kohoutek and the deep sense of disappointment that followed its weak display. In retrospect, the deflation of naïve idealism that accompanied Kohoutek’s passage by our planet seems to fittingly symbolize the end of “The Age of Aquarius.” It’s not surprising to learn the Town Hall concert was “rather poorly attended” (Campbell & Trent p.204) or that the tapes of Sun Ra’s set would become a source of bitter contention, unreleased until 1993, a year after Sonny’s death and twenty years after its recording. The times had indeed a-changed—but not for the better.

Originally released via the licensing deal with German ZYX label, that disc was marred by poor sound, random indexing and woefully incorrect titling. Concert For Comet Kohoutek was eventually reissued in a slightly expanded and remastered edition by the re-formed ESP-Disk’ in 2006, although the graphics are noticeably fuzzier and it dispenses with the thick booklet of text and photographs which accompanied the ZYX version. Instead, we get a bizarre, two-page essay by ESP-Disk’ founder, Bernard Stollman, wherein he accuses Sun Ra of stealing the original (presumably stereo) master tapes from his apartment, which necessitated the use of a mono reference copy for the CD (contra. Campbell & Trent p.204-205, both editions are mono). Stollman further insinuates Sun Ra extorted a royalty advance from him shortly after this concert and, later, breached a contract regarding concert recordings to be made on the upcoming Mexican tour. Well, whatever the veracity of these allegations, the tone of cynicism and bad faith is certainly in keeping with the post-‘Sixties malaise the Comet Kohoutek seemed to auger. Indeed, this posthumously released album presents the end of an era in Sun Ra’s music: the outrageous experimentalism would thereafter be tempered by an increasingly regimented formalism and the space-age cosmo-philosophy would be subsumed into more a more calculated sense of showmanship. Sure, he continued to make interesting music, but it inevitably changed with the times.

A profound sense of anticlimax pervades the opening remarks by the hapless M.C., who earnestly attempts to narrate a slideshow of NASA space photographs. The Arkestra can be heard noodling around and tuning up in the background and as he begins to expound upon the drug-addled fantasies of Timothy Leary, the audience becomes audibly restless. “Somebody has asked me to get the f*** off [the stage],” he announces with a nervous chuckle. “Is there anybody here that wants to hear more about [Leary’s] Terra 2? Otherwise, I’ll get the f*** off.” The audience responds with resounding cheers. “By popular demand, I will get the f*** off.” This little exchange (omitted on the ZYX CD) neatly summarizes the cultural zeitgeist of the mid-'Seventies.

Then the Arkestra goes at it, opening with a earth-shattering space chord and “Astro Black.” June Tyson sings a cappella, then with quiet accompaniment from bass and drums, ringing cymbals and cowbell. Beautiful! Then John Gilmore leads some assaultive group improvisation which quickly melts into the melodious strains of “Discipline 27,” but the tempo is oddly plodding and off-centered. After a brief but intriguingly out-there solo from Gilmore, they lurch into what Prof. Campbell calls “Journey Through the Outer Darkness” (p.204) but I believe is another “Discipline” piece, a heaving minor key vamp in five. But again, while Boykins tries to anchor the rhythm section, the multiple drummers and percussionists fail to coalesce, even during Hadi’s otherwise fluid trumpet solo. As if sensing defeat, Sonny starts interjecting weird synthesizer squiggles, eventually taking over with a long keyboard solo, occasionally punctuated with conducted blasts of high-energy group improvisation, climaxing with a typically mind-blowing tenor solo from Gilmore. Good stuff! After some more scary electronics, Sonny launches into “Enlightenment” and it’s the usual, with Tyson and Gilmore singing in harmony along with the Space Ethnic Voices and host of clanking percussion. Unfortunately, Marshall Allen’s flute obbligato is off-mic and hard to hear, but it’s still a nice version of this concert staple.

“Love in Outer Space” is one of those wonderfully heavy, organ-driven versions with Danny Davis joining Allen in a dual alto saxophone display towards the end. This elicits some hearty applause after which Ra begins playing “Discipline 15” (mistitled “Kohoutek” on this CD). A mournful, rubato ballad, this composition was rarely performed yet the Arkestra sounds remarkably well-rehearsed, unfazed by Ra’s weird and increasingly frenetic organ plinking. After its solemn conclusion, Sonny takes charge with another display of electric pyrotechnics, full of thunderous, low-register rumbling; two-handed, staccato runs; and dissonant organ clusters. A cued space chord signals the entrance of bass and drums and then things get really crazy, with Ra building up forbidding walls of synthesizer/organ noise while horns chirp and squeal in the background. Just as the texture becomes impossibly dense, a trombone makes a dramatic entrance (probably Dick Griffin or Charles Stephens) (Id.) and more mayhem arises in its wake. Wow!

Finally, Sonny guides the band into “Discipline 27-II,” taken at a moderately fast clip, and the keyboard attack continues for several minutes before he takes to the microphone to ask “What planet is this?” The usual series of declamations follow, echoed by Tyson and the Space Ethnic Voices while the ensemble arranges and re-arranges the endlessly malleable composition, all held together by Boykins’s endlessly creative bass playing. Thankfully, it doesn’t go on too long and everyone quiets down for some of that post-Yoko screeching and screaming from one of the Space Ethnic Voices. Nice! Then Tyson announces, “We’re openin’ up the doors of the Outer Space Employment Agency!” and short but super-funky version follows. Only forty-seven seconds long, I would have liked to hear a bit more of this killer groove, but before things are allowed to get going, it's interrupted by Ra’s insistence on “Space Is The Place.” After an over-amped organ introduction, the singing, dancing and chanting begins in earnest, with Akh Tal Ebah doing his soul-man thing along with Tyson’s more reserved crooning. Eventually, the percussion drops out leaving the vocalists supported only by Boykins, who is riding the wave, in the pocket and he doesn’t want to stop! Sun Ra steps up to say, “There’s no place for you to go except for in or out…try the out!” This gets a big hand from the audience. Saxophones scribble, the Space Ethnic Voice shrieks and screams, while Boykins just keeps on rockin’ until finally bringing it to a close with big cadence. The small but enthusiastic audience claps and hollers its appreciation while the musicians exit the stage.

The actual Concert For Comet Kohoutek was, like its namesake, something of a letdown for its promoters. But the music preserved on this CD is a stunning reminder of Sun Ra’s prowess as instrumentalist and bandleader during this period. His keyboard solos are some of the most hair-raisingly intense to be found on record and his control over the Arkestra’s resources is complete, deftly steering the music in contrasting directions as it unfolds. Despite the acrimonious history surrounding the tapes and the less-than-perfect sound quality, this is still a worthy addition to the official canon. If the original stereo masters still exist somewhere, let’s hear ‘em! Until then, Concert For Comet Kohoutek (particularly the expanded and remastered edition) is highly recommended.

Playlist Week of 2-05-11

* Andrea Marcon (organ): St. Gumbertus Church, Ansbach, Germany 8-01-09 (FM CDR)
* Nieuw Ensemble (Spanjaard): Muziekgebouw aan het IJ, Amsterdam 1-20-11 (FM CDR)
* Jelly Roll Morton: Volume 1 (1926-1927) (JSP CD)
* Modern Jazz Quartet: Modern Jazz Quartet (Prestige 2LP)
* John Coltrane: Meditations (Impulse! CD)
* Ornette Coleman: Beauty Is a Rare Thing: The Complete Atlantic Recordings (d.5-6) (Rhino 6CD)
* Larry Young: Into Somethin’ (Blue Note CD)
* Larry Young: Unity (Blue Note CD)
* Jackie McLean: One Step Beyond (Blue Note CD)
* Grachan Moncur III: Some Other Stuff (Blue Note LP)
* Grachan Moncur III: Evolution (Blue Note CD)
* Sun Ra: “The Road To Destiny”: Lost Reel Collection, Vol.6 (Transparency CD)
* Sun Ra: Concert for Comet Kohoutek (ESP-Disk’ CD)
* Sun Ra: “Treasure Hunt” (selections) (misc. unreleased CDR)
* Sun Ra: Flushing Meadow Park, Queens, NY 7-4-73 (Pre-FM CDR)
* Sun Ra: Out Beyond The Kingdom Of (Saturn LP>CDR)
* Anthony Braxton Quartet: Teatro Uomo, Milan, Italy 4-22-79 (AUD 2CDR)
* Anthony Braxton Quintet: Rainbow Gallery, Minneapolis, MN 9-79 (AUD CDR)
* Herbie Hancock: Speak Like a Child (Blue Note CD)
* Herbie Hancock & Headhunters: Musikladen, Bremen, W. Germany 11-74 (TV>DVD-R)
* John Abercrombie: Class Trip (ECM CD)
* John Abercrombie: The Third Quartet (ECM CD)
* John Abercrombie Quartet: Wait Till You See Her (ECM CD)
* Grateful Dead: Road Trips Vol.1 No.1: Fall ’79 (GDP/Rhino 2+1CD)‡
* Grateful Dead: Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, IN 12-05-81 (SBD 3CDR)
* Grateful Dead: Road Trips Vol.4 No.2: April Fools’ ’88 (GDP/Rhino 3CD)
* Bob Dylan: “Rock Solid” (unreleased live album 1980) (fan/boot CDR)
* Joni Mitchell: Max Yasgur’s Farm, Bethel, NY 8-15-98 (SBD CDR)
* Chicago: Budokan, Tokyo, Japan 1972 (TV>DVD-R)
* Mekons: New York… (ROIR CD)
* Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians: Gotta Let This Hen Out! (Yep Roc CD)
* Echo & The Bunnymen: Heaven Up Here (Warner Bros./MFSL LP)
* Robert Pollard: Space City Kicks (GBV, Inc. CD)‡
* Wilco: Circus Krone, Munich, Germany 9-24-10x (FM CDR)
* Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino CD)†


†=iPod
‡=car

Commentary:

Like a harbinger of spring, the new Grateful Dead Road Trips arrived in the mail box this morning. Consisting of the entire April 1, 1988 concert from The Meadowlands in New Jersey (along with a good bit from the night before), listening brings back fond memories of hitting the road and going to see shows back in the day. Spring Tour had its own feel: the weather in the northeast could still be dreadful, making driving to out of the way venues sometimes treacherous and the band was usually a bit rusty from a couple months off. But Deadheads are hardy, resourceful and forgiving to a fault—and the band’s energy and excitement to be playing music again would usually make up for any gaffes in execution. Such is the case here: it might be rough and ready, but it’s also a heck of lot of fun.

For those keeping score at home, this is the first official release from 1988, a decidedly transitional year for the Dead. Barely two years after a near-death experience, Jerry Garcia was by then just starting to regain his pre-coma facility on guitar. While he would never be quite the same, it was nothing short of a miracle that he came back at all, sounding remotely like his old self. His love of music and general joy de’vivre is readily apparent here, singing with a soulful passion and clearly relishing in his renewed ability to execute rippling scalar runs, huge, chunking chords, bluesy bent note wailing and delicate, banjo-esque fingerpicking. Garcia’s rebirth clearly inspired the rest of the band and they are with him every step of the way, their manic enthusiasm sometimes threatening to overturn the applecart. There are forgotten lyrics, blown transitions, and shaky tempos here and there—but so what? The Dead were never about note-perfect renditions anyway. Instead, they sought to achieve fleeting moments of transcendence—and there are more than a few of them here.

It being April Fools’ Day, the band starts out with typically goofy, self-deprecating prank. I won’t give the joke away, but the fact that they never took themselves too seriously was definitely part of their quirky charm. The highlight of the first set is the rarely-performed “To Lay Me Down,” a touching ballad sung superbly by Garcia in his ragged but wizened voice, his crystalline guitar leads plumbing the depths of emotion Robert Hunter’s words only hint at. The second set keeps the aimless noodling in check, with taut yet compelling performances of such old jamming stalwarts as “China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider,” “Estimated Prophet” and “The Other One,” while also providing focused and powerful improvisations during the obligatory “drums” and “space” segments. Yet the second set from 3/31 might be even better, opening with an intricately embroidered “Scarlet Begonias>Fire On The Mountain” sequence followed a fiery “Samson and Delilah” and a stately, elegiac “Terrapin Station.” The only real blemish is the set-ending “All Along the Watchtower” which never quite settles on a tempo—or even a common meter—and lurches fitfully to an unsatisfactory conclusion. Thankfully, the heart-rending “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” encore makes suitable enough restitution to Mr. Dylan, whose songs they were perhaps overplaying during the period following their joint stadium tour in the summer of 1987—no fewer than four different Dylan covers can be found on these three CDs!

The sound quality on this volume of Road Trips is exceptionally good for a two-track source. Recorded by front-of-house sound genius, Dan Healy, it utilizes his experimental “Ultramatrix” system to blend the soundboard feed with a stereo microphone in the middle of the audience. The custom-made computer program could be programed to correct the severe time/phase alignment problems inherent in the process and sometimes it didn’t work so well. But here it’s just about exactly perfect, providing a realistically spacious ambience and a pleasing balance between vocals and instruments often sorely lacking on straight soundboard tapes. It sounds like they’re playing in a hockey rink yet everything is clearly defined and the interplay between the band and audience is thrillingly audible. The window-rattling bass, ultra-wide dynamic range and complete absence of hiss (combined with the grainy and slightly recessed high-end) makes me think these were taken from PCM masters, an early digital recording medium utilizing Sony’s Beta video tape. With a word-length of only 14-bits, there are still obvious sonic limitations, certainly as compared with today’s high-resolution digital formats, but, at the time, it was way better than the lowly and unreliable compact cassette. This sounds great cranked up loud!

Picky Deadheads are always complaining, but the folks at GDP and Rhino seem to be listening their customers. The Road Trips series has finally (for the most part) abandoned the annoying limited edition “bonus disc” marketing approach and expanded each release to a more sensible and accommodating three-CD format. Even better, this year they’ve begun offering an annual subscription with a decent discount, free shipping and, yes, for a limited time (now passed) a “bonus disc.” OK, I can get with that. Of course, the really big news in Deadheadland is the upcoming Europe ’72 box set: 60+ CDs, all twenty-something concerts from that legendary tour, mixed from the original 16-track analog tapes (time-aligned by Plangent Processes!), packaged in a mini-replica steamer trunk with a hardbound book, memorabilia and other ephemera and, for the first 3000 pre-orders, a personalized “luggage tag.” Now, this is something every fanatical fan has wanted ever since the advent of CDs. But no one—least of all I—ever expected they would actually do it! Unfortunately, they announced this in mid-January as a strictly limited edition of 7200 (get it?), requiring 3000 pre-orders to even go forward with production—as if they would have trouble selling it! This triggered such a purchasing frenzy from both fans (and, obviously, pure speculators) that Dead.net’s servers crashed for several days. Potential buyers were instructed to provide an email address and, eventually, a “personalized code” would be sent enabling purchase. It was, as they say, a total cluster-f*** and the entire edition was “sold out” within a couple days. Realizing that demand for this set would be stronger than they originally imagined, a “music-only” edition is now available for the same price—but only through April 1. Needless to say, I did manage to successfully pre-order a personalized box. Are you kidding me?! I used to spend this kind of money to go see them back when Garcia was still alive. All we have now are the recordings so, how can I resist? Yes, I am crazy! I am a Deadhead! I can’t wait ‘til September! In the meantime, we’ll have more Road Trips in May and August. Stay tuned.

Book Art Video

If you love books (or book arts or just cool stop-frame animation), you need to see this short film made for the New Zealand Book Council. Animated by Andersen M Studio. Via Lizzy, the librarian.

Sun Ra Sunday

Sun Ra: “The Road To Destiny”: Lost Reel Collection Vol.6 (Transparency CD)

The latest volume in Transparency’s Lost Reel Collection is noteworthy for a couple of reasons: First and foremost, it offers further documentation of the Arkestra’s stand at The Gibus Discotèque in 1973. Secondly, it comes from the collection of Tommy “Bugs” Hunter, who often served as recordist for the band when he was available (he even provides a spoken introduction to the CD, wherein he states the tape was recorded “around midnight” on Thursday, October 18th or 19th). It features remarkably good sound quality, likely recorded from the stage and since it is mastered from the original tape, it does not suffer from the kind of gross distortion and generational loss that plagues most of the volumes in this series. All this makes it of interest to Sun Ra fans, but the music is not particularly revelatory. If the Atlantic—France LP, Live at The Gibus, indicated a change in direction, this CD demonstrates that Sun Ra was still up to his old tricks.

The disc starts off strong with a spacey version of “Astro Black.” A smattering of horns precedes June Tyson’s entrance, who sweetly sings to Ronnie Boykins’s spare bass accompaniment. Drums are heard faintly in the background, but soon become more prominent as the song comes to a conclusion and a blaring space chord signals a brief group improvisation. The music quiets and one of the Space Ethnic Voices does her crazy, super-high-pitched vocalise trick along with some twisty trumpet obbligato from Kwami Hadi. Impressive, but very strange! This goes on for barely a minute or so before Danny Ray Thompson’s baritone sax riff introduces “Discipline 27,” which is taken at a relaxed, easy-going tempo, buoyed by Boykins’s sure-footed bass-playing. This is a cheerfully pleasant version of the big-band swing number, with Hadi and Akh Tal Ebah providing dual trumpet lead and Sonny soloing fluidly on “vibra-organ” before the reprise. Nothing special, but a solid performance nonetheless.

Then the Arkestra drops the tempo and smoothly segues into an extended “Discipline 27-II,” complete with its full complement of chanted declamations. The recording foregrounds the instruments at the expense of the vocals, which sound distant and hard to hear, as if coming from monitors at the other end of the stage. That’s OK since, as is usual, the endlessly morphing horn arrangement is what keeps the piece interesting to listen to while Sun Ra’s space-preacher shtick can get a little tedious, to say the least. But don’t worry, when he and June raise their voices (which happens often enough), you can hear them loud and clear. After nearly twenty-seven minutes (!), the Arkestra finally abandons the composition and descends into a chaotic group improvisation with terrifying saxophone battles, bashing drums and throbbing bass. Sadly, the tape fades out just as things get going. Oh well—I would love to hear what came next! Instead, the disc ends with a series of space chants, cutting in on Tyson’s lead on “Prepare for the Journey to Other Worlds.” Others join in for “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” and “Why Go to the Moon?,” but the vocals are swamped by layers of distortion and feedback—yet you can still our unknown Space Ethnic Voice doing her screeching thing amidst all the mayhem, so that’s something to listen for. Just as Gilmore starts to wail on tenor saxophone, the tape brutally cuts off. Argh!

Lost Reel Collection Vol.6 is a mixed bag: good sound and excellent playing (especially from the ever-inventive Ronnie Boykins), but the song selection is rather mundane. We’ve heard all this stuff many times before and this CD offers very little in the way of fresh insights. The most interesting thing here is the weird, post-Yoko vocalizing of the anonymous Space Ethnic Voice on “Astro Black” and during the closing chants, but that’s not saying a whole lot. Fanatics and completists will be happy to have this as an adjunct to Live at The Gibus, but others will wonder what all the fuss is about. Nice, but non-essential.

Playlist Week of 1-29-11

* Machaut: Motets (Hilliard Ensemble) (ECM CD)
* Gesualdo: Tenebrae (Hilliard Ensemble) (ECM 2CD)
* Biber: Mensa Sonora (Musica Antiqua Koln/Goebel) (Archiv Produktion CD)†
* Ben Webster with Strings: Music For Loving (Verve 2CD)
* Sun Ra: Live In Paris at the “Gibus” (Atlantic/Universe CD)
* Sun Ra: “The Road To Destiny”: The Lost Reel Collection, Vol.6 (Transparency CD)
* Herbie Hancock: Mwandishi: The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings (Warner Archives 2CD)
* Music Revelation Ensemble: In the Name Of (DIW CD)
* Music Revelation Ensemble: Knights of Power (DIW CD)
* Music Revelation Ensemble: Cross Fire (DIW CD)
* Weasel Walter/Mary Halvorson/Peter Evans: Electric Fruit (Thirsty Ear CD)
* Grateful Dead: Road Trips Vol.3, No.4: PennState-Cornell ’80 (GDP/Rhino 3CD)(‡)
* Grateful Dead: Freedom Hall, Louisville, KY 6-16-93 (SBD 3CDR)‡
* Jerry Garcia Band: Don’t Let Go: Orpheum Theatre, San Francisco 5-21-76 (Arista 2CD)
* Bob Dylan: Blood On The Tracks (Columbia SACD)
* Bob Dylan: Blood On The Outtakes (boot CDR)
* Bob Dylan: The Bootleg Series Vol.1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991 (selections)(Columbia 3CD)
* Bob Dylan: The Bootleg Series Vol.5: Live 1975: The Rolling Thunder Revue (Columbia 2CD)
* Bob Dylan: Desire (Columbia SACD)
* Bob Dylan: Hard Rain (Columbia LP)
* Bob Dylan: Street Legal (Columbia SACD)
* Bob Dylan: Bob Dylan At Budokan (CBS—Sony 2LP)
* Bob Dylan: Slow Train Coming (Columbia SACD)
* Bob Dylan: Saved (Columbia LP)
* Can: Prehistoric Future: June 1968: The Very First Session (Tago Mago/boot CDR)
* Chrome: Half Machine Lip Moves/Alien Soundtracks (Touch & Go CD)
* Mekons: Fun ’90 (A&M/Twin Tone CDEP)
* Mekons: Journey to the End of the Night (Quarterstick CD)
* Mekons: Punk Rock (Quarterstick CD)
* Mekons: Fitzgerald's, Berwyn, IL 9-13-02 (SBD 2CDR)
* Beck: Sea Change (Geffen/Mobile Fidelity 2LP)

†=iPod
‡=car

Commentary:

Blogger tells me this is my 500th post. Well, how about that? Thank you very much for reading my rambling! Here’s to 500 more!

+++

Most people would agree Bob Dylan’s 1975 album, Blood on the Tracks, is a masterpiece. But some people (including me) think it could have been even better. Finished tracks were recorded quickly over four sessions at Columbia’s A&R studios in New York in September, 1974, a test-pressing was prepared and promo copies were sent out to selected radio stations in late fall. As the story goes, Dylan began to have second thoughts while visiting family in Minnesota for the holidays; when he played the test pressing for his brother, David, he was told it sounded monotonous. Local musicians were hurriedly mustered for last-minute sessions at Sound 80 Studios in Minneapolis, where several songs were re-recorded in late December. The album as released the following January is a deeply felt meditation on love and loss—but the original takes of “Tangled Up In Blue,” “You’re a Big Girl Now,” “If You See Her, Say Hello” and, especially, “Idiot Wind” are almost unbearably anguished and intense. It is perhaps too easy to conclude that Dylan was uncomfortable with such naked displays of emotion and chose to withdraw behind a mask—a persona—which he has worn more or less ever since. The New York version of “Idiot Wind” reveals a heartbreaking vulnerability beneath the surface of anger and hurt while the re-make puts up a (not so) brave front and almost gleefully revels in self-pitying bitterness and withering contempt. Sure, it’s cathartic—downright hysterical in concert—but the original take, with its swirling, ghostly organ and Dylan’s humbled delivery is exquisitely painful, almost redemptive in its fragile, conflicted beauty. Although various alternate takes from these sessions have appeared on the Biograph box set and The Bootleg Series Vol.1-3, most of the original test-pressing versions remain unreleased (contrary to the latter’s misleading liner notes). Blood On The Tracks would be an excellent candidate for one of those two-CD “Deluxe Editions” containing both the album as released, the original test-pressing songs and all other extant alternate takes. I’d buy that in a heartbeat. Until then, I guess we’ll just have to settle for “genuine” bootlegs for this crucial material.

At the time of its release, Blood On The Tracks was seen as a long-overdue return to form and became the measure of Dylan’s subsequent output—and a convenient yardstick for lazy critics. Records were routinely heralded as “his best since Blood On The Tracks” while otherwise ignoring the relative merits of the works at hand. Ever mercurial, Dylan was already off in another direction, writing controversial and convoluted story songs with Jacques Levy and Sam Shepard and making an improvised, surrealist film called Renaldo And Clara, to be shot while on tour with The Rolling Thunder Revue in the fall of 1975. Sadly, the movie was a tremendously expensive flop and has since disappeared from view. In 2002, Vol.5 of The Bootleg Series compiled several of Dylan’s performances from this tour (and the limited “Deluxe Edition” contained a short DVD of two songs) but the four-hour original cut of Renaldo and Clara has remained unseen since its disastrous premiere in 1978. A two-hour edit was quickly assembled and withdrawn in 1979 and a subsequent European television broadcast of this edit is the only source of circulating bootleg copies. An uncut version of Renaldo and Clara would be a most welcome release on DVD/Blue-Ray. It’s amazing to me that, despite decades of archival releases, there are still many such examples of important (if not always wholly successful) work that remains unavailable. Come on, Sony, give us the stuff!

While the initial Rolling Thunder Revue received rapturous reviews and played in front of sold out crowds on the east coast, by the time the second leg of the tour hit the road in the spring of 1976, critics and audiences had turned dismissive. Part of it may have been a result of yet another change in musical direction: Dylan had been hanging around with Patti Smith for a while and the sound was starting to take on a decidedly harder edge. Gone is the country-fied tinge of the pedal steel and Mick Ronson’s glammy guitar flash is way up front and coolly abrasive. The songs are not so much reinvented as deconstructed from within, Dylan’s desperately shouted declamations straining against a howling storm of electronic noise. It’s powerful stuff—almost punk rock—but audiences at the time were not ready for it. At the end of the tour, two shows were recorded and filmed for an NBC television special called Hard Rain, which aired in late September. Despite heavy-duty promotion and a cover story in TV Guide, the broadcast received disappointing ratings and the eponymous album sold poorly. I’ve always been a fan of the record, despite its obvious flaws: the guitars are out of tune, the mix is murky and one-dimensional but the music still packs a devastating emotional wallop. Rumor has it that a DVD of the television special is being prepared for release, which might help bring about a critical reappraisal of this underappreciated period of Dylan’s career. In the meantime, here are a couple of clips so you can see for yourself. It may not be for everybody, but I love it. Dylan looks like a Biblical prince delivering (not so glad) tidings to his subjects, while the wildly raging rock and roll carries him aloft on a churning sea of sound. Check it out:





Blood On The Tracks very well may be Dylan’s last truly great record, but he continued to make interesting and ambitious albums throughout the ‘Seventies, experimenting with a Vegas-styled big-band a la Elvis Presley (who had died on August 16, 1977) on Street Legal (1978) and Bob Dylan At Budokan (1979), culminating in a dramatic conversion to evangelical Christianity on the full-blown gospel records, Slow Train Coming (1979) and Saved (1980). Ever fickle, critics and fans alike praised the former, making it a top-ten hit, while disparaging the latter as “dogmatic” and “pompous,” sending it directly to the cut-out bins. The truth is: they’re both strong albums, even if Dylan’s Hell-fire-and-brimstone preachifying will make unbelievers squirm. Certainly, Dylan sings of his new-found faith with the kind of guileless sincerity unheard since. . .well, those Blood On The Tracks outtakes. But the so-called “born again” era was short-lived and as the ‘Eighties wore on, Dylan’s personal religious beliefs were as inscrutable as his increasingly erratic albums. After a tour backed by The Grateful Dead in 1987, Dylan miraculously (re)discovered a fresh approach to live performance and thereafter embarked on the so-called “Never Ending Tour,” which continues to this day. His hard-rocking (yet musically versatile) bands will routinely kick up the kind of whirlwind of sound found on Hard Rain, Dylan confidently surfing the sonic tsunami. What once sounded anomalous now sounds prescient.