Alice Coltrane - S/D

lol

but you put out the original one, but now this there's this other one floating around that's similar. i see

yep that's correct, KM

man I am pissed abt this reissue remix nonsense, dammit Ravi

(that being said, I can see the logic in releasing both, but just this? c'mon)

that's a nice lineage on the new one but IMHO my MMF-5 turntable smokes any Technics esp with some generic AT cartridge

I was not aware that technics were known for their audio quality, thoight it was the durability/performance

I wonder if it's a situation where the extra sounds were originally dubbed directly to the "master cassette", which may have been lost, and all that's available in good quality is the original organ and vocal track.

also a thought that crossed my mind.

in any case, it will hopefully lead to more people listening to alice coltrane. i am firmly of the belief that the more people there who listen to her music, the more bearable the world will be.

good point

(points, both posts there really)

OK listening to the original now and, holy shit

Was just browsing the Dusty Groove site and apparently her final album, Translinear Light, is being reissued next month as part of a Japanese 60th anniversary Impulse! series. (I just bought CDs of Pharoah Sanders' Summun Bukmun Umyun and Live at the East, both of which have been out of print on CD forever — in fact, I don't think Live at the East was ever released on CD in the US.)

Slightly off topic, but thanks for the tip unperson. Grabbed a copy of Live at the East myself, sadly looks like I just missed out on Summun Bukmun Umyun.

Weird that one's been OOP as they've 2-fer'd so many Pharoah albums that aren't as well regarded. Then again they remastered all that stuff louder than the 90s CDs so might be for the best.

Sorry, also OT.

yeah, thanks for those tips---hadn't heard of Translinear Light! Describe, please. I've only got the Luaka Bop comp, and Spiritual Eternal: The Complete Warner Brothers Studio Recordings double-CD, typically done up right by Real Gone.

Translinear Light was released in 2004; Alice plays piano and organ (no harp as I recall) with two different rhythm sections: Charlie Haden and Jack DeJohnette on four tracks, James Genus and Jeff "Tain" Watts on three others. Ravi Coltrane plays tenor and soprano sax on about half the album, and his brother Oran plays alto sax on one track. It's good, but always felt a little slight to me, despite having 11 tracks and running 73 minutes.

Oh yeah, that sounds like some of the Warner Brothers double-disc collection: works better there than it would as a stand-alone.

dow you need to listen to her Impulse! records (start with Ptah, the El Daoud maybe). I'm sure some people around here would disagree, possibly vehemently, but IMHO you've essentially got the weakest parts of her catalogue.

FTR, I do like the Luaka Bop/Turiya stuff, but I've never recovered from my Indian American partner thinking it was extremely bemusing that I was intently listening to the kinds of songs she was forced to listen to and sing at religious functions as a kid (i.e., imagine if a bunch of hipsters all got into the music you sang in Xian youth group, deeming simplistic songs about Jesus transcendent and sublime lol). Her reaction didn't ruin it for me, but I def have more appreciation for her 1968-72 albums than anything after.

another classic entry point is Journey in Satchidananda. From the very first notes, it dives deep into her warmest music

that's my usual suggested entry point too. Not sure why I switched to Ptah except that I somewhat randomly heard "Turiya and Ramakrishna" a couple days ago, and I both knew every note and found it immensely moving

And don't miss The Elements with Joe Henderson. Proper fire music.

yeah every home should have a copy of journey

otm. When pressed I tend to say that's my favourite album (of all time, not just AC), though I also stammer, hem and haw while doing so because I hate answering that question

PROSECUTOR: rob, i must press on this. answer this once and for all: what is your favorite album...
*rob gulps*
PROSECUTOR: ...OF ALL TIME?!
DEFENSE ATTORNEY: objection, your honor! you know the defendant hates answering that question.
JUDGE: overruled.
*rob hems and haws*
PROSECUTOR: take all the time you need, rob, but i think we both know the answer here
ROB: J-j--j-jo-
PROSECUTOR's SHADOW ...say it....
DEFENSE ATTORNEY: don't follow the putrid, yellow light! follow the clear light!
ROB: J-ourney to Satchidananda
DEFENSE ATTORNEY: *slams table with fist*
JUDGE: false. Journey IN Satchidananda
*trap door to hell opens underneath rob*

lmaoooo

but Your Honor, with all due respect, I implore you to check the name of track 6 on the Ecstatic Music compilation and then go fuck yourself

JUDGE: i told you i can't read, goddammit! burn in hell!

activist judges aside, I do like that the title is IN not TO and wonder if that's an error on the Ecstatic comp

no, i think that's the title on the original release, Glorious Chants! i think it's a purposeful distinction

interesting, thanks!

Woah, a diff take:
I just got Translinear Light and listened to it a couple times today. I think it's possibly the album of the year for me so far, al-out heavy and emotional. The first track actually sounds a bit like the Theatre of Eternal Music. I don't think I've heard organ playing like the playing on this album before, with all those pitch bends making it like guitar and sax solos. The saxes just cut through. I like the synth washes a lot myself.

The only thing I don't get is the need to end with a track of Sai bhajan chanting. I'd visit my parents' friends on weekends if I wanted to hear that. But, whatever, I guess it has meaning for her.

― sund4r subramanian (sund4r), Sunday, November 28, 2004 And Dr. Benway said the Japanese edition incl. cover of "A Love Supreme Pt.1."

I like Transliner Light more than any of the Warner releases fwiw

got my ship notification for the new reissue this morning. hells yes.

is Ptah ever going to get reissued?

Ptah is maybe #1 on my wishlist of reissues, but I'd heard that the (tape) master was in that universal fire which is why it hasn't been reissued with others. I would love to be wrong about that though!

I'd be fine with a digital master or copy frankly, just get it out there

I bought a non-boot copy of Ptah on a CD issued by Impulse this year.

Yeah, Ptah is not hard to come by. Amazon has it in stock right now.

well, I meant on vinyl since I stopped buying CDs. I have it digitally and have forever.

Ironic username / post from leading manufacturer of DACs.

https://www.akm.com/us/en/products/audio/audio-dac/

My latest Stereogum column is up. Here's what I had to say about this new/old Alice album:

In the late ’80s, the LA-based publisher Amok Books put out the Amok Assault Video, a compilation of racist old cartoons, news stories about cattle mutilations, footage of an animal control officer being attacked by a dog, R. Budd Dwyer’s suicide on live TV, a guy talking about the occult messaging behind She-Ra, and a lot more. It began with a segment from Eternity’s Pillar, Alice Coltrane’s public access cable TV show which she filmed at her California ashram. She wasn’t doing anything particularly bizarre; she was just discussing her beliefs and offering a metaphysical lecture to the viewer. But that was how Coltrane’s mystical/spiritual side was seen for years, by those who were aware of it at all: as a kind of weird joke for hip underground types to smirk at. These days, of course, her reputation has been thoroughly rehabilitated. Almost her entire catalog is back in print in one form or another, including the devotional music she recorded in the ’80s and ’90s and sold at the ashram and through a few New Age bookstores. Tracks from three of those releases (1987’s Divine Songs, 1990’s Infinite Chants, and 1995’s Glorious Chants) were reissued on a Luaka Bop compilation in 2017. But her first devotional release, 1982’s Turiya Sings, has always been the hardest to find. It was only ever available on cassette, except for a bootleg German CD. Which is too bad, because it’s a great record. Her synth and Wurlitzer organ are combined with harp and strings, and she sings in Sanskrit, but with a gospel-ish flavor. Now, Turiya Sings has been reissued… sort of. Coltrane’s son Ravi has found tapes of the basic tracks, before the strings and synthesizers were added, and released it. It’s nice; it has an intimate feel, like you’re in her house and she’s playing these songs just for you. Her voice is soft and maternal, and the organ swells all around. But this isn’t the finished product. After John Coltrane died, Alice released Infinity, an album on which she took recordings by his quartet and filled out the arrangements with strings, new keyboard solos, and in some cases overdubbed bass, replacing Jimmy Garrison with Charlie Haden. A lot of people bitched about the strings, but Coltrane herself responded, “‘Were you there? Did you hear [John’s] commentary and what he had to say?’ … We had a conversation about every detail; [John] was showing me how the piece could include other sounds, blends, tonalities and resonances such as strings.” Similarly, the strings and synths were key to Turiya Sings’ power, sending the music into wild otherworldly realms, and bringing it back down to earth this way feels a little like an attempt to sand down Alice Coltrane’s edges, so she can be “appreciated” instead of respected for what she was: a sonic visionary who made music in service of the divine.

Amen. You hit the nail on the head unperson.

Wow, good stuff.

Beautifully put. But as a person unused to dealing with music of AC’s calibre, I can say that Kirtan is allowing me into its heart and I am building out from there. So in that way it’s broadening her reach.

Boom!

yep that's great.

great job unperson! especially appreciate the quotes/context on the backend of the paragraph.

it's like, regardless of what the end product is and whether it's more intimate or revealing or anything else, there's just the fact that it's not what she recorded. it doesn't make it better or worse or anything, it's just important to know. was irritated tor read the pfork review and see that it didn't even come up

like it let it be...naked came out without the context that before that it was let it be

Just read your review, Phil! Very nicely put, and nice to see it written down given how much it's just been taken at face value.

man the real Turiya Sings is fucking incredible tho