| Ornette Coleman - Complete Science Fiction Sessions
(2000)
|
| Cover Front |
Album |
|
| Artist/Composer |
Ornette Coleman |
| Length |
108:54 |
| Format |
CD |
| Genre |
Free/Avant Jazz |
| Label |
Sony |
| Index |
392 |
| Collection Status |
In Collection |
| Packaging |
Jewel Case |
|
| Track List |
| Complete Science Fiction Sessions - Disc 1 |
60:57 |
| 01 |
What Reason Could I Give |
03:07 |
| 02 |
Civilization Day |
06:05 |
| 03 |
Street Woman |
04:50 |
| 04 |
Science Fiction |
05:02 |
| 05 |
Rock the Clock |
03:17 |
| 06 |
All My Life |
03:56 |
| 07 |
Law Years |
05:22 |
| 08 |
Jungle Is a Skyscraper |
05:27 |
| 09 |
School Work |
05:36 |
| 10 |
Country Town Blues |
06:25 |
| 11 |
Street Woman [Alternate Take][*] |
05:46 |
| 12 |
Civilization Day [Alternate Take][*] |
06:04 |
| Complete Science Fiction Sessions - Disc 2 |
47:57 |
| 01 |
Happy House |
09:47 |
| 02 |
Elizabeth |
10:26 |
| 03 |
Written Word |
09:44 |
| 04 |
Broken Shadows |
06:42 |
| 05 |
Rubber Gloves |
03:24 |
| 06 |
Good Girl Blues |
03:05 |
| 07 |
Is It Forever |
04:49 |
|
|
| Details |
| Spars |
DDD |
| Rare |
No |
| Sound |
Stereo |
| UPC (Barcode) |
074646356920 |
|
| Notes |
| Ornette Coleman's first album for Columbia followed a stint on Blue Note that found the altoist in something of a holding pattern. Science Fiction was his creative rebirth, a stunningly inventive and appropriately alien-sounding blast of manic energy. Coleman pulls out all the stops, working with a variety of different lineups and cramming the record full of fresh ideas and memorable themes. Bassist Charlie Haden and drummers Billy Higgins and/or Ed Blackwell are absolutely indispensable to the overall effect, playing with a frightening, whirlwind intensity throughout. The catchiest numbers — including two songs with Indian vocalist Asha Puthli, which sound like pop hits from an alternate universe — have spacy, long-toned melodies that are knocked out of orbit by the rhythm section's churning chaos, which often creates a totally different pulse. Two tracks reunite Coleman's classic quartet of Haden, Higgins, and Don Cherry; "Street Woman" just wails, and "Civilization Day" is a furious, mind-blowing up-tempo burner. "Law Years" and "The Jungle Is a Skyscraper" feature a quintet with Haden, Blackwell, tenorist Dewey Redman, and trumpeter Bobby Bradford; both have racing, stop-start themes, and "Jungle"'s solos have some downright weird groaning effects. "Rock the Clock" foreshadows Coleman's '70s preoccupations, with Redman playing the musette (an Arabic double-reed instrument) and Haden amplifying his bass through a wah-wah pedal to produce sheets of distorted growls. The title track is a free septet blowout overlaid with David Henderson's echoed poetry recitations, plus snippets of a crying baby; it could sound awkward today, but in context it's perfectly suited to the high-octane craziness all around it. Science Fiction is a meeting ground between Coleman's past and future; it combines the fire and edge of his Atlantic years with strong hints of the electrified, globally conscious experiments that were soon to come. And, it's overflowing with brilliance. |
|