Tony Williams Lifetime - EMERGENCY

[JSngry]

I've gotten totally reengaged with this one via the Phil Schaap (sic!) remix/remaster. All I can say is - it works.

It's 50+ years gone now, so no sense in looking at things like "wow, how did they screw up the recording that much", "Tony's vocals, wtf? is THAT all about", "missed opportunities abound", stuff like that. It happened, and there it is.

And jezz...is it a mess? Yes, a huge one.

But is it also glorious? Most definitely!

Schapp's mix really clears up the parts (as best he can) and first and foremost - Tony is larger than life every second. From a drumming standpoint, this record is...beyond category,

McLaughlin has cleaned up a little bit, and for the better. He's got that howl in his playin, an all-in quality that seems to be the sound of somebody not knowing for sure where they're going, but still hurrying to get there, normalcy be damned.

And Larry Young - not salvageable too much apparently, but he, like everybody else, is just in there doing it...whatever "it" was going to be.

Crank it up and let Tony drive your bus.

[danasgoodstuff]

Just for clarity, which edition is this?

[JSngry]

The Polydor 1991 edition.

[felser]

Fascinating mess of an album, unlike anything else.  I enjoy it immensely, warts and all.

[JSngry]

38 minutes ago, felser said:

Fascinating mess of an album, unlike anything else.  I enjoy it immensely, warts and all.

Do you have the Schaap mix? 

[felser]

2 hours ago, JSngry said:

Do you have the Schaap mix? 

I do, the 1991 CD.  I remember getting a used copy of the original double LP 50 years ago, and being horrified by it, finding it basically unlistenable.  The Schaap is certainly a great improvement, but still.  A shame that Polydor didn't shell out the money to re-record it, once the engineers had a chance to understand what they were dealing with.  I also have the 1997 Spectrum Anthology, which has the 1997 mixes (supposedly the original mixes) for five cuts.  I've never actually A-B'd them, I'll do that.  

[felser]

23 hours ago, JSngry said:

Do you have the Schaap mix? 

Did the A-B comparison.  Schaap mix is a considerable improvement, especially to my ears for McLaughlin and for Williams' "vocals" (what was he thinking?).  

[JSngry]

I know what he was thinking (I think....) and yes, Schapp's version allows me to do that. On the old mix, it was like, wow, that was unfortunate....

[felser]

17 minutes ago, JSngry said:

I know what he was thinking (I think....) and yes, Schapp's version allows me to do that. On the old mix, it was like, wow, that was unfortunate....

Clear enough what he was thinking in "Beyond Games".  Some things never change, but that doesn't make it great art or good listening.  "Via The Spectrum Road" obviously takes a shot at a certain woman (assume she knew who she was), as well as being a cosmic road-life saga.  "Where" must have sounded profound if you were high in 1969.   The lyrics make me think Williams was either a very creepy or a very spoiled/entitled dude (so much success at 22 years old), but the drumming certainly is for the ages.  To paraphrase the Frank Zappa album title, "Shut Up and Play Yer Drums".

[jlhoots]

I passed then, I'll pass now.

[felser]

50 minutes ago, jlhoots said:

I passed then, I'll pass now.

Certainly not for everyone.  But for a certain subset of us who cut our teeth on the thrill of 'Bitches Brew', 'The Inner Mounting Flame', and such, it is essential.

[JSngry]

Tony is on fire for every second of this record.

It's barely a "jazz-rock" record. Definitely not a "fusion" record. It's really a jazz record with way more youthful energy than most "jazz records" of the time....or of most time, to be honest.

[JSngry]

On 2/22/2023 at 6:21 PM, felser said:

 "Via The Spectrum Road" obviously takes a shot at a certain woman (assume she knew who she was), as well as being a cosmic road-life saga. 

Not sure that's what I get from it....what I do get is a wonderfully off-kilter engagement with the James Brown concept of the displaced upbeat offbeat.

 

[HutchFan]

Agree with (most of) you that Emergency is a GLORIOUS mess. 

However, if I were forced to pick one or the other, I would choose (turn it over) ahead of Emergency.  It's the album that I pull off the shelf most often when I want to hear Lifetime. 

 

 

Another thought: When it comes to jazz, I'm usually not a compilation guy -- but, IMO, this one really works for all the reasons you might imagine:

 

[JSngry]

Turn It Over is definitely a more clued-in production. Certainly a more "listenable" album.

But it sorta sounds like a willfully better-behaved beast. Emergency has that beast prowling and growling and eating things alive with blood going everywhere and half-alive carcasses stinking up the place while the beast gets busy on new prey and all that kind of thing. I've had it in the car for 2+ weeks now and the "fascination" level is only going up.

It's also - and this is where it's kind of stealth - the best example of Tony's drumming of that period. You kind of get a taste of it on Filles, but a taste is all you get. This is the full thing unleashed.

[felser]

10 hours ago, JSngry said:

Not sure that's what I get from it....what I do get is a wonderfully off-kilter engagement with the James Brown concept of the displaced upbeat offbeat.

 

That's the thing about "poetry", I guess.  I am very left-brained, tend to be often too much of a concrete literalist.  Here is a verse from the song.  I agree on the rhythm, thankfully, I am able to hear that sort of stuff:

Finding the note
Habit of life
Denying divorce
Club owner's wife
Causes strife
We are the cause
She's got new drugs[?]
It's all a joke
She's got some smoke
Hippies like that[?]
Via the Spectrum Road
Spectrum Road

 

[JSngry]

There's more overdubbing on that record than I had originally realized. Interesting! 

[BFrank]

16 hours ago, HutchFan said:

Another thought: When it comes to jazz, I'm usually not a compilation guy -- but, IMO, this one really works for all the reasons you might imagine:

 

I have that. It is a good compilation.

[felser]

15 hours ago, JSngry said:

There's more overdubbing on that record than I had originally realized. Interesting! 

The vocals, I'm sure.  What else?  Honest question, I want to go back and hear it.

[JSngry]

Pretty sure there's parts where McLaughlin is playing multiple parts.

[felser]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

Pretty sure there's parts where McLaughlin is playing multiple parts.

Good to know, I'll take a listen.

[JSngry]

Surely more people than this have confronted this record in some fashion?

[mjazzg]

Yeah, I have, many years ago and didn't get on with it all. I'm not a huge guitar fan and McLaughlin leaves me largely cold so I haven't revisited. Not sure that I haven't sold it on

[sidewinder]

I’ve got the Polydor/Schaap CD and the 2CD compilation mentioned above. Music great, recording diabolical. Having said that, all that distortion does have a certain appeal.

On 2/25/2023 at 7:14 AM, BFrank said:

I have that. It is a good compilation.

Yes, that was one of the highlights of the Verve 2CD series for me. Covers all the releases through to ‘Old Bum’s Rush’, which gets a lot of stick but which I rather like.

[felser]

7 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

I’ve got the Polydor/Schaap CD and the 2CD compilation mentioned above. Music great, recording diabolical. Having said that, all that distortion does have a certain appeal.

A certain fascination, like it's being piped in from another galaxy somewhere.  Both musically and sonically.