Well I had to confront this one in writing at some point. It obsessed me during my high school years as I tried to write, first like librettist Paul Haines and then like composer Carla Bley. I suppose, looking back now as I prepare to talk about this “Chronotransduction” in class tomorrow, that it was the way in which the lyrics and music almost make conventional sense that got my attention all those years ago; only just skirting logic and reason, each character delivers everything from seemingly logical aphorisms of advice (“Don’t do it if you haven’t done it.” Or “Don’t let no five-and-dime baby break your million-dollar heart.”) to stunningly evocative near-gibberish (“Tell the scheme to you, who grow on us like falling hair? Oh, Rawalpindi.”)
Taking some three years to record and amassing huge debt by its 1972 release, the three-record album boasts music so strange and sublime, so expertly performed, that it still brings on a shudder twenty years after I first heard it. It’s not just that Gato Barbieri drops one of his most awesome and beautiful solos in “Small Town Agonist,” or that Jack Bruce delivers some of the most convincing singing of his career, good as he usually is with Bley and Michael Mantler. The orchestrations are superb, innovative for the time and still effective, the tinkling purity of “Little Pony Soldier” especially fresh and evocative. Even though I now know that Don Cherry’s chanting was a stable part of his repertoire, I still find it extremely moving, the whole desert scene of EOTH defying categorization without the need for post-modern pretense. And how can I get the much lamented Jeanne Lee’s vocal acrobatics out of my mind and ears, swooping and diving over Bruce’s “It’s again!” and atop a star-studded chorus whose membership is too huge to list.
Desert scene? I still don’t know the plot, and I don’t care. I once wrote to Mantler and Bley asking the question, and of course I got the press pack in return—it doesn’t matter! From lush big band chorals to proto-fusion to tape experiments (the beginning is the end backwards) it’s as coherently incoherent as anything from the period, the last gasp of the psychedelic era proper and a wonderful testament to the efforts of many talented individuals, some of whom have indeed gone … over the hill?
~ Marc Medwin
Posted by derek on July 15, 2007 9:04 PMMarc, good to see a write-up of EOTH here. I've written about this set any number of times, finding it to hold up amazingly well. I first heard it about when it appeared and it's lost none of its luster for me though I understand it's tough for many younger listeners to get behind. Very much of its time and very unique but chock full of great moments, many of which you mentioned. The Cherry desert section (with Jenkins behind) might be my favorite musical moment, but the Haines aphorisms are killer.
For my money, Bley came close with the ensuing "Tropic Appetites" but those two (well, maybe "3/4" as well) stand above and apart from the rest of her oeuvre.
Posted by: Brian Olewnick at July 17, 2007 6:44 AMI understand it's tough for many younger listeners to get behind.
Believe it or not, even some of us geezers don't like it, and never have.
Posted by: walto at July 17, 2007 11:17 AMOr, perhaps, better "don't love" it. I don't want to deny that it has it's moments, and I don't actively dislike it or anything like that.
It's just that, well, it seems like I was then and still am attracted to other 1972-era stuff so much more.
Posted by: walto at July 17, 2007 11:36 AMI'd think, among other things, that you'd really enjoy the McLaughlin/Bruce/Bley/Motian quartet pieces?
EOTH was also my first experience of the locked groove. Was curious how they'd handle the CD equivalent. Not much they could do, I guess (can you lock groove a CD?) so they opted for a 27 minute ending click-drone.
Confusing what's right with what's right and what's wrong with what's wrong.
Posted by: Brian Olewnick at July 17, 2007 11:50 AMYes, I prefer the parts without trombone--which it seems like there was an awful lot of. And I remember liking "Air India."
McLaughlin and Bruce were both good throughout, I think. Lee too, IIRC.
Posted by: walto at July 17, 2007 12:06 PMbtw, beautiful cover of "A.I.R." on Garbarek's "Witchi-Tai-To".
Posted by: Brian Olewnick at July 17, 2007 12:13 PMI haven't spun this one in years... but recognise its magnificence on fronts intended and unintended.
Posted by: clifford at July 17, 2007 12:32 PMFine write-up Marc.
One reason alone why this album is so damn essential - PAUL HAINES. One of my biggest inspirations and directors in developing my musical tastes, the man was always fond of music that nobody else liked. He loved those kicked down hard on the path of life, those ignorned and abused, those that others laughed at. True genius, one whom I can hope will someday get the due he so rightly deserves!
EOTH helped shape my musical tastes about as much as any other recording. That and it also was an introduction to people like Gato Barbieri, Don Cherry, Jeanne Lee, Roswell Rudd, Charlie Haden. The surreal lyrics, the shifting ensembles (lobby orchestra, Jack's Traveling Band, the sand shepherd), everything, made for listening that was beyond anything I'd heard before. Bley managed to bring the psychedelic and 60's jazz avant guard together, two strains that in retrospect seem to have a lot in common. I think it holds up very well. I agree with Brian that "Tropic Appetites" is equally as strong and is just as beguiling.
Posted by: Clay Fink at July 20, 2007 4:29 PM
Unaware of this post, I played this set again just last week for the first time in several years, and was taken aback to find how easily it "falls on the ears" in 2007. Back in 1973-4, one needed serious assistance from Owsley to get one's head around it.
So, maybe I'm the only one who isn't a huge fan????
Posted by: walto at July 21, 2007 6:09 PMi'm pretty into this record, particularly in terms of the scale of what it accomplished. it's not perfect, but still very inspiring. evocative gibberish generally works pretty well for me (cf. aqua teen hunger force, greaser's palace, tom smith's lyrics) ... the linda ronstadt couplet that begins with "high on ice cream..." still gives me chills every time!
ww
Posted by: weasel walter at July 22, 2007 11:07 PM
"Anything not told, wasn't yet known".
CB.
Posted by: Graham L. Rogers at July 23, 2007 11:14 AMIt's amazing to see Paul's daughter Emily has stepped in to highlight her dad's lifework:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070725.wxhaines25/BNStory/Entertainment/home
What I miss the most are the mix tapes.
Posted by: Tom Sekowski at July 25, 2007 10:39 AMTom's pointer served to remind me about the collection of Haines' words, "Secret Carnival Workers", which is due out soon.
http://www.secretcarnivalworkers.com/
Posted by: Brian Olewnick at July 25, 2007 11:59 AMThere's nobody who deserves to edit a book on Haines other than Stuart Broomer.
I can't think of a more perfect editor on Haines lifework...
.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................