RAY RUSSELL — June 11th 1971: Live at the ICA (review)

RAY RUSSELL — June 11th 1971: Live at the ICA album cover Live album · 1971 · Fusion Buy this album from MMA partners
2.5/5 ·
Sean Trane
A live album from one concert in June of 71, the line-up is the usual Russell acolytes with Beckett, Rushton, Runswick and Roberts , but they are definitely m more experimental and improvisational mood than their recent R&R release. Indeed right from the start, the band goes dissonant in these mostly-new “compositions” (not sure they can be called that), as none of them appeared previously in albums. Beit Lapis or the two Tip Roote tracks, this soundscape is much less accessible than R&R or the previous DH albums. As for the Stained Angel Morning track, it will be featured on the future Secret Asylum release, and to be honest, I’m not quite sure the live version is any wilder or energetic than the studio version on SA. Not that it matters much, because only avant/free jazzheads will appreciate.

The CD reissue features two extra tracks on the now-first disc of this new product, both recorded in 78, and if the line-up and musical realm are somewhat similar, the appearance of Windo (in lieu of Beckett) and the addition of Brian Miller on keyboards do not change much at all. The second disc is an amalgam of different gigs, sessions and broadcasts, the first of which dates from 74 and features Windo with Beckett and is the logical Secret Asylum continuation. Surprisingly the following tracks, taken from a live studio session, are much more accessible and even downright melodic, when compared to ,the rest of the stuff so far heard on the reissue, despite featuring the same line-up of Beckett & Windo. Both Riff To Far and That Dream Again are rather bluesy and offer some sizzling horn soloing, while the quiet and ultra-slow Blue Rain is a soppy ballad. One can easily add to this session the live track, aptly titled The Name Of Which I Can’t Recall, a very standard-y, although Russell’s guitar play the troublemaker in that passé-ish soundscape, before Beckett and Windo also cluch in the free-improv gear. The “Retrospective” disc closes on the live Dragon, Hill track that dates from before the album’s actual release, but it sounds easily the best track of the two discs.

Well, most standard or casual jazzers will probably want to shun this double CD package, because the original album disc only gets more of the same as a bonus track, while the “retrospective” disc features some rather-more accessible stuff (some tracks anyway), especially the Dragon Hill track. Your call, but I wouldn’t.
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