Search - Barre Phillips :: Mountainscapes

Obscure, but very relevant recording!

Craig LeHoullier | Raleigh, NC USA | 12/03/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"So, I meet my roommate at graduate school back in 1978 and we immediately start comparing record collections (both mine and his very extensive). He has a few very interesting looking releases from a label that was new to me at the time - ECM - one of which was Mountainscapes, with a glossy sleeve that appeared to have a photo of some sort of scratched up and rusted barrel. (The other two from that label, Three Day Moon - also by Barre Phillips - and Koln Concert, by Keith Jarrett - are similarly remarkable).



A few things hit me right away after my roommate popped this on his turntable. After admiring the incredibly high recording standard (a constant aspect of ECM recordings), the uniqueness - strangeness, in fact - of the music was just striking. The song titles indicate that this is actually a suite - each track is essentially another interpretation of the central theme that Phillips & Co had in mind. Whether the bass was bowed or plucked, the track rhythmic or contemplative, images of storms, sunrise, sunset, loss and wandering all came to mind. When the final track kicked off with a chugging, repeated bass riff and the drums find the rhythym, the great surprise is the appearance of John Abercrombie playing in a style I've not heard since from him - fast, precise, so effective.



Years later, when I finally found this on CD, it was a wonderful reunion with music that sounds just as fresh to me now as it did back then. This music creates a mood - it may be such a product of its time that works such as this will never be heard again.



It is expensive, obscure, hard to find...but give it a try and be amazed!"