(# 535) Alice
Coltrane – Journey In Satchidanada (1970)
The wife of jazz master John Coltrane was an accomplished
musician who played piano in his final group and also released a number of highly
regarded recordings of her own which featured her harp playing. (That’s harp as in the stringed instrument,
not the harmonica.) This is probably her
best known album owing to the opening cut and title track which is a tribute of
sorts to her Swami. It’s a wonderfully
serene track, but importantly, not of the type frequently used to parody
hippies, yoga, Indian mysticism or all three.
Something About John Coltrane was
obviously inspired by her then recently deceased husband and contains fine work
by Pharaoh Saunders in John’s absence. Indian influences and instrumentation
dominates thae wonderful closer Isis And Osiris.
I’ve owned this album for a number of years now. From the moment I first heard it, I knew that
the title track would be the first track on only C90 cassette mix tape that I
would eventually produce. It’s the
serenity of the track that draws me to it making for an appropriate and unsettling
introduction to Dave Grohl’s power drumming that marks the start of the
compilation’s second track, Nirvana’s Scentless Apprentice (from In Utero). I’ve
played that combination on many occasions; the way the two connect is so
powerful that I still haven’t decided what will follow it.
In starting that mythical tape in this fashion, I want
anyone who has read Nick Hornby’s book High Fidelity, or seen John Cusack’s movie
adaption, to understand that l have not been influenced by the rules of compiling a mix tape
that he outlines. My own personal
approach in compiling a tape is to ignore all rules other than one guiding
principle. It is that each track should
be programmed as a reaction to the one that precedes it. Ideally that can mean a clash of music style,
lyrical content, tempo, etc but the reaction can also be
something that extends or compliments the predecessor. Each side of the tape should also have a
definite start and end (i.e ensuring these react to each other), and the final
track should hark back to the opener (once again a reaction) in some way. In my latest mental version of the tape, the
final track is Sun O)))’s 16 minute opus Alice. Although an instrumental like Journey
In Satchidanada it ploughs a completely different musical path but also binding
the tracks together is that Sun O))) track is a tribute to Alice Coltrane.
Another reason I wanted to start the tape with this
track lies in that it jazz, a form of music that I love and would otherwise
have difficulty inserting into the song sequence. Even more importantly is that
the track highlights the harp, one of the least featured instruments (Alice Coltrane
and Joanna Newsome apart) in my collection. My thought is that anyone thinking they
would have a handle on my musical taste would immediately be thrown into a
state of confusion and anyone without a frame of reference would remain non the
wiser for the duration of the track. In either
scenario, this would magnify the impact of the Nirvana track as it kicks
in.
A key to my approach was going to be my suspicion that the
great majority of listeners are unfamiliar with this magnificent piece of
music. Unfortunately, and to my great
annoyance, in recent years the track has started to pop up in some
compilations. It is reportedly a
favourite of Paul Weller’s who has apparently included it in no less than three
separate compilations of his. This connection might also explain why it appears
as the opening track on the CD soundtrack
the Glastonbury Concert documentary.
But I will not resile! It (and
the Nirvana Track) will kick off that tape if I could ever compile it to my
satisfaction. All I need to do is factor
in the Sun O))) track, The Flaming Groovies Shake Some Action, something by Sonic Youth, Otis Redding and The
Boss (all obviously), Arthur Conley’s Sweet Soul Music, Dylan’s Changing Of The
Guard, Pere Ubu’s Non Alignment Pact, Faust’s Krautrock, Son House’s John The
Relevator (for a long time the opening track until I found the Coltrane track),
a track by The Saints (either I’m Stranded, This Perfect Day or Know Your
Product), The Stone’s sledgehammer version of Street Fighting Man from the
Nasty Music bootleg, Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir, Cold Chisel's Houndog, Aretha Franklin’s version of The
Weight, an example of King Tubby’s dub genius, The Stooges Search And Destroy, Max
Romero’s War Inna Babylon, The Fall’s How I Wrote Elastic Man, The Deftones’
Pink Maggit, The Go Between’s Apology Accepted, Johnny Cash’s version of Hurt, Lou
Reed’s The Blue Mask, The Replacements’ Answering Machine, Come’s Off To One
Side, the Pixies Gouge Away, Patti Smith’s
Gloria, The Sex Pistols God Save The Queen, The Screaming Trees’ Gospel
Plow, Pavement’s Cut Your Hair, The Supersuckers’ Born With A Tail, Van Morrison’s Wonderful Remark, Faith No More’s
Epic, Primal Scream’s Accelerator, Radio Birdman’s New Race, The Powdermonkey’s
Straight Until Morning, The Black Crowes’
Remedy, Television’s live cover of The Stones’ Satisfaction (hear it on The
Blow Up), The Supremes Reflection, Elvis Presley’s If I Can Dream, Husker Du’s
You Can Live At Home, Neil Young’s Campaigner, Pink Floyd’s Time, the version
of Metallica’s Masters Of Puppets from the S+M album, the long version James
Brown’s Say It Loud (I’m Black And I’m Proud), The Chemical Brothers Private
Psychedelic Reel, the unadorned version of The Beatles While My Guitar Gently
Weeps from Anthology 3, The Afghan Whigs’ Faded, Richard Hell’s (I Belong To) The
Blank Generation, the live version of
AC/DC’s For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) from the Backtracks box set in
front of a crowd of crazed Moscowvites………
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