Weird Review of "A Love Supreme"

[RDK]

Found this on audioasylum. This guy "deconstructed" Coltrane's ALS album...

I mean that I sat down at a keyboard and followed the whole composition note by note. I mean I looked at the phrasing or should I say figures since there wasn't a coherent thought long enough to be a phrase, and I looked at the lack of any melodies, I looked at progressions, and I concluded that aside from what I called "noodling" this composition actually didn't go anywhere. I concluded that Coltane's supreme love was a love of heroin. Here's a excerpt of the review I posted. There may have been some minor changes between the draft and my actual posting but this is the gist of it:.....

As for the music itself, that was the biggest disappointment of all. It is a suite written in four movements for a quartet consisting of saxophone, piano, drums, and fingered string bass. I’m going to give a very detailed description of it because I want to explain exactly why I didn’t like it. The entire suite seems to be written in several different keys, e flat major (not e major as the liner notes say), e flat minor, and c minor. The tempo is almost constant from one movement to the next except the last, which is slightly slower.

The first movement “Acknowledgement” in e flat major starts out with Chinese gong and a short flourish on the sax accompanied by piano chords and drum cymbals. If there is a rubato here as the liner notes claim, it isn’t much of a rubato. Then a 4 note figure; (f, a flat, f, b flat) I can’t really call it a melody or even a phrase, it’s just too short for that, is introduced by the bass. The sax then introduces a 6 note figure; (c, g, f- f, c, b flat.) What might pass for a development by the sax continues for two thirds of the rest of the movement but it never goes very far consisting mostly a few runs, arpeggios, and flourishes in different keys. At one point 3:51 to 3:56, Coltrane apparently tries a trill but flubs it. The final part of the movement consists of the sax returning to the 4 note figure with a similar flat development in various keys. Coltrane’s voice is overdubbed singing the words “a love supreme” 19 times accompanying the four note figure near the end (what clever lyrics!) and seems to go off key about a half tone flat the last four times. Was this deliberate? In this kind of music, it’s often difficult or impossible to tell. The piano part consists of a series of chords and is almost entirely drowned out by the drum cymbals, which play an almost constant unvarying beat. The movement ends with the bass repeating the 4 note figure accompanied by the cymbals.

The second movement “Resolution” in e flat minor starts with the bass playing a series of 4 similar 3 note figures; (b flat, e flat, e flat-d flat, d flat, d flat-f, f, f- e flat, e flat, e flat) strung together in what really can’t be called a melody. You can hear a very brief tape pre-echo of the sax just before it enters with the drums. Coltrane plays the closest thing to a melody in the whole suite but it is really only a phrase; (e flat, b flat, e flat, d flat, b flat, a flat, a,---a flat, g flat, f, e flat, d, b flat, f, g flat, f, f, g flat, g flat, e flat, d flat, e flat.) Its development by the sax drones on flatly in the same way the first movement did but with some syncopation, although still melodically going almost nowhere. The piano gets what may be the only really interesting solo of the whole suite displaying some fine playing in a developmental segment that shows plenty of syncopation and blue notes, some very difficult (three against two?) rhythms accompanied by the drums, the only truly fine jazz segment of the music IMO. Unfortunately the drummers’ cymbals are too loud and the piano isn’t well recorded. The sax returns with more of the same type of development, which at times does seem to bounce along in tempo but again melodically still goes almost nowhere becoming monotonously repetitive. The movement ends by just sort of rolling to a stop with a short drum roll.

The third movement “Pursuance” in e flat major begins with a surprisingly anemic if loud drum roll solo that lasts for about 90 seconds. The sax introduces a 6 note figure; (c, e flat, g- g, a flat, b flat) which was actually heard in the first movement as a variant of the original 6 note figure which is followed by a 3 note regression to; (b flat, d flat, e flat.) This is developed in a way that is reminiscent of the first movement. The piano gets another very nice developmental solo but its sound is too muted and the drummer’s cymbals are still too loud and are therefore a mere annoying distraction, however, it isn’t quite as bad as in the second movement. The sax returns with more of the same as before and although the tempo is fast and there are a lot of notes, it still seems to drone on and on with endless repetition and not going melodically very far. This is followed by another drum roll solo and then the bass plays a variation of the original 4 note figure it introduced in the first movement followed by a long soliloquy which I confess completely baffled me. There may be something like a melody there but it is so low in pitch, it is hard to follow.

The fourth movement “Psalms” switches to the key of c minor and proceeds without any interruption from the third movement with the sax playing what suggests a kind of forlorn melody in a minor key at a slow tempo; (c, e flat, c, g- g, f, g, f, e flat, g, c e flat, g flat, f, e flat, d flat, e flat), but it never seems to pull together and becomes just a series of mostly half notes and whole notes strung together without apparent melodic purpose in what may be intended as a funeral dirge. Again it just drones on and on and on and on with the piano playing a series of accompanying chords and the drums adding to the droning. 30 seconds before the end, the engineer overdubbed an additional sax track on the right channel and a drum track on the left adding to the sax normally being on the left channel and the drums on the right. This was very obvious through headphones so try a pair if you have this recording and listen for that. It came as a surprise when the music just suddenly seemed to end. No buildup, no climax, no warning, just a brief drum roll, a few solo notes by the bass and it just stopped.

The most accurate single word I can think of to describe this music is “flat.” For me, it says nothing and goes nowhere. The utter lack of phrasing, build up of tension and release are two of the elements that run through this music that added to its flatness and my boredom with it. It is fairly abstract having no apparent true melodies anywhere. The closest thing it has to melodies are what I would call figures of several notes repeated again and again sometimes in different keys with slight variations, these figures being mostly different in each movement. It has absolutely no dynamics, playing at almost exactly the same loudness all the way through even though instruments do pop in and out. No matter how loud or soft I played it, it was still boring. It is the audible equivalent of a featureless desert. Does this genre try to portray a sense of unfocused purposeless, aimless emotionless, droning we associate with heroin addicts in a nodding stupor? If it does, it succeeds. Perhaps this suite is a metaphor for the life and death of a heroin addict. In that context, both the title of the music and the names of the movements make perfect sense to me. The music often seems to deliberately have a droning quality especially in the 4th movement Psalms. The sax plays a lot of what I call “noodling” which some may think of as interesting and virtuoso like but it isn’t.

IMO, the liner notes as they pertain to the technical aspects of the actual musical descriptions of the composition are pure bull.

On my sound systems, the cymbals sounded exactly like metallic cymbals, not aerosol hair spray cans. The sax is recorded OK but I think I would have preferred it slightly closer miked and it sounds a little bass shy in the lower register. As I said, the piano was IMO, too far out of balance and therefore drowned out, its bass tones when they were there are entirely lost (This is not always too apparent because it is usually accompanied by the string bass for reinforcement so listen carefully.) Listening through headphones there are occasional very brief tape dropouts but they are not obvious or even evident listening through speakers. I liked the way the string bass was recorded very much. Even by 1965 standards, overall this was not a well recorded or well mastered job, not at all equal to the better efforts by the major studios.

There are some musical differences with the live monophonic recording on tracks 2 through 5 on disc two recorded about 7 months later. Some are quibbling, such as the sax instead of the bass introducing the 4 note figure in Acknowledgement. Others are more significant such as an expanded piano section in Resolution although the added part IMO detracts from the better version on disc one. Coltrane experiments with the tone of the sax to a considerably greater extent but it is neither pleasant nor interesting and often no longer recognizable as a saxophone but could be a clarinet squeaking when the tone cracks up. Coltrane was smart to completely omit his singing solo from the first movement. I liked the drum rolls in Pursuance better in the live performance though.

[Spontooneous]

Charitably:

The reviewer seems to be perceiving the music by non-jazz standards. (Hey, we ALL perceived jazz that way once.)

It's clear in the way he quickly resorts to the fallacy of "I don't understand this, so it must be drug music." And I'm bothered that he felt compelled to post that on the Internet.

He has good ears, and I hope he'll keep them open as he journeys deeper into the music.

[Leeway]

Reminds me of the story of the scientist who analyzed a bumblebee's wings, bodily structure, weight, etc, computed all the variables and concluded it couln't fly

I've seen this approach taken to poems, where each syllable, each word, gets analyzed to the nth degree, while the beauty and mystery of the poem itself gets completely lost.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Uncharitably - because I see no reason to be charitable:

Good ears? Analysis? No, this guy is just an idiot. As someone who has transcribed and arranged the suite for large ensemble, I will certainly disagree about any "lack of melodies" - you want for me to sing them now? I'm sure there are many other musicians who can do the same. BTW, the "transcriptions" in the review are wrong. There are missing notes (and without the rhythms, or at least some attempt at showing durations, it's pretty stupid).

You want a real analysis by a real musician? Read chapter 17 in the Lewis Porter biography of Coltrane. Porter wrote his PhD dissertation on the suite. Porter describes a large scale "overall tonal plan" and shows the connections between material in the different movements of the suite.

The fucking bonehead doesn't get it. Period. Like the fact that "Psalm" (which is mistitled in the review as "Psalsms") is a syllable-by-syllable reading in music of the poem "A Love Supreme" - sigh - in the days before the Internet, such a moron would have no outlet for spouting these asinine inanities.

Glad he put in "For me" (the music says nothing and goes nowhere) and IMO.

Misspelled words, poor grammar, OK - enough. Such crap doesn't even merit discussion.

Mike

[Chuck Nessa]

Looks like something from the "jazz research" list. B-)

[dave9199]

The guy just looks at the technical, and leaves out the emotional. That's why it doesn't make sense to him. Emotional first, then look at the technical, and nothings right or wrong. He's freekin' retaaded, I tells ya.

Edited December 1, 2004 by dave9199

[Michael Fitzgerald]

But the assumption people seem to be making is that he's CORRECT about the technical. He ain't.

Mike

[RDK]

The guy just looks at the technical, and leaves out the emotional. That's why it doesn't make sense to him.

That was my thought exactly.

[Harold_Z]

But the assumption people seem to be making is that he's CORRECT about the technical. He ain't.

Mike

WORD !

[danasgoodstuff]

Forrest, trees...

[PHILLYQ]

This yoyo keeps mentioning heroin and conveniently omits the fact that Coltrane recorded this AFTER he kicked heroin. Brilliant display of utter ignorance, though.

[Leeway]

I note that he also seems to consider himself quite the expert recording engineer. Coltrane is not nearly a good enough musician, and RVG is not nearly a good enough recording (or remastering) engineer for this dude. Quite an ego trip.

OTOH, I wonder why this guy went to ALS in the first place? It would be nice to think that, despite his criticism, he has felt the power of this music. After all, he could have spent his copious free time analyzing a Britey Spears album, or something Who knows? Maybe ALS will continue to get under his skin. Maybe in 6 months, this dude is going to pop it back into the CD player and start digging it. It would be nice to think so. A lot of people have started out saying they "hated" jazz, and later become jazz freaks.

[GregK]

You want a real analysis by a real musician? Read chapter 17 in the Lewis Porter biography of Coltrane. Porter wrote his PhD dissertation on the suite. Porter describes a large scale "overall tonal plan" and shows the connections between material in the different movements of the suite.

My EXACT first thought-Lewis Porter's book. When I read Porter's analyses, it was clear to me right away that he knew what he was talking about, he understood Coltrane's music (emotionally, technically, everything), he really gets it. What this other guy is going on about, I don't know, but he completely missed it. Melody?? That's one of the most heartfelt, beautiful, strongest melodies that I've ever heard. Good enough for me

[Guy Berger]

Wow, I'm embarrassed for that guy.

Guy

[mgraham333]

I say we take him out back and beat the crap out of him.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Hard to believe after producing all that stuff that there could be any crap left in him.

Then again, that was probably only the tip of the crapberg.

Mike

[Spontooneous]

I say we take him out back and beat the crap out of him. 

Charitably...I'm OK with that.

[Brad]

I say we take him out back and beat the crap out of him. 

Charitably...I'm OK with that.

Yeah, I agree with this. You can overanalyze anything to death without distilling its true meaning.

[Big Wheel]

Complete and not particularly original troll: http://www.audioasylum.com/scripts/t.pl?f=music&m=116896

[j lee]

I've just read the thread you linked to, BW.

I'm surprised the Audioasylum folks were quite as tolerant of someone who, while supposedly living the good life with his "fillet [sic] mignon," his "art and music," and his staggering collection of 10,000 "songs" (soon to be augmented by another 10,000 "songs" bequeathed unto him by a "close relative"), can't manage to write better than an ungifted high school student.

It hurts me to see such poor literacy among the young, far more than any criticism of "ALS" may insult.

Edited December 2, 2004 by j lee

[Big Wheel]

How do we know his age? He could be 40 for all we know.

[Alexander]

Just finished reading those threads...

Whatta maroon!

[JSngry]

It's like Stanley Dance, only without the intellegence, soul, and credibility.

[Claude]

OTOH, I wonder why this guy went to ALS in the first place?

Because it's available on SACD

[DrJ]

Claude Posted: Dec 3 2004, 12:37 PM 

QUOTE (Leeway @ Dec 1 2004, 04:34 AM)

OTOH, I wonder why this guy went to ALS in the first place? 

Because it's available on SACD

Hee hee hee...