Destination-out.com?

[erwbol]

Yes, the Penguin Guide is full of praise for the whole set, calling Alms/ Tiergarten (Spree) monumental.

Recently I came across a different opinion on Allmusic (Thom Jurek). His review for the collaboration with Louis Moholo opens as follows:

"Much of the music Cecil Taylor made during his month-long stay in Berlin was truly worthwhile and reinvigorating for him as an artist, some of it was just ho hum, a little of it was pretty much garbage, and a very small amount was so brilliant it ranked near the pinnacle of his long and well-documented career. "

(Remembrance was not counted among the ho hum or garbage by him.)

I do remember reading some negative comments about Thom Jurek here, so perhaps that quote is a minority opinion.

[Chuck Nessa]

We all approach art from different directions.

[Leeway]

Yes, the Penguin Guide is full of praise for the whole set, calling Alms/ Tiergarten (Spree) monumental.

Recently I came across a different opinion on Allmusic (Thom Jurek). His review for the collaboration with Louis Moholo opens as follows:

"Much of the music Cecil Taylor made during his month-long stay in Berlin was truly worthwhile and reinvigorating for him as an artist, some of it was just ho hum, a little of it was pretty much garbage, and a very small amount was so brilliant it ranked near the pinnacle of his long and well-documented career. "

(Remembrance was not counted among the ho hum or garbage by him.)

I do remember reading some negative comments about Thom Jurek here, so perhaps that quote is a minority opinion.

I gave Disc 1 a listen after your post, and I would put "Alms" in the "truly worthwhile" category (as I recalled from previous listening). A really crackling performance. Penguin over Jurek in this instance. Of course, one man's meat........

[Steve Reynolds]

Alms/Tiergarten (Spree) is among my favorite Cecil Taylor recordings.

It's got lots of my guys on it and they are all playing at a very inspired level. It must have been an overwhelming experience for them.

[johnblitweiler]

Melancholy is the best Cecil Taylor solo piano record among these. But another of his solo FMPs is a long and, to me, dreary rehash of "E.B." Don't remember which one.

[peterintoronto]

No way I'd pay $125 for the Berlin box without .pdf's of the books.

If they were included, sure!

Edited May 8, 2015 by peterintoronto

[David Ayers]

No way I'd pay $125 for the Berlin box without .pdf's of the books.

If they were included, sure!

And in fact inclusion of the books would be the one thing that would justify making this available only as a set, not as individual discs.

[clifford_thornton]

I have all, I think, but one, "In East Berlin 88, " but the DL won't get you the book that came with the box set. Now if they put that on PDF......

I wish I had the East Berlin set; stupidly didn't buy it when I was a poorer college student in the late 90s, when Cadence/North Country had it. Picked up individuals from the Berlin box over the years but sold them when I got a nicely-priced score on the big box about six years ago.

Haven't downloaded any D:O FMPs since everything they've offered I have on disc or LP (or am trying to find on same), but for those who want to hear out of print music legally and don't want to fork over a lot of bread, I support the effort. In a perfect world, the entire FMP/SAJ/Uhl Klang catalog would be perpetually available physically, but... what can you do?