John Coltrane - Interstellar Space
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Free Music Notes for Interstellar Space
Free Music Review: .
Hit: 5 Stars
there's not a whole lot to say here if you've heard it, it's just one of those things kind of like staring into the sun until you can't see much but crazy colors and spots. john coltrane graced this earth for but a short while and this was what he made about five months before his time here was at an end.Free Music Review: coltrane's first and only duet
Hit: 5 Stars
This album was recorded in 1967 the same year of his death but wasn't realeased until 1974. On this album Coltrane did a duet with drummer Rashied Ali who was in his band at the time. The original tracks are jupiter,saturn,mars,and venus plus two bonus tracks jupiter variation, and Leo.Free Music Review: Coltrane at his best
Hit: 5 Stars
This record made me physically tired. I was out of breath by the end. If you can listen to the whole thing without screaming out in amazement then you are a rare individual. This is as good as anything Trane has ever done. A must have.Free Music Review: What IS this stuff??
Hit: 4 Stars
The above comment was my first reaction to this album, and chances are it'll be yours too. By the time of this final recording John Coltrane was taking wilder and further jumps into space with his playing than ever before. For Interstellar Space he trimmed the usual trappings of a jazz band and recorded the album as a duet with drummer Rashied Ali, which meant that he had to carry the composition, the key and the melody all with a stream of single notes. This would be an intimidating task for even the finest sax players. That Coltrane pulled it off, let alone this consistently, is another pure and simple testament to his harmonic and technical mastery.Even with him keeping the melody, this will sound like an aimless flow of notes on the first couple listens. It's probably not made any easier by the fact that the opener "Mars" finds Trane and Ali playing like men possessed by the devil; it takes a couple listens to get past the sheer manic frenzy of their playing before you can even pick out the melody. But this is one of those albums that rewards, nay demands, attention and persistence. The slower beauty of "Venus" gives more of a chance to get into the nuances of the music. With repeated spins, the melodies start to come out and Coltrane's passion and technical skill become more and more apparent.
One of Coltrane's masterpieces, and worlds away even from his other highlights Blue Train and Love Supreme, this is a timeless work of art. If you're willing to give it the chance, Interstellar Space will slowly reveal more nuances and layers than you're likely to suspect.
Free Music Review: Even for Trane this is out there
Hit: 4 Stars
I know I say this a lot about Coltrane's work, but this right here is pure insanity. Trane jettisoned his entire band except for Rashied Ali for this release, and didn't bother hiring a new bassist or pianist. Instead, he opts to duet with the drummer throughout the record, which is extremely avant-garde: the "songs" have nothing that hints at harmony and only sketchy melodies - the second half of that title sure is right, the arrangements have a lot of space. Naturally, Coltrane loses his mind on most of these songs: sometimes it's rewarding ("Mars"), others it's just annoying ("Jupiter").So if you gave up on Coltrane around the release of Sun Ship or Ascension, this probably won't win you back. If you're still interested, then you just might find something of substance in Interstellar Space. I don't find this grabs me like some of Coltrane's better material, interesting as it is: it doesn't have the emotional variety of A Love Supreme, and the fact is there's only so much you can do with two instruments. And it's definitely not in the same zip code as Trane's very best releases. Hardcore fans, though, should get it simply for "Venus", a stunning, transcendent composition that is in the same zip code as Coltrane's best work.