TROPIC APPETITES

Jazz composer and pianist Carla Bley achieved something utterly wonderful and unprecedented with 1972's Escalator Over the Hill, an album that has achieved legendary status in certain circles. Much less known is this 1974 follow up album, though it works as a very strong sequel to that work, and may be of even more interest to prog rock fans, as this is essentially a Rock in Opposition album.

Whereas Escalator was stuffed to the gills with guest musicians, huge ensembles, multiple musical styles and vocalists, and a surreal theatrical plot, this album keeps things compact and simple. Using just a relatively small core of musicians (Paul Motian, Gato Barbieri, Dave Holland, Michael Mantler, Bley herself, and Julie Tippets and Howard Johnson on vocals) and filling up a single LP instead of three, Bley's compositions are nevertheless dense, complex, and very much in the style (if not the scope) of what she had composed for Escalator. Bley retained Paul Haines to provide the lyrics, as he had done on Escalator, but this time around these are simply song lyrics, rather than the full-blown libretto, characters, and theatricality of that album.

The 11 minute opener, "What Will Be Left Between Us and the Moon Tonight?", is a relatively straight jazz instrumental, serving as the album's unofficial overture. The lengthy vocal tracks which take up the majority of the album - "Enormous Tots", "Caucasian Bird Riffles", "Indonesian Dock Sucking Supreme" (one of my favorite song titles ever), and "Song of the Jungle Stream" - are very much in the Rock-in-Opposition style, reminding me most of albums like Henry Cow's "In Praise of Learning", brooding yet colorful, and harmonically unsettling. In the middle of all this is an adorable little childrens' song entitled "Funnybird Song", which does a great job of relieving the tension.

Bley is primarily known as a jazz figure, and most of her illustrious career certainly falls into that category, but at least for a few years in the let 60s and early 70s, she was putting out music very akin to the more avant garde strains of contemporary progressive rock. This album is a very impressive example of that, and while it can't hope to match the insane brilliance of the prior masterpiece, it also benefits from a focus and consistency that Escalator lacks. Recommended to RIO fans.

This is the first album I've heard by Carla Bley. Indeed, the first time I've heard any of her music. My instincts are classifying her in the same compartment of my mind as the legendary Zawinul/Shorter Weather Report work. Carla, of course, employed a far greater range of musicians creating a broader spectrum of work than Weather Report. But, imho, if you like one, you'll probably like the other.

1. "What Will Be Left Between Us and the Moon Tonight?" Great opening track. Love the intro with Carla's piano. Great piano/bass/percussion foundation for the horn players to lay out. The Latin flavored section that closes this piece really gave me a most pleasant surprise. Builds to an effective climax.

2. "In India" A short interlude with Julie Tippetts' voicing over minimal instrumentation. In a film I would say this piece serves the same purpose as landscape views giving the audience a sense of place.

3. "Enormous Tots" Opens with a Brecht/Weill cabaret. Lots of tempo changes. I prefer to think of Howard Johnson's voice contributions not as singing but as a kind of recitation of Haines' writing. Bawdy elements are present. Some seriously oppressive musical moments as well, probably drawn from some of the more risqué times he experienced in Southeast Asia, perhaps? Builds to an effective climax.

4. "Caucasian Bird Riffles" Beautiful. Simple. Well arranged. This is a song that could have been arranged as a powerful, bombastic piece, but wasn't.

5. "Funnybird Song" 1:20 of cuteness. In this piece Johnson doesn't sing in as much as he creates a likeable character to voice some funny words.

6. "Indonesian Dock Sucking Supreme" Somber intro, evolves numerous times into engaging sax/violin/keyboard/bass solo's. A lot going on in this piece. Numerous tempo and mood changes. Some serious improvisations over some serious structures. To my ears it succeeds perfectly as it segues imperceptibly into....

7. "Song of the Jungle Stream" Begins with voices. Gets orchestral. Settles into a song proper for a while. Evolves into some intelligently written dissonant notes. Jazz Opera comes to mind. Bass guitar moves to the forefront, voices reemerge. Polyrhythms, voices reemerge evolving into a satisfyingly calm and melodic conclusion.

8. "Nothing" The Brecht/Weill cabaret motif returns, evolving into a melodic section evolving into the Latin motif, evolving, changing, and resolving into the climax.

A serious work by a serious composer with serious musicians creating a work of substantial worth and enjoyment.

4 stars

It was the year 1983, when I get in touch with this album. I was in the age of 18 (or so) I played the album to a friend at the time. He laughed out loud and couldn't get involved with the thoroughly experimental style. But for me I find here a great arc of tension of a worldview that accompanies me over the years until today. A unity in music and lyrics. Therefore, the album is for me for over 35 years in the top 50 of my favorites.

Up to now, it is extremly inspirating.

You need only few words to declare the truth. Look at the lyrics

What a nice sidekick :-) It is nessecary to write more than 100 words. But for this album you will not need more than I wrote above!