Hi,
Goodness ... you have not been checking out on me lately! I like to say naughty things about some reviewers here that do not think that Terje Rypdal is progressive! I couldn't careless really ... the music is so much better than two thirds of the top ten listed here in my book! ... and in many ways this stuff is so much more progressive in spirit, that the top listings, many of which are just copies and the same rock music over and over again!
I've always said that any good "progressive" music collector has to do his/her homework on the ECM label ... and from Terje, there are a couple of things that should be picked up and enjoyed ... and the time and place that it was done is very important, as it is ... amazing to say the least.
EOS - with David Darling, in what is the best Chamber Music set of pieces that you would ever want to hear. Beware the first cut, which is outright a Robert Fripp thing, if there is such a thing ... everyone has a guitar and everyone can do it! But the rest ... well, most "progressive" and "prog" listeners are into their "style" so heavy, that they can not always enjoy weightless music that takes you away. And it helped a film win the Oscar for the Best Foreign Film at one time, which is more than one can say for most of the lounge lizard progressive music out there! ... ohhh btw ... this was done 20 years before Jeff Beck copied it on Roger's album!
ODYSSEY - Double LP at the time. Had some really nice and meandering long cuts. What caught my attention to listening to Terje was that Melody Maker had an advertising for a concert in London for Ash Ra Tempel ... and Terje Rypdal was the other act on it ... and you can rest assured that I was going to check that out! And what a treat!
I have about 6 or 7 other albums and have not listened to them a whole lot to say more about them.
There are a couple of clips of him playing on YouTube with a rock band, and it is not bad, but I am not sure that it shows his abilities to the best use, but they are nice.
Other than that, I can tell you that if I list the Top Ten albums of all time in "progressive" ... that the majority of the listing that we have won't be there ... but EOS will!
Another ECM album must have/listen ... Egberto Gismonti's No Caipira ... an incredible mix of everything and the kitchen sink that does Stravinsky and Villa Lobos proud ... and then Jan Garbarek's Eventyr, whose first piece went along Terje's in the film that won the Oscar.
I think it's all about the innovation in music and the desire to do something else, and new feelings and words and works ... and too much "prog" ... the only thing they have is ... right!
You already know 3 of my top ten!
Edited by moshkito - February 04 2011 at 14:45