Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Larry Coryell - The Eleventh House: Level One CD (album) cover

THE ELEVENTH HOUSE: LEVEL ONE

Larry Coryell

 

Jazz Rock/Fusion

4.15 | 30 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Easy Money
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
3 stars Level One is classic prog influenced hard rockin jazz fusion from the mid 70s in the style popularized by Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever and Billy Cobham. With their upbeat optimistic grooves and hyper nerd funk, Eleventh House probably favors RTF more than the other two. Coryell and his gang are far more than just competent as they energetically rip through these tunes, yet they never seem to elevate themselves to quite the same stature as some of the previously mentioned bands with whom they share a common sound. Although Eleventh House might just slightly border on prog-fusion lite when compared to the genres greatest, you can't blame Coryell, whose guitar burns with a gritty hard rock sound that puts him ahead of all other fusion fret-meisters when it comes to pure heavy rock vibes and sound.

At their best, Eleventh House uses heavy metalized synth lines in conjunction with the trumpet to produce orchestrated futuristic melodies. Side one closer Nyctophobia is especially strong with a dissonant heavy synth melody that leads to an impossibly fast thrash/fsuion groove, courtesy powerhouse drummer Alphonse Mouzon, which peaks with more heavy jagged synthesizer lines, nice stuff. Other tunes that set them apart from the 70s fusion crowd feature echoed trumpet over space grooves that predate the sound of 90s acid jazz. Overall the playing on here is excellent, everyone has the expected ultra nimble skills expected of the jazz rock crowd during this era. The only problem with this album is that it only suffers in the inevitable comparison to their peer group who had the advantage of better song writers and arrangers.

Hardly a clone of Mahavishnu and RTF, Eleventh House are at their best when they accent their uniqueness, futuristic synth/horn lines and Coryell's extra greasy hard rockin guitar. This album is highly recommended for fans of classic mid-70s progressive jazz-rock.

Easy Money | 3/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this LARRY CORYELL review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.