LARRY CORYELL & ALPHONSE MOUZON: BACK TOGETHER AGAIN

This is no doubt the rockiest recording in the Coryell catalogue. It is also however a mixed blessing. This is an Eleventh House reunion of sorts minus Mike Mandel's keyboards, nor any sign of a trumpeteer. It does have a powerful twin-leadguitar approach that rocks harder than almost anything else the House had done prior to this. That is in part due to sometimes-Focus guitarist Phillip Catherine. Some of the album like Rock & Roll Lovers and High Love are among the very best of the Eleventh House repetoire, other parts are quite unlistenable.

Basically, the vocal songs fail, but the instrumentals are almost all great. Side one works, and other than the last song, High Love, side two does not. You would think that musicians of this calibre, especially considering that sometimes they do it very very right, would hear the post recording mix and say,"Hey! We really can't sing, can we? Maybe we should just drop the vocals completely, and just let the record stand on the strength of our playing". Was it ego? A joke? or even an oversight? I do not know, but they were at least ill advised to leave the singing(?) in. Overall, there is a slight sonic shallowness in the overall mix, and even though BacK Together Again has its moments I think Larry and Alphonse miss Mike Mandel's ideas and input.

All that having been said, side one is very good. John Lee once again carries the day with his solid bass-work, and Catherine adds a very proggish element to the compositions, especially his own one Transvested Express. Mouzon is a fantastic drummer, but whenever he desides to go with his "Funky Snakeskin" thing it is time to head for the hills (or patio or whatever). Nonetheless, you could ask your record peddler for a fifty percent discount and just go with side one.