JOHN COLTRANE/ALICE COLTRANE-Cosmic Music-1969-Impulse AS-9148 US press

	A$		27
	$		20

This album was originally released in the US on Coltrane records as a private pressing by Alice Coltrane, using tapes made by husband John Coltrane and his band in 1966, and two tracks from 1968 featuring Alice Coltrane as the band leader.There were two issues of this Coltrane Records pressing in 1968-AU 4950 and CRS 5000.  The album I have listed was a re issue by Impulse! Records from 1969 after Impulse! Records had acquired the rights from Coltrane Records and offered Alice Coltrane a solo contract.(It is the first of the Impulse! pressings). All the tracks were recorded in the Coltranes' home studio.The two John Coltrane tracks from 1966; "Manifestation" and "Reverend King" from 1966 are recorded with the following musicians Alice Coltrane piano, Pharoah Sanders, tenor sax and piccolo, Jimmy Garrison bass, Rashied Ali drums and Ray Appleton additional percussion. The other two tracks, from 1968, feature Alice Coltrane piano, Pharoah Sanders tenor sax, Jimmy Garrison bass, and Ben Riley on drums. I bought this album new in 1970 from an import shop(Discurios) in Melbourne. It has been played many times over the years as I preferred to hear it from the disc as tapes I made of it at the time seemed to diminish the sound on the 1966 John Coltrane tracks. The vinyl on both sides is still shiny, but there are NUMEROUS SCUFFS, from being taken in and out of the paper inner sleeve, and I have graded the vinyl as G+ due to the appearance of these scuffs. Both sides play LOUD and clear, however there is some low level surface on the run in tracks and between the tracks and in some of the quieter passages(bass solos,some piano parts, and mantra chanting), but when the full band is playing this is masked. (It should be noted that the two tracks from 1966 do not have the same production quality as the later tracks, perhaps due to the home studio recording being more a working through of ideas rather than aiming for a finished product.). The cover is in good condition, it is a heavy cardboard gate fold with a glossy finish on the front and the back and a matte finish on the two inside pages. There is some wear noticeable to the gloss finish front and back if held at an angle to the light, and the inside pages are both clean. There are no splits, writing labels or tears.(G+). It still has the original paper inner sleeve, into which I have inserted a thick plastic inner to prevent further scuffing.(See photos 9 & 10)
Markings in the dead wax near the label are: Matrix/Runout   (Runout Side A etched AS-9148-A    LW          Bell Sound) Matrix/Runout   (Runout Side B etched AS-9148-B    LW          Bell Sound)
In addition to the above markings there are scratched out matrices which are                            (Runout Side A pressed CRS 5000 A)                            (Runout Side B pressed CRS 5000 B)  see photos 11 & 12  The presence of these markings in the run outs would suggest that Impulse has used the Coltrane Records' masters and added their own  number:AS 9148 when pressing this record. The "Bell Sound" etching in tiny italics is from Bell Sound pressing plant in New York, they pressed many independent records during the 1960's
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