Sealed LP: Chi Coltrane: Let It Ride

$

38

Chi Coltrane

Let It Ride

FACTORY SEALED LP

Format: Sealed Album

Country: U.S.A.

Record Company & Release Number: Columbia: KC 32463

Original release date: 1973

Bar Code: NONE

Condition of the cover: Mint

Condition of this sealed album: Sealed - Assumed Mint

My inventory number: 206046

Shipping Weight: 1 pounds, 1 ounces

Notes:

This Sealed Album came from a record store in Allentown, Pennsylvania called "Phantasmagoria" which went out of business in 1978. I purchased most of their unsold inventory several years later when I owned "Music Madness" - a new & used record store in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania.

Since this Sealed Album was part of Phantasmagoria's inventory when they closed in 1978, it cannot be any newer than a 1978 pressing. Being a Sealed Album, I cannot tell specifically what pressing it is prior to 1978. In some cases, hype stickers might help to determine if it is a first pressing, but I cannot be any more specific.

Phantasmagoria used round colored stickers to indicate the price of their inventory. They had a sign on the wall with the color sticker combinations for the customers to use so they knew the price of what they were purchasing. Some of the Sealed Albums still have these stickers on them, and in some rare cases, the stickers are written on. Some of the Sealed Albums have prices on them. This is the price you would have paid for this Sealed Album in 1978 if you had bought it at Phantasmagoria. If this Sealed Album has a price on it, please don't confuse the price with the current value for this Sealed Album.

- - -

• Hallelujah
• Let It Ride
• Shortening Bread
• Different Ways
• Fly Away
• Bluebird
• Who Ever Told You?
• Myself to You
• It's Not Easy
• Feather My Bed
• Forget Love

• Ben Benay: Guitar
• Paul Buckmaster: Synthesizer
• Larry Byrom: Guitar
• Mark Cipolla: Bass
• Merry Clayton: Vocals
• Chi Coltrane: Percussion, Keyboards, Vocals
• Barry DeSouza: Drums
• Paul Essard: Clarinet
• Alan Estes: Percussion
• Jim Gordon: Drums
• Emory Gordy: Bass
• John Gustafson: Bass
• Bobbye Hall: Percussion
• Chris Karan: Drums
• Jim Keltner: Drums
• Larry Knechtel: Bass
• Chris Laurence: Bass
• Steve Parsons: Drums
• Joe Puerta: Bass
• Lee Ritenour: Guitar
• Stephanie Spruill: Vocals
• Klaus Voormann: Bass

Album Review for "Let It Ride"

Review by Charles Donovan, All Music Guide

A year on from her first album, Coltrane took over production for Let It Ride, recorded at London's Trident Studios. The sound isn't vastly different, although there is more backing vocal support (from vastly talented stalwart Merry Clayton). Her songwriting was taking new and interesting turns. The debut had shown a gift for pastiche, but Let It Ride frees her skills to run a little wilder. "Flyaway Bluebird" creates an aural playground out of only a piano and a handful of vocalists, and is her finest moment. The title track opens as a rather routine ballad, only to transmogrify into an untamed, anguished masterpiece, reminiscent of Laura Nyro's best work. Coltrane reaches back to her classical training for "Forget Love" -- an icily sophisticated composition with a clever, almost Germanic piano accompaniment. The only criticism it's possible to level at Let It Ride is Coltrane's tendency to eat up musical genres and spit out instant, bite-size, expert examples of them. "Shortnin' Bread" sounds like an exercise from a "How to Play the Blues" textbook, and is the only time Coltrane's undoubted expertise is potentially tiresome. But when the only fault you can find with an artist is her own virtuosity, there's little point in finding it.

Chi Coltrane biography by Charles Donovan

When Chi Coltrane's first single, "Thunder and Lightning" made the US top 20 in 1972, it seemed like the auspicious start of a long and distinguished career.

The timing was right, and the performer appeared to have everything going for her - she was a prodigious pianist, a skilled composer, a fine vocalist, and distinctly photogenic. Furthermore, her style - a sort of ultra-sophisticated take on Carole King and Elton John - was perfect for the times. But, for various reasons (an aversion to self-promotion, in particular), she never consolidated her initial success, and settled instead for a small, but loyal cult following, both in North America and Europe. Chi (pronounced "shy") Coltrane (b.Nov 16, 1948 Racine, Wisconsin) was one of seven children born to a Canadian mother, and a German violinist father. She studied a number of instruments as a child, and gave her first piano recital at 12. In 1970, she formed Chicago Coltrane, playing blues, funk and gospel in local clubs and bars.

She was signed to Columbia in 1972, on the strength of a six-song demo tape, and her first album, the entirely self-written Chi Coltrane appeared that year. In November 1972, her first single "Thunder and Lightning" reached number 17.

Chi Coltrane was well-received critically, and spent three months in the lower reaches of the top 200.

In 1973 Coltrane attended the Salter School of Music in Los Angeles, and made another album (Let It Ride), which was greeted with similar acclaim to her first, but which failed to find an audience. Coltrane sought solace and inspiration in religion (she was allegedly fiercely committed to bible study, and Jesus, but disinclined to follow organised religion), and put her recording career on hold for a few years. Following the release of Road To Tomorrow in 1977, Coltrane moved to Europe and signed with Teldec, releasing three albums during the 80s, each with more of a new-wave, Euro-rock flavour than her early records. Since the last of these (1986's The Message), her profile has been extremely low. Apart from some soundtrack work in Germany, and a collaboration with Tangerine Dream in 1991, there has been little activity from her, although material from her first two albums appeared on CD during the 90s.

This sealed album is being sold as a collector's item and cannot be returned due to manufacturer's defects. It may be almost impossible to replace many of the sealed albums I am selling. If I am aware of any defects, I will list it in the notes and pictures above.

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All album reviews, credits and artist biographies are from AllMusic Guide. If you haven't been to their web site, you should check it out. It's one of the most comprehensive music references on the internet. In some cases, credits may include reissue (CD) information. Obviously any credits referenced to CDs might not apply to this release.

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