Tony Williams Lifetime - Emergency, Nice Copy

	£		79
	$		105

The Item For Sale Is:

Artist:      Tony Williams Lifetime

Title:        Emergency!

Release info: Polydor (583 574) 1969 Original UK Issue Double Album

Condition (Sleeve 1st) : EX/EX

Track List: Emergency

   Beyond Games

   Where

   Vashkar

   Via The Spectrum Road

   Spectrum

   Sangria For Three

   Something Spiritual

Band Members: Tony Williams - Drums

    John McLaughlin - Guitar

    Larry Young - Organ

Produced By:   Monte Kay & Jack Lewis

Engineered By: Gene Radice

Former Miles Davis Drummer Tony Williams formed Lifetime in 1969 to pursue a more jazz-rock fusion sort of direction. This is their first album and like their second (“Turn It Over”) was originally ignored by all jazz fans at the time, although both are now considered classic albums. The reason for the rejection was obviously that these are by far more rock based albums than jazz based and both very much embrace the psychedelic spirit of the age with long tracks, well, long by rock standards but as they rarely break the ten minute barrier they could be considered too short by jazz buffs, with a jamming feel reminiscent of many of the psychedelic bands of the era.

For this album which was recorded with the trio made up of Williams together with the great John McLaughlin on guitar and Larry Young on organ Williams produced a dense intense album full of roaring keyboards and incisive guitar, a far stretch from what jazz fans of the era would have expected but in truth maybe not too far from Miles Davis’ “Bitches Brew” era recordings which appeared a year or so later, actually Davis himself admitted that this album was a huge influence on “Bitches Brew” and it was hearing “Emergency” that made him approach John McLaughlin to become part of his band.

Williams himself is considered one of the greatest jazz drummers and the way he plays here shows why as he effortlessly switches styles and tempos in midtrack. But it’s not just Williams who makes this album so good, it’s very much the work of all three musicians indeed the sound is so dense at times that you can’t imagine that only three people can possibly make such a noise. Young’s organ roars throughout in ways not previously heard on jazz records, creating a dense spaciness and trippy feel that was exclusive to rock albums at that time however he also plays with a jazz sensibility which ensures that the sound never goes too far out. The other key component was of course McLaughlin who’s guitar is, as always, as close to genius as it’s possible to get and which just adds to the psychedelic feel of the whole album.

I guess this album is essential on several different levels. For anyone collecting jazz fusion then as one of the pioneering albums in the field this is a must. But it’s also a must as a stepping stone for anyone into jazz who has any interest in late sixties rock music, particularly the psychedelic and early progressive eras and of course that stepping stone works in the other direction too. But really anyone interested in dense spacey psychedelia and early jazz edged progressive music should check this out too, no-one will be disappointed.

Condition:

Sleeve: Pretty strong. It’s a standard gatefold sleeve made of thickish card and laminated on the outside only manufactured by E J Day.

The front sleeve is nice really. It’s very clean with no tears or writing anywhere. The lamination has retained a nice shiny look without any creases but there is the usual line down the open edge of the sleeve where the lamination has shrunk over the years. There’s also just the merest hint of a circular mark where the disc sits inside the sleeve, not really ringwear as such but in time it could develop into ringwear if the record isn’t stored correctly, I’m currently storing the records and sleeve separately so this won’t get any more pronounced.

The rear is also in fine shape, clean with no writing and no tears. Again the lamination has a nice shiny look with no creases but it also has that same very very light circular indentation where the record sits. Again there is the line down the open edge where the lamination has shrunk over the years.

Inside the gatefold is clean with no writing, tears or creases. Again there is just the merest hint of the very beginning of some ringwear, nothing to worry about at the moment but care will need to be taken with storage to prevent this getting worse.

The top seams are totally unworn.

The bottom seams are also totally unworn.

The spine is wide and square and mostly unworn with all of the writing clearly readable. The only signs of wear on the sleeve appear at the very top and bottom of the spine where to corners have extremely small patches of wear, these really are very small and nothing to worry about.

On the whole a really nice example of a 37 year old record sleeve.

Records: Both discs are also in really nice shape. They’re made of thickish vinyl which has stood the test of time well. The stampers used are A1 and B1 on each record. When viewed under normal light the records are very clean and have a nice dark sheen with no visible surface marks. Even when viewed under a very harsh lamp there are only some very light hairline marks visible of the sort which are caused simply by taking the record in and out of the sleeve and are totally inaudible even at high volume.

All four labels are perfect, very clean with no writing, tears or stickers and no visible spindle wear.

When played both records are as good as you could hope for. The sound is clear and clean across the full dynamic range (although this isn’t helped much by the rather muddy production) and totally devoid of any distortion of any kind in either channel. There is no surface noise at all throughout the entire album even between tracks is totally silent at high volume which is a testament to how well these records were pressed and have been cared for. I’ve played and thoroughly enjoyed both of these records and there was nothing at all on either disc which spoiled my enjoyment of the tremendous music contained there and I would wholeheartedly recommend this copy to anyone who has even the slightest interest.

If you do decide to bid for this item I wish you luck and if not, well, thanks for looking and remember to look at my other items for sale you may find something more to your taste there.

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