Alice Coltrane – Radha-Krsna Nama Sankirtana

The first four tracks on this album are conventional, and very enjoyable, devotional singing. The fifth track, however, is something else and I cannot make up my mind whether it is pure genius or purely awful.

It is 19 minutes long and is comprised of Alice Coltrane on organ and her son, Arjuna John Coltrane, on drums. The liner notes describe this track as ‘the most challenging on the set in terms of its structure’. Dead right. The liner notes go on: ‘The track has both a feeling of propulsion, and dissection, of light and fragmentation. Alice’s organ shuffles between stubby, staccato phrases and shrieking legato notes that stand almost as universal birthpangs. Long extemporised volleys, where the timidity of Arjuna John’s drumming only heightens the menace of Alice’s guitar inflected playing, are punctuated by a recurrent fanfare that seems to rally soldiers for new engagements.’ Make of that what you will.

For me, the solo organ sometimes sounds like an Ornette Coleman sax solo and at other times a discordant guitar. Sometimes it sounds as if the recording itself is flawed as there is flutter and the music seems to vary in speed. The drumming is sparse and amateurish. I first heard the album on CD and frequently had to check that the CD was playing correctly as the track sounds, at times, as if it is coming out of a faulty player. All very disconcerting and unlike anything else I have heard over many decades of listening to music. Genius? Judge for yourself as it is available on Spotify.

PS. I subsequently learned that Coltrane Jnr was only 13 when this was recorded, which explains a lot.

PPS. This review refers to the Warner CD and not any vinyl record. I wanted this review to go on the main page as it is a general comment.

Surely digitally sourced but after a/b’ing it against Tidal through a hi-res streamer it does sound LESS digital. Overall a warmer thicker sound with the cymbals and high end coming through clearer too. The background is not silent though, more notice between tracks than overall. A nice buy if you don’t want to wait around to flip up on an OG. Has anyone compared this to the OG?

What a fantastic release! It's big for me and I like to reccomend this excellent mix of religious, jazz and world music. Usually I don't like too many vocals, but on this material voices are unique. Overall, superb, classic album.