Complete Science Fiction Sessi [Double CD, Extra tracks, Original recording remastered, Import]

At last! SCIENCE FICTION on CD -- 24-bit mapped, and given the full Mosaic-style treatment by Michael Cuscuna. Included are 2 alternate takes and 1 never before released track from the original 1971 sessions, along with all the material from those sessions originally released in 1982 as BROKEN SHADOWS.

SCIENCE FICTION is the first Ornette record I heard, in 1975, and I still love it. Most of it sounds quite like the great Atlantic recordings of 1959-62, with Charlie Haden on bass, either Ed Blackwell or Billy Higgins on drums, and Don Cherry or Bobby Bradford on trumpet (and all 5 on some tracks). Dewey Redman, in Ornette's working band of the time, also plays on many of the tracks. The twist is that there are several vocal tracks -- the 2 with Asha Puthli, the female pop/classical singer from Bombay, are heartbreakingly beautiful. (Some critics did not approve, but they weren't listening!) The title track features the poet David Henderson, and it truly sounds like Science Fiction. Two more vocal tracks, from BROKEN SHADOWS, are more conventional, and frankly can be safely skipped. A highlight of the set is "Law Years," one of Ornette's best known and often covered compositions (by Old and New Dreams and Ken Vandermark, among others). The variety of styles and textures made the original SCIENCE FICTION, to me, Ornette's greatest accomplishment as a cohesive album. (Be aware that many critics disagreed.) There is a wrenching intensity to every track on the original album, the first 8 of the 19 collected here, making a statement greater than the sum of the individual pieces, a testimony to Ornette's compositional vision. It is interesting to find that "School Work" is the theme used in DANCING IN YOUR HEAD, Ornette's first electric Prime Time recording from 1976. That was to be Ornette's new direction following this work, so SCIENCE FICTION stands as the last great recording before Ornette's "Second Period."

Absolutely essential!

When all is said and done, these will go down as some of Ornette's greatest works. By the time he did these, he was very tight with Cherry, Haden, Higgins, Blackwell, and Redman so anything he did with those musicians was outstanding.

Some of the cuts (Civilization Day, Street Woman, Law Years, Country Town Blues) more or less follow the Atlantic model (see "Beauty is a Rare Thing")

There also are two very beautiful songs (What Reason Could I Give and All My Life) sung by a fabulous Indian singer (who later appeared on a recording by Henry Threadgill), and some more densely layered compositions (Rock the Clock, Science Fiction, Jungle Is A Skyscraper) with sizzling energy that captures the times they were recorded in.

There may be a few selections which are half-baked, but this is a box set whose purpose is to document a series of sessions.

Don't miss this masterpiece!

While other reviewers have mentioned that it would be useful to hear earlier Ornette albums to have some frame of reference for this one, it's the first Coleman album I ever heard: That said, I became absolutely immersed in it. The variation created by using so many different group configurations, keeps proceedings consistently strong and simultaneously varied. The tracks featuring the Indian vocalist are absolutely breathtaking, and Coleman's playing on these albums is at once obtuse and very catchy. While this music may be complex, it still manages to retain accessibility and warmth. This is the Coleman album I will keep coming back to.

Since writing my original review of this album, I have acquired "Beauty is a Rare Thing". While I would say that most of that material is somewhat more "essential" than the Complete Science Fiction Sessions, I still stand by my claim that this is as good an introduction as any. Other great starting points would be Change of the Century, The Shape of Jazz to Come, or the aforementioned boxed set if you're willing to take the plunge. You'll probably want to anyways once you get your feet wet.