Planet End - Larry Coryell

Dec

9

Planet End - Larry Coryell

≡ Category: 1970s, Don't Bother, Fusion, Post Bop, Reviews |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

DON’T BOTHER

Rating:

Planet End seems like it would be a great record. It features two of guitarist Larry Coryell’s best groups — The Eleventh House and the same great band that graced the classic date Spaces: John McLaughlin on guitar, Chick Corea on keys, Miroslav Vitous on bass, and Billy Cobham on drums.

Alas, it was not to be.

The leadoff tune, Cover Girl, is underwhelming to start with, nothing more than a simplistic fusion tune. Compositionally speaking, it’s a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing. The solos by Coryell and Mike Mandel on electric piano are no great shakes either.

Tyrone, featuring the Spaces band, is an even bigger disappointment. Again, it’s an oversimplistic blues that goes into swing time for the solos. Chick Corea was apparently so bored that he inserts an annoying nursery rhyme-like riff over the form. McLaughlin, who has the first solo, employs a wah-wah pedal to little effect. Coryell doesn’t swing worth a damn in his solo and his melodic material isn’t interesting enough to compensate. Since Coryell obviously isn’t paying attention to his band, they try to follow him, resulting in a noisy free for all. Hey, sometimes free form group improvisation by master musicians works — just not here.

Rocks, a Randy Brecker composition that was featured on the Brecker Brothers’ debut album, is a great tune. I’m sorry to say that the Eleventh House rushes it, especially the introduction, so that you can’t appreciate the sophistication of the composition. I suppose if I had never heard the Brecker Brothers’ version, I would dig the funk of the main section, even though it’s rushed. Alphonse Mouzon is a great funk drummer, after all. The solos are no better. Mike Lawrence has nothing much to say on the trumpet, and Larry Coryell’s solo is a bunch of uninspired wanking. He’s been much better elsewhere. Besides, in retrospect, how could you possibly beat the Brecker Brother’s version on Heavy Metal Bebop, which is also available on the excellent compilation The Brecker Bros. Collection, reviewed elsewhere on this site, especially when you’ve got Randy and Michael Brecker laying down killer post-bop licks?

On The Eyes Of Love, Larry Coryell duets with himself. The results are scattershot. Some of it is charming. Most of it is thin sounding and creatively anemic.

There’s one more tune with the Spaces band minus Chick Corea, the eponymously titled Planet End, which is the highlight of the CD. It’s actually a decent tune. It comes across as an outtake from Spaces, which is actually a complement. The head is reasonably interesting, the swing section actually swings, and the band pays attention to each other for a change. McLaughlin’s solo is short but sweet and Coryell comps expertly behind him. The band follows Coryell’s free form solo quite well.

Still, one decent tune out of five is not a whole lot. And the entirety of Planet End is barely half an hour long, which is short even for the LP days.

One more clue about how dire Planet End is: not one tune is included on the Essential Larry Coryell compilation.

So, unless you’re a die hard fan of Larry Coryell or the Spaces album (that would be me), Planet End would be a waste of your hard earned money. Good thing I warned you, huh?