Albert Ayler
Love Cry

 ★★★★

Albert Ayler is important to me; his emotional out-pour on the saxophone is one of the ultimate expressions in music. Not only that but his music is almost holy, it all seems so ghostly and ancient almost. I am wading through his discography and so far everything has proved to be so personal and touching that it's hard to not be moved (Minus New Grass, fuck that mistake).

This isn't his usual rhythm section, and I think Silva and Graves actually do great here. Some of the best complimentary playing I've heard in a long time, and also that harpsichordist; that instrument gives this such a spacey and otherworldly sound that I've only heard from the likes of Sun Ra before. The vocals are alright, not that interesting for me personally, I think I'd prefer the wordless vocalization from someone like Pharaoh Sanders.

I will say that this is a bit more lyrical and maybe more accessible than his earlier albums on the ESP label, but still something that is esoteric and complex. You can easily tell that his time in the army as a musician has influenced his music, almost all the songs start off as a sort of bugle call or march that leads to somewhere completely different. I think you can think of this almost as the romanticization of war. It starts of bold, proud and impenetrable. Soon havoc breaks loose and everything is different. 

Although this is sometimes my way at looking at his music, there's more to it than that. Ayler's passion penetrates any sort of metaphor or meaning, it's just raw humanity at its finest. 

Favorite Song: Zion Hill

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