FAIRYLAND - Larry Coryell
by DiamondDog on Tuesday 08 November 2005

Larry Coryell - guitar and vocals on track 1 Chuck Rainey - bass Bernard Purdie - drums



Tracks:
1 Souls Dirge
2 Eskadalemuir
3 Stones
4 Further Explorations for Albert Stinson


FAIRYLAND was live recorded on June 18th in Montreux in Switzerland. Chuck Rainey and Bernard Purdie are his sidemen.

This album looks and sounds like AT THE VILLAGE GATE in New York. The band is stripped down, but sounds very powerful. 'Souls Dirge' is one of the gems on this album. Here you can hear Larry Coryell sing, but this time he sounds much better. The song is very mellow and easy listening. The solo is jazzy, but powerful. It wasn't the way Larry wanted to play, but "that's jazz" as he says at the end of the song.
Track 2 and 3 are very psychedelic and building up to some climax. They aren't very strong songs. The solo's of Larry Coryell are good, but they are getting bored on those songs. His lick and riffs aren't bad, but it sounds a little empty without a full backup band like for instance, the 11the House.
Track 4 is a finale. It's the same song as 'The Jam With Albert' on the album CORYELL. Good work and sound of the band and Larry. The last song give the whole performance a major boost. Sounds funky, raw and hard at the same time.

FAIRYLAND is not a bad live performance. Chuck Rainey, Bernard Purdie and Larry Coryell gives a good showmancraft on the world of FusionJazz. Larry Coryell plays awesome as usual, but it bores a little bit. Especially the songs on Track 2 and 3. They are too psychedelic and they are trying to build up some kind of excitement and trance. But they are not close to that, unfortunately. Only Track 1 is very good to listen to.


Rating:

60%