THE REAL GREAT ESCAPE - Larry Coryell
by DiamondDog on Tuesday 08 November 2005
Larry Coryell - guitar, ARP synthesizer, vocals
Mervin Bronson - bass
Steve Marcus - tenor and soprano sax
Mike Mandel - piano, ARP synthesizer
Harry Wilkinson - drums
Tracks
01 The Real Great Escape
02 Are You Too Clever?
03 Love Life's Offering
04 Makes Me Wanna Shout
05 All My Love's Laughter
06 Scotland, pt. 2
07 P.F. Sloan
THE REAL GREAT ESCAPE from 1973 is more a popjazz album than a fusionjazz album. Larry Coryell gives his vocals another try here. Not his best vocal performance. On track 1 his vocals are very distorted and not clear. 'The Real Great Escape' sounds exciting musically with a lot of percussion, but it fails on keeping in shape because of the vocals.
'Are You Too Clever' on the other hand is a more succesful number on this album. It has a catchy melody and the guitar play of Larry Coryell and the play of Steve Marcus are splendid. Here's a good interaction between both musicians.
'Love Life's Offering' is a dreamy song with a dreamy voice of Larry Coryell and a simple but beautiful acoustic guitarplay. It sounds a little bit folky.
Unfortunately there are meaningless songs like 'Make Me Wanna Shout' and 'P.F. Sloan'. They are too messy with too much horns and shouting and gives the song a sound that is good enough for the Muppet Show.
'Scotland pt.2' is a good song because of the solo's. The first part of the song is a simple vocal song with a wink to the traditional Scotland sound. After the vocals comes the speedy funky/jazzy sound of the band. Larry gets the oppertunity to give a solo to add more color to the song.
THE REAL GREAT ESCAPE is not Larry Coryell's best album of his total catalogue. His vocals weren't that strong in the past. And THE REAL GREAT ESCAPE proves this. Although he gives it another try. Steve Marcus gives a good performance again. Mike Mandel stays in the background unfortunately. That goes also to Harry Wilkinson and Mervin Bronson. They are overclassed with a lot of horns and that doesn't make this album better. THE REAL GREAT ESCAPE doesn't give a listener a chance to listen to the uncanny skills of Larry Coryell. Other albums gives a listener/fan a better a view of the skills and techniques of Larry Coryell on his guitar. If you are a first time listener, skip this album. If you are a big fan, add this album to your collection to complete it.
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