FunkFreak75 It had been a few years since Terje's previous solo album, his incredible debut, Bleak House (1968) as he'd been studying in graduate school under George Russell--a man whose album George Russell Presents The Esoteric Circle (recorded in October of 1969 and released locally as "Jan Garberak with Terje Rypdal's Esoteric Circle"--considered by some as Jan Garbarak's debut album--but it was not published internationally until late 1971 by Bob Thiele's Flying Dutchman label) is considered one of the most important and influential albums in the history of Norwegian music. George was an American-born jazz musician who had chosen to make his home in Oslo in the early 1960s where he even became a professor at Norway's Conservatory of Music--where Terje and Jan Garbarek, Jon Christensen, and Arild Anderson all met and played in the school's jazz orchestra that recorded George Russell's Electronic Sonata for Souls Loved by Nature (recorded April 28, 1969; released January 1, 1971).

1. "Keep It Like That - Tight" (12:10) spacious-yet-steady syncopated bass and drums over which Terje issues strums of odd distorted electric guitar chords for five minutes. Then there is a dramatic shift (spliced?) into a slightly more straightforward section of same palette, different rhythm pattern, over which Jan Garbarek's tenor sax screeches and wails. At 8:49 the electric piano of Bobo Stenson suddenly rises into the middle of the mix (a blocked track that is now 'faded in'?) but it's Terje's distorted guitar that soon takes over in the lead position with some aggressive and abrasive soloing over the more-Miles Davis-like sound palette. Even some of the rhythmic and palette constructs feel as if they're direct imitations of In a Silent Way and some of Bitches Brew.) (17.25/25)

2. "Rainbow" (7:05) bowed bass and triangle and nut shell shakers open this one with a sinister feel. Oboe and clarinet join in to make a soundscape that feels like an outer space version of a Paul Winter Consort piece. Interesting, eerie, and cinematic. I'd love to see the music charts for this one! (13/15)

3. "Electric Fantasy" (15:45) more "space symphony" music using different instruments to create an initial sonic field to the previous song: drums, electric bass, Herbie Hancock Mwandishi-like electric piano, reverb-effected winds, fast-reverbed (and/or flanged) wah-ed electric guitar chords and even vocalese (courtesy of Inger Lise Rypdal) offer sound into a vacuum: the notes/chords fast-fading off into the distant stars as soon as they're issued. Very cool effects but about as memorable, melodic, or engaging as the previous song--even in the 11th-minute when the release of aggression and volume are ramped up (which all ends in the 12th-minute as everything goes back to the space music of the opening). Weird to claim one's highlight to be the vocalise from the female voice. (26/30)

4. "Lontano II" (3:10) more sinister music, this time feeling more industrial: as if music coming out of the mouths of tunnels or holes in the Earth. Bowed and effected bass and strained guitar chords, finger percussion, but mostly a show of engineering effects. (8.666667/10)

5. "Tough Enough" (4:45) solo electric guitar opening: some fast picking turning into gentle John McLaughlin-like chords, played off of by bassist Bjørner Andresen and Jon Christensen's drums. Though I don't really like this guitar sound and its blues-rock nature, the instrumental play and mix is my favorite on the album: there's actual motion and as if a story is being told as opposed to the spacious generations of soundscapes of all of the previous songs. These guys can play! (8.75/10)

Total time: 42:57

B-/3.5 stars; not my favorite Terje album or sound exhibition.

FunkFreak75 A 21-year old Norwegian guitarist bursts onto the world scene with some highly experimental "future" jazz in which he fuses together multiple genres of jazz and rock (with shocking facility) into tightly-designed compositions that profess a maturity and musical understanding far beyond his years. Recorded in three days during early October, its release date is somewhat controversial: either late in 1968 or early 1969.

1. "Dead Man´s Tale" (7:03) Hawai'in guitar over Hammond organ and blues band (with loud kick drum) over which Terje sings in a very lovely emotional voice. Total blues. Beautiful interplay between the Hammond and Terje's voice, guitar, and flute. Christian Reim's Hammond play is actually good even if his instrument is recorded a little dirty. (14/15)

2. "Wes" (4:15) big band horns with Terje's chameleonic guitar. The rhythm section sets up a couple of excellent swing patterns that they smoothly from, back and forth, over the course of the album. Great song with great solo performances from Wes and saxophonist Jan Garbarek. At times Terje's guitar sounds Wes Montgomery-like, at others less so. (9.25/10)

3. "Winter Serenade" (6:04) imitation wolf sounds with delicate piano tinkling and percussives open this before the piano takes over. Guitar sneakily joins in during the first half of the second minute with a lot of wobbling sounds--single string and whole fretboard. Horns and drums add a variety of wind-like bursts and gusts as the storm arrives and its intensity increases, varies, and wavers. Ingenious orchestration of musical instruments to achieve such a mirroring "reproduction" of Mother Nature. (9/10): - a) Falling Snow - b) Snow Storm - c) Melting Snow

4. "Bleak House" (7:05) this one starts out soft and slow, sounding very Sixties, but then the loud big band horns join in and the song becomes something totally different--even transforming the guitarist right before our ears. It's part Larry CORYELL, part DON ELLIS ORCHESTRA! The bass, drums, guitar, and saxophone performances are all excellent but it's those horns that carry this one over the top! An excellent, lively, and very melodic song. (14.25/15)

5. "Sonority" (5:21) a song of stunning emotion and tenderness--even from the horns! Terje's electric guitar expresses a feeling of such depth, pain and beauty as to evoke tears. I've only heard Roy Buchanan do it as well! The best song on a great album and one of the prettiest jazz songs I've ever heard. (10/10)

6. "A Feeling Of Harmony" (2:29) acoustic guitar, flute, and wordless voice scatting from the artist alone. Feels sounds like an intimate moment from Maestro John Martyn. (9.5/10)

Total time 33:05

A/five stars; a shocking revelation of masterful jazz-rock fusion; a remarkable achievement of music for 1967-68--with some breathtakingly beautiful music. One of the finest and most unforgettable musical listening experiences I've ever had the privilege of experiencing.

Steve Wyzard COMEBACK OR FINAL THOUGHTS?

For those of us who can never get enough of albums like What Comes After, Odyssey, and Chaser, this album came as a HUGE surprise. For the past 20 years, Terje Rypdal has entirely devoted himself to classical composition and experimental collaborations, as opposed to the fusion performances that saddled him with the sobriquet, "the Jimi Hendrix of Norway". Without warning, we are suddenly graced with a retro/throwback album called Conspiracy.

With Stale Storlokken on keyboards, Endre Hareide Hallre on basses, and Pal Thowsen on drums/percussion, Rypdal's worldwide fan-base can be forgiven for thinking this is an outtakes album from the late-1970s or early-1980s. All of the classic trademarks are here: the soaring, ascending, infinitely-sustained guitar tones, dreamy pre-digital organ textures, busy bass/drums, thunderous dirges, and a general howling, wind-driven sub-Arctic atmosphere.

Composed entirely by Rypdal, he never dominates the material and everybody receives a chance to show their stuff. Three tracks in particular deserve comment. "By His Lonesome" is an ethereal backdrop for a Hallre bass solo: Rypdal doesn't even enter until almost the 2-minute mark. "Baby Beautiful" (the longest track at 8:01) opens with tinkling tuned percussion before Thowsen (who longtime ECM listeners will remember from Arild Andersen's quartet in the 1970s) sets up a rhythmic pattern for the solos to follow. The album closer "Dawn" begins with a very low rumble, as if a huge double bass section is playing in the distance, before dissolving into guitar effects and then vanishing.

Recorded in Oslo in February 2019, the immediate initial reaction to Conspiracy regards its length: 35:04. We've come a long way from the mid-1990s where everybody felt it was obligatory to issue 65-minute albums. Now that the LP has returned to the mainstream, shorter albums are once again back in fashion, but at what cost? Rypdal is now in his 70s: the cynical are likely to dismiss this as just a cash-grab to help with inevitable healthcare costs. Some would suggest this is an exercise in nostalgia, perhaps an aural last-will-and-testament. When there is such a deep, accessible back-catalog (even tribute albums), one might be tempted to say, "Not bad, just not much." Conspiracy neither greatly adds to nor subtracts from Rypdal's recorded legacy, but is rather an excellent quick reminder of just what he did so uniquely well.

Steve Wyzard HIS BEST ALBUM OF THE 1980's

Many longtime Rypdal listeners pour contempt on his work from the 1980s, preferring instead to bow and worship before the altar of his 1970s albums. To this day, recordings such as What Comes After, Whenever I seem to be Far Away, Odyssey, Waves, and even After the Rain (a far inferior album) have passionately devoted cult followings. For 1985's Chaser, Rypdal opts for a simple power trio, with relatively little keyboards and no brass, woodwinds, or string orchestras. Bassist Bjorn Kjellemyr and drummer Auden Kleive would also accompany Rypdal on his next few albums, but none would have the fire, the intensity, the imagination, or the radical mood-swings of Chaser.

How can any Rypdal fan not be utterly floored by his howling, ferocious solo over a Kleive drum intro on "Ambiguity", one of his greatest recorded moments ever? Said solo suddenly staggers into rhythmic anthem rock just past the 3:10 mark before the original mood is finally resumed at the end. Turn it up to 20! Rypdal's furious, both-blues-and-jazz-influenced soloing has never been better heard or recorded. For further proof, listen to the wandering fluidity/rhythmic riffing of "Geysir" or the angular, frenzied, pseudo-soundtrack work of "Chaser".

What may rub some listeners the wrong way are the dramatic, atmospheric changes-of-pace inserted between the fiery improvising and faster-paced numbers. "Once upon a time", "A Closer Look", and "Ornen" all follow a similar pattern: slow, smoldering blues compositions that build to a guitar climax with much space for Kjellemyr and Kleive to add subtle, introspective solos. "Transition" is a brief guitar-over-keyboards piece, and "Imagi (Theme)" bids this world farewell-before-departure with tuned percussion and long-sustained tones that sound very close to guitar synth (which they very well may be, although the credits do not mention any guitar synth). In fact, this track points ahead to Rypdal's next album, 1987's Blue, which featured the same line-up but with more experimental gadgets, more keyboards, and is a much shorter and less memorable album than the austere-but-streamlined Chaser.

Many have suggested (or outright proclaimed) that Terje Rypdal is Norway's answer to Jimi Hendrix, Bill Frisell, or Steve Howe, when in actuality he is truly a category all to himself. While definitely an acquired taste, Chaser is his best album of the decade and one of his best ever. It is not a jazz album, a headbanging album, a blues album, or an experimental album, but a world of its own. Previous experience with Rypdal's playing is recommended but not necessary. I remain at a loss to understand why this set has been so maligned over the years. Maybe the backlash has more to do with the very un-ECM album cover rather than the brilliant playing and performances.

snobb Beginning in 1971, Norwegian guitarist, Terje Rypdal, became one of the most respected ECM label artists with a big collection of good and even great albums. Being an experimental musician by nature, his output spans jazz-rock,as well as classic and modern eclectic fusion. Probably in Terje's case, four decades of collaboration with ECM was a positive factor - he stayed as one of the label's few artists with a very personal musical face, and at the same time got wide distribution and support from the established music company.

Besides Rypdal's ECM history, there exists a much smaller, but interesting collection of his releases on other labels. His most interesting releases are his albums from the late 60s and very early 70s. His debut, "Bleak House", (on Norwegian Polydor) was re-released many times (on vinyl and CD) around Europe and Japan and is quite well known. His second release (on the same label), "Min Bul", came out in 1970 and stayed in the shade till now. Actually it was re-released (for the first time) in 2003 by EmArcy in Europe on CD (the other reissue is Norwegian collectible vinyl on Panorama,2008) but still, many of Rypdal's fans don't know this album even exists.

It's a pity, "Min Bul" is a highly experimental work for its time. On this album, a Norwegian guitar-bass-drums trio lead by Terje plays electric, often scratchy and even noisy fusion on the edge of avant garde jazz. The nearest work to compare to is probably Miles Davis' "A Tribute to Jack Johnson" , but it was released a year later! On the other hand, the same label (Polydor) released albums of similar concept that same year, (Jack Bruce "Things We Like" with John McLaughlin, Dick Heckstall-Smith and Jon Hiseman), but Terje's work is much more experimental and mature.

This album's opener, "I Cried A Million Tears Last Night", is one of the very early prototypes of NY downtown noisy guitar avant-garde that would be coming many years later. Probably nowadays, listeners might find some of the album's moments a bit dated, but it is undoubtedly a valuable historical release.