FunkFreak75 For some reason the timeline of Larry Coryell album releases (and recording dates) is jumbled due to his prodigious production output (three albums in 1975, three albums in 1976, two in 1977, four in 1978, two in 1979, and two in 1981).

1. "Kowloon Jag" (5:48) opening with some raw, distorted electric guitar chord play Larry is giving the listener notice with this composition of his that this album is going to be a heavy and aggressive collection of songs similar to those presented to the world with CHICAGO's first three albums back in 1969, 1970 and 1971. The song unfolds with a syncopated jazz-rock motif with Eleventh House's usual full soundscape and an almost Al Di Meola machine gun approach to note and melody delivery from Larry. The psychedelic effects used on several of the instruments are disorienting for their scratchy, heavily distorted quality. John Lee is given quite a space to deliver a bass solo in the fullness of the fifth minute before a bass chords ushers the band to spit out a very tightly played motif of chord play to bring the song to its close. (9/10)

2. "Titus" (5:29) an interesting composition coming from rhythm guitarist Danny Toan, whose only work before this was with Larry Young's Fuel. That's a lot of confidence Larry's instilling in this youngster. What we have here is a quickly established motif that sounds as if it comes straight from James Brown's band, the JBs, horns and all. John Lee and Gerry Brown give the song a bit of a Disco feel from the bottom end, the guitarists adding to this effect, while the R&B horns spice it up like an AVERAGE WHITE BAND song. At the same time Larry grabs the lead with his loud, distorted and compressed bluesy guitar, only spelled by a brief solo from Dave Sanborn's alto sax in the fourth minute. The song kind of drags along repetitiously ad nauseum, even as Larry solos. It's just that (8.75/10)

3. "Pyramids" (5:21) some ISLEY BROTHERS/early KOOL AND THE GANG funk smooths out into some near-Disco stuff on this Mike Mandel composition. At 0:52 it then veers down a different road: somewhere in between the two. Lots of funk (even hand claps and slap-and-plucked bass!) and beneath Larry's bluesy guitar soloing. I'm a bit disappointed as I await some of his runs but only get blues scales and deeply bent notes in an almost BB King sound and style. (8.6667/10)

4. "Rodrigo Reflections" (4:39) solo acoustic guitar on this Coryell composition that sounds more like a cross between Al Di Meola, Shakti John McLaughlin, and Gene Autry. Until the fourth minute, I don't hear much that even remotely reminds me of the guitar music of Joachin Rodrigo. The horse-effect percussion spanning the length of the entire song is rather cheesy. (8.875/10) 5. "Yin-Yang" (4:42) a Lee & Brown composition, it has the mathematically rigid (and soulless) formulaic structure that is, unfortunately, often endemic to John & Gerry's songs but it is, thankfully, livened up quite substantially by the horns section, bass and rhythm guitar play, as well as Larry's electric guitar flashes. (8.75/10) 6. "Woman of Truth and Future" (6:06) though this Mike Mandel song starts out as a very pleasant and laid back spacious electric piano-led tune, it becomes a rather hypnotizing-borderline-obnoxiouss song as its second half is built over a whole-band two-bar riff that is repeated, without break, over the course of the song's final three minutes. It barely works without driving the listener crazy because it is such an unusual chord progression and melody line, but, at the same time, it is so mesmerizing that I often find myself totally tuning out the lead instruments on the top as I try to follow and figure out the odd melody path start to finish, over and over--and this is quite a feat due to the incredibly unusual "cat squealing" sounds being played over the top by Mike's synthesizer for part of that time. Unfortunately, Larry's guitar soloing in the final minute just finds itself buried in the carousel music of the rest of the band. At the same time, I rather like this song: as much if not more than any other on this album. (9/10)

7. "Ain't This" (5:02) thick, chunky rolling bass from composer John Lee is sandwiched between multiple funky keys and rhythm guitar tracks before being covered by the horn section and Larry's loud guitar. Of all the sounds Larry's used on the album up to this point, this is my favorite: it's quite raunchy but clear, like something between Jeff Beck, Ernie Isley, Hiram Bullock, and Dickie Betts & Duane Allman. Those "in-between" tracks from clavinet, electric piano, and very active and "talkative" rhythm guitar are quite amusing--make me want to come back to listen again. The horns are sharp and well-arranged, John's bass solid and tethering throughout, and Larry's guitar is some of the most enjoyable (for me) on the album. A very well developed and realized song. (9.25/10)

8. "Aspects" (4:24) back to a kind of early Kool & The Gang R&B (think "Hollywood Swingin'"). At the one minute mark everyone kind of shifts into Drive but then they hit thick highway traffic and have to make accommodations. I like the funk-R&Bness of this syncopated section. But traffic clears and smooths out and the band starts cruisin' down the highway giving Randy Brecker, Larry (using a Jan Akkerman-like guitar voice), and Mike Mandel plenty of excuses to shout out their enthusiasm for the speed and open top convertible. Definitely a top three song. (9.33333/10)

Total Time 41:31

A lot of the music on this album took many listens in order to capture all of the layers of sophistication being conveyed--an occupation that I very much enjoyed (despite the fact that R&B funk is not as much my jam as much as Jazz-funk is). Though this album may not be quite as enjoyable as its predecessor, it may offer a more mature and fully-developed selection of songs to the listener than Level One.

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of very tight, fully-formed R&B Funky Jazz-Rock Fusion.

Sean Trane This should be the Eleventh House’s fourth album (this is a confusing discography given the Planet End album and the regular appearance of non-EH tracks on EH albums) and might just be their last studio album as well. Sporting a ghostly artwork and produced by Randy Brecker, this album is rather different than previous ones, with Mouzon having moved on (replaced by Gary Brown), but Mandel (keyboards) and Lee (bass) are still around and the trumpet is now with the Japanese Terumasa Hino. Among the guests are the Brecker brothers, Sanborn and the usual Khan on guitar.

The opening Kowtoon Jag is a splendid song filled searing guitars from LC, but the whole band shines, with even in the ansence of Mouzon’s usual drumming, as Brown puts in his own paw in there. The closing section (just before the track ends with repeating the riff succession) with Lee’s bass is simply awesome. The ultra funky Titus has a brass section resembling Tower Of Power, with Coryell managing a soaring call and response guitar passage with them. Pyramids is again very funky tune, but the “big” brass section is gone and it gives even more room for Coryell and Khan, but Mandel pulls in some excellent synth lines (his track). The closing Rodrigo Reflections shall give the confirmation that there are some definitive Spanish overtones over the full vinyl side, but the track is an acoustic solo piece, that shouldn’t have fit on this album.

On the flipside, the very percussively funky Yin-Yang (penned by the rhythm section) is closer to Tower Of Power, EW&T, Commodores and Chic-type of funk than Eleventh House material with the prominent brass section. Mandel wrote the following Woman track, a slow starter, allowing him to play the electric piano and the track proceeding through a flurry of mood changes and tempos in a very prog manner. Excellent stuff. Some really cool swingy-funk brass section lines give a very fun edge to Ain’t It Is, as is the closing short but ultra fast closing title track and its awesome speed of execution.

Although Aspects is most likely the last of Eleventh House, it doesn’t mean that it is any less worthy than Introducing, Planet End, Level One or the live album. As a matter of fact, Aspects is more consistent and even than its predecessor. Excellent album giving an idea why EH was the better moment in LC’s career, but it won’t explain why EH never managed the success of RTF, WR, MO.