Track Listing

1. Emergency - Tony Williams, The Tony Williams Lifetime
2. Beyond Games
3. Where
4. Vashkar
5. Via the Spectrum Road
6. Spectrum
7. Sangria for Three
8. Something Special

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #77971 in Music
• Released on: 1997-10-28
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Album Description
Japanese only pressing, 24-bit remastered reissue of the late jazz/fusion drummer's 1969 album. Sony. 2005.

Amazon.com
Williams's group Lifetime, which looked on paper like an organ jazz-funk trio, produced in 1969 this headlong hybrid from jazz complexity and rock immediacy. Williams, fresh from edging Davis towards his jazz-rock-soul period, concocts a driving, high-volume fusion that has more conviction and flare than anyone else's would until the advent of the great Mahavishnu Orchestra a couple of years later. That band was led by Williams's collaborator here, John McLaughlin, as blistering and savvy a guitarist as any jazz-rock saw. Larry Young's organ is a skirmishing juggernaut, clearing and blasting into space above, behind, beneath, and between the drummer's crashing, jittering rhythms. A cautionary note: To be sure, Williams's singing on Emergency! is brave, at best, but it is blessedly limited. --Peter Monaghan

Customer Reviews

Too bad there are only 5 stars
I was there when this band was playing opposite Herbie Hancock at the Village Vanguard. Tony had just brought John McLaughlin over from England, and he was recording 'In a Silent Way' with Miles at the time. I was totally blown away by the garage band sound and the exotic, funky Bley tunes. This was art. I wore out a stylus and the vinyl long ago. I remember the old ampeg amp and the stratocaster, the Hammond B3 and the mike inside the hi-hat cymbal. Wish I could give another 5 stars.

Down 'n' dirty fusion.
Alright, I think we can all agree that the sound quality is atrocious, and that Tony's singing (think a hungover Dylan) doesn't do this album any favors.. but the music is hotter than a lava flow.

This stuff is raw, innovative (1969) fusion that thoroughly emphasizes the ROCK half of the equation. Not as sophisticated as McLaughlin's own Mahavishnu Orchestra or Tony's later albums with Allan Holdsworth, but fiery and inspired trio work nonetheless. Larry Young, McLaughlin, and Williams are all playing like they're locked in the studio with guns pointed at their heads; especially Williams, who was probably tired of being held back in his collaborations with Miles, and totally cuts loose here (listen to him on the title track--he's just not HUMAN, I tell you). And Young's cosmic organ kicks it into the stratosphere. Listen to him play off of John on Sangria For Three. Mindblowing!

Minus the vocals, this is landmark music and essential listening for jazz/fusion heads, as is the 1970 followup Turn It Over. About as far removed from the soundtrack of "Miami Vice" as you can imagine.

Fantastic record - real energy and essence
Blues, rock, and jazz are all in here but strained down to their essence and played with tremendous energy. Three virtuoso musicians coalesce into something great. This is a wild wild wild trip and the music is a real layer of sonic energy. Williams' drumming it at its greatest and most idiosynchratic, and McLaughlin's guitar playing combines the best elements of his work with Miles and early Mahavishnu. Unlike anything else ever recorded and a real underappreciated classic work.