Restoration Ruin | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1968 [1] | |||
Recorded | March 12, 1968 [2] | |||
Studio | Atlantic, New York City, US | |||
Genre | Folk rock | |||
Length | 29:33 | |||
Label | Vortex Records | |||
Producer | George Avakian | |||
Keith Jarrett chronology | ||||
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Restoration Ruin is an album by Keith Jarrett on which he performs multiple instruments (including piano, organ, guitar, soprano saxophone, harmonica, recorder, bass guitar, drums, tambourine and sistrum), and sings his own lyrics. Recorded and released on the Atlantic Records subsidiary Vortex in 1968, [3] the album remains unique in Jarrett's catalogue, displaying a sound largely influenced by folk and progressive rock. It can be seen as the first part of an experimental period which explored neither traditional jazz nor classical music. Here Jarrett overdubs himself on various instruments, similar to the tribal Spirits (1985) or especially the free funk No End (2013, recorded in 1986). "Sioux City Sue New" was released as a 45 rpm single, backed with "You're Fortunate." [4] In 1999, Collectables Records reissued the album paired with the Art Ensemble of Chicago's Bap-Tizum . [5]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [6] |
The Penguin Guide to Jazz | [7] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [8] |
In his quite enthusiastic Jarrett's biography Ian Carr states:
As a bit of juvenilia, this is an impressive achievement in terms of instrumental competence, but as art it is disastrous. Although Jarrett has perfect pitch, he could not at this point sing very well at all and the lyrics—written by him—are often ludicrously banal. George Avakian, the producer of this album, says that it was Jarrett's idea, not his, and comments: "I was so embarrassed about it and that's one of the reasons Nesuhi [Ertegun] didn't want to keep Keith—because he hated that album." [9]
The AllMusic review by Richie Unterberger awarded the album 2½ stars, and states, "Restoration Ruin is a real oddity in the Jarrett catalog: a vocal album on which he plays all the instruments. And not a jazz vocal album, either, but a folk-rock one in which he alternates—quite literally, track to track—between sub-Dylan outings and more folk-Baroque ones that echo the late-'60s work of artists like Love and Tim Buckley". [6] The authors of the Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings commented: "The pieces are all very short, sometimes almost perfunctory, but there is no mistaking Jarrett's gifts and, as an exercise in instrumental eclecticism, it is a much more appealing and convincing performance than the later Spirits." [10]
All compositions are by Keith Jarrett.
Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It typically combines elements of folk and rock music together, it arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers such as Bob Dylan and the Byrds—several of whose members had earlier played in folk ensembles—attempted to blend the sounds of rock with their pre-existing folk repertoire, adopting the use of electric instrumentation and drums in a way previously discouraged in the U.S. folk community. The term "folk rock" was initially used in the U.S. music press in June 1965 to describe the Byrds' music.
December's Children (And Everybody's) is the fifth American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released in December 1965. It is primarily compiled from different released tracks from across the band's recording career up to that point, including the UK version of Out of Our Heads. Bassist Bill Wyman quotes Jagger in 1968 calling the record "[not] an album, it's just a collection of songs." Accordingly, it is only briefly detailed in Wyman's otherwise exhaustive book Rolling with the Stones. It features their then-recent transatlantic hit single "Get Off of My Cloud", as well as their own remake of Marianne Faithfull's Jagger/Richards-penned hit "As Tears Go By", which was released as the album's second single in the US.
Greatest Hits is a compilation album by the Canadian-American rock group the Band. It was released in 2000 on Capitol Records. The album was released in conjunction with remastered versions of the group's first four albums. It draws very heavily from these records, with thirteen of the eighteen tracks selected from Music from Big Pink, The Band, Stage Fright and Cahoots.
Mr. Tambourine Man is the debut studio album by the American rock band the Byrds, released on June 21, 1965, by Columbia Records. The album is characterized by the Byrds' signature sound of Jim McGuinn's 12-string Rickenbacker guitar and the band's complex harmony singing. The material on the album mostly consists of cover versions of folk songs, primarily composed by Bob Dylan, and originals written or co-written by singer Gene Clark. Along with the Dylan-penned single of the same name, Mr. Tambourine Man established the band as an internationally successful act and is widely regarded by critics as representing the first effective American challenge to the chart dominance of the Beatles and other British Invasion bands during the mid-1960s.
Bruce Langhorne was an American folk musician. He was active in the Greenwich Village folk scene in the 1960s, primarily as a session guitarist for folk albums and performances.
"Goin' Home" is a song recorded by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it was the longest popular music song at the time, coming in at 11 minutes and 35 seconds, and was the first extended rock improvisation released by a major recording act. It was included as the sixth track on side one of the United Kingdom version and the fifth track on side two of the American version of the band's 1966 studio album Aftermath.
Through the Morning, Through the Night is the second and final album from the country rock duo Dillard & Clark, released in September 1969.
Bleecker & MacDougal is the debut solo studio album by the American folk musician Fred Neil. It was released in May 1965 by Elektra Records. The recording, which unlike many folk albums at the time featured electric guitar backing, had an influence on the folk rock movement.
Life Between the Exit Signs is the first jazz album by pianist Keith Jarrett as a leader. It was recorded on May 4, 1967 at Atlantic Recording Studios, in New York City and released on April 1, 1968, under the record label Vortex, a subsidiary label of Atlantic Records. It is the first session featuring Jarrett, bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Paul Motian together. In 1999, Collectables Records reissued the album paired with Jarrett's El Juicio , and in 2004 Atlantic Records reissued it along with extensive liner notes by Professor Bill Dobbins.
Expectations is an album recorded by Keith Jarrett in 1972 and released on Columbia Records the same year. In addition to Jarrett, musicians on the recording include his "American quartet": Dewey Redman on tenor saxophone, Charlie Haden on bass, and Paul Motian on drums. Also featured are Sam Brown on electric guitar, Airto on percussion, as well as brass and string sections whose members are not credited in the album information. Expectations was produced by George Avakian, Jarrett's manager since 1966.
"Play with Fire" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, originally released as B-side to the song "The Last Time". It was later included on the American release of their 1965 album Out of Our Heads.
Treasure Island is an album recorded in February 1974 by Keith Jarrett and originally released by Impulse! in 1974. It features Jarrett's later-to-be-called "American Quartet" plus guitarist Sam Brown, and percussionists Guilherme Franco and Danny Johnson. Two months after recording Treasure Island, in April 1974, Jarrett would enter a studio in Norway to record Belonging with a group of Scandinavian players, later called Jarrett's "European group".
The Mourning of a Star is an album by Keith Jarrett recorded in 1971 with his regular working trio and released that same year by Atlantic Records. On five dates in July and August 1971 Jarrett went into the studio with Haden and Motian and, along with Dewey Redman on tenor saxophone, produced enough material for three albums, The Mourning of a Star, El Juicio and Birth. Although Dewey Redman does not appear on this album, the July and August 1971 sessions marked the metamorphosis of Jarrett's first trio into what would be his future quartet.
Birth is an album by Keith Jarrett recorded in 1971 and released the next year. On five dates in July and August 1971 Jarrett went into the studio with his trio augmented with Dewey Redman on tenor saxophone and produced enough material for three albums, The Mourning of a Star, El Juicio and Birth. These albums marked the emergence of what would later be called Jarrett's "American quartet."
Young Brigham is an album by American folk musician Ramblin' Jack Elliott, released in 1968.
The Even Dozen Jug Band is the debut and only studio album by the American jug band Even Dozen Jug Band, released in December 1963.
Spirits is a solo double album by Keith Jarrett recorded at his home studio over May–June 1985 in New Jersey and released on ECM September the following year, featuring Jarrett performing on various instruments he had on hand: two flutes, three sets of tablas, a shaker, six recorders, his voice, a soprano saxophone, a piano, a guitar, a glockenspiel, a tambourine, a cowbell, and a bağlama.
Book of Ways: The Feeling of Strings is a solo double album by American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett recorded over four hours in July 1986 and released on ECM September the following year, comprising nineteen clavichord improvisations.
No End is solo album by American pianist and composer Keith Jarrett, credited to "Solo/Band," recorded in 1986 at his home studio in New Jersey and released on ECM in November 2013.
The Guitar & Banjo of Reverend Gary Davis is an album by blues musician Reverend Gary Davis recorded in 1964 and released on the Prestige Folklore label.