Orange - In the Midst of Chaos CD
SKU
05-DESTIJL064
"Free jazz group Orange's one and only release In The Midst Of Chaos was recorded in 1978 and became renowned saxophonist Paul Flaherty's first record. It's also the first and only release of legendary 'out' guitarist Barry Greika, who along with Bob Laramie on bass and Glen 'Hobbit' Peterson on drums remains a terribly under-recorded group. Orange made a screaming, blistering, howling slap of a record that defies categorization, as it pushed the already hazy '70s into uncharted confusion. An LP release of only 200 copies on its only run, it received the notice of seriously few. Besides the band, only two people definitely heard it; one sailed it out the kitchen window, the wife of the other demanded the thing leave the house. But as the times have changed, we're just certain it's gonna sell wildly now. So here you go, hardcore free-form improvisation enthusiastically rejuvenated, without shame."-Charles F. Destruction
"Jazz and improvised music have long held a certain appeal for fans of underground and outside art. Those who cut their teeth on the Fugs and protest music of the '60s found similar yelps offered among the jewels of the ESP-Disk catalog, and post-riot French students found solidarity (if briefly) with the Art Ensemble of Chicago. The do-it-yourself aesthetic of creative music is an easy thing to latch onto for followers of punk music and aesthetics, from privately pressed LPs and CDRs to concerts held in lofts and basements. Though punk is not always “protest” music in lyric form, the idea of the music as a self-reliance project is itself a statement filled with raw emotion and power, despite the fact that corporate-art society would have little to do with such grit..... There's a staggering unity in complete disunity, and that's part of Orange's charm and power. A lickety-split freebop pulse imbues Hobbit's Ed Blackwell/Denis Charles-influenced drumming as Greika's santur-like runs fill every leftover space with tart shards. Laramie seems in a different, slower and more allover sound world and Flaherty's energy is, at this point, given up towards a post-Coltrane muse. Most of the improvisations are brief windows on group interaction with no definable beginning or end (beyond the fade-in and fade- out), sometimes wrapped in the reverb and echo of a dub chamber. In the Midst of Chaos is delightfully cluttered and defines its own aesthetic center. More than quaint local charm, Orange are like nothing you've ever heard."-Clifford Allen/All About Jazz
- LabelDe Stijl
- UPC098787606423