Black Rock (James Blood Ulmer album) explained

Black Rock
Type:Album
Artist:James Blood Ulmer
Cover:Black Rock (James Blood Ulmer album).jpg
Released:1982
Recorded:1982
Genre:Jazz
Label:Columbia
Producer:James Blood Ulmer
Chronology:James Blood Ulmer
Prev Title:Free Lancing
Prev Year:1981
Next Title:Odyssey
Next Year:1983

Black Rock is an album by American guitarist James Blood Ulmer, recorded in 1982 and released on the Columbia label.[1] It was Ulmer's second of three albums recorded for a major label.

Reception

Robert Palmer of The New York Times praised the album upon its release, writing that "James (Blood) Ulmer's Black Rock actually lives up to its title...On the first side in particular, Mr. Ulmer, his wonderfully deft and mobile rhythm section, and his wife, the vocalist Irene Datcher, conspire to rethink guitar-band rock as radically as his earlier records rethought jazz-rock and funk. In a sense, he is attempting to transform rock much as Ornette Coleman transformed jazz in the 1960's - by opening it up rhythmically and re-emphasizing its roots in country blues and old time gospel music. The most ravishing tune on the album is 'Family Affair,' sung by Mr. Ulmer and Miss Datcher in a loose semi-unison that recalls the early country-gospel recordings of Blind Willie Johnson and features an exquisitely liquid, melodic guitar break that skirts much closer to conventional rock territory than anything Mr. Ulmer has recorded before...On the second side, he unleashes some of the most spectacular guitar pyrotechniques anyone has put on record in a long, long time."[2]

The AllMusic review by Thom Jurek stated: "Black Rock is among Blood's strongest records. As tough as Are You Glad to Be in America? and the Music Revelation Ensemble's No Wave, yet more accessible than either. This is a fitting introduction to Blood Ulmer's unique, knotty, and truly original guitar and composition style. Black Rock is all funk, rock, jazz, and punk, indivisible and under a one world groove".[3]

Trouser Press described both Black Rock and the previous Free Lancing as "technical masterpieces, making up in precision what they lack in emotion (as compared to Are You Glad to Be in America?). Working to expand his audience, Ulmer concentrates more on electric guitar flash, and actual melodies can be discerned from the improvised song structures (improvisation being one of the keys to harmolodics)."[4]

Track listing

All compositions by James Blood Ulmer except as indicated

  1. "Open House" – 5:21
  2. "Black Rock" – 3:23
  3. "Moonbeam" – 5:11
  4. "Family Affair" (Ulmer, Irene Datcher) – 7:26
  5. "More Blood" – 4:43
  6. "Love Have Two Faces" – 5:29
  7. "Overnight" – 3:26
  8. "Fun House" (Ulmer, Grant Calvin Weston) – 4:53
  9. "We Bop" – 2:58

Personnel

Notes and References

  1. http://outbreakin.hp.infoseek.co.jp/jamesulmer.htm James Blood Ulmer discography
  2. News: Palmer. Robert. Robert Palmer (American writer). THEY STAKE OUT THE FRONTIERS OF POP. The New York Times. New York. October 31, 1982. June 2, 2024.
  3. Jurek, T. [{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r149261|pure_url=yes}} AllMusic Review] accessed July 12, 2010
  4. Web site: James Blood Ulmer . Peter . Margasak . Peter Margasak . Graham Flashner . 2007 . . Trouser Press LLC . July 28, 2010.