''Emergency!'' is the debut

double album A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...

by American

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...

group The Tony Williams Lifetime featuring Williams with guitarist

John McLaughlin John or Jon McLaughlin may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John McLaughlin (musician) (born 1942), English jazz fusion guitarist, member of Mahavishnu Orchestra * Jon McLaughlin (musician) (born 1982), American singer-songwriter * John McLaugh ...

and organist Larry Young. It was recorded and released in 1969 and was one of the first significant fusion recordings. The album is commonly regarded as an influential album in the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

, and fusion genres.

Composition

According to jazz scholar Christopher Meeder, the Lifetime eschewed the funk influence of

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

' early fusion music with a mixture of heavy rock drumming and the "light, rapid

swing Swing or swinging may refer to: Apparatus * Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth * Pendulum, an object that swings * Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus * Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse * Swing rid ...

" that was Williams' signature. "''Emergency!'' synthesized the best elements of

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...

modal jazz Modal jazz is jazz that makes use of musical modes, often modulating among them to accompany the chords instead of relying on one tonal center used across the piece. Although precedents exist, modal jazz was crystallized as a theory by compose ...

, and

British rock British rock describes a wide variety of forms of music made in the United Kingdom. Since around 1964, with the "British Invasion" of the United States spearheaded by the Beatles, British rock music has had a considerable impact on the develop ...

", Meeder wrote, "and added a rhythmic complexity in tracks like 'Via the Spectrum Road,' a blues of sorts in the unusual time signature of 11/8." In

Paul Hegarty Paul Anthony Hegarty (born 25 July 1954 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish football player and manager. He was captain of Dundee United during their most successful era in the 1970s and 1980s, winning the Scottish league championship in 1983 and the ...

's opinion, the music was more oriented with progressive music's rock side rather than its jazz, fusing psychedelic elements while featuring "reprises, crescendos, an oscillation between the simpler time signatures of rock and the more progressive metres of jazz". He cited "Via the Spectrum Road" as an example of how Williams' singing approached the "non-rock, non-jazz softness" of progressive rock pioneer

Robert Wyatt Robert Wyatt (born Robert Wyatt-Ellidge, 28 January 1945) is a retired English musician. A founding member of the influential Canterbury scene bands Soft Machine and Matching Mole, he was initially a kit drummer and singer before becoming para ...

. "Via the Spectrum Road" was viewed by

Stuart Nicholson Stuart Nicholson may refer to: * Stuart Nicholson (footballer) (born 1987), English footballer * Stuart Nicholson (jazz historian) (born 1948), British jazz historian, biographer, music journalist, music critic, and academic * Stuart Nicholson (org ...

as one of the album's most blatant explorations of rock rhythms. "Spectrum", on the other hand, utilized rhythms from

post-bop Post-bop is a genre of small-combo jazz that evolved in the early to mid 1960s in the United States. Pioneers of the genre, such as Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, John Coltrane and Jackie McLean, crafted syntheses of ...

. Composed by McLaughlin, it was first recorded for his 1969 '' Extrapolation'' debut and was regarded by Nicholson as an extension of that album's "free-flowing approach ... but reinforced by the volume and energy associated with rock". A mistake during ''Emergency''s production led Meeder to believe it helped lend a "raw power" to the music: "A cynical engineer used to recording mainstream jazz recorded the band carelessly, allowing the tape to distort, unintentionally adding satisfyingly raw edges to the album."

Release and reception

''Emergency!'' was originally released in 1969 by

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

/ PolyGram Records, receiving widespread acclaim from major American publications. In a contemporary review for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'',

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

hailed Williams as "probably the best drummer in the world" and was astonished by the album, calling it "a frank extrapolation on the most raucous qualities of new thing jazz and wah-wah mannerist rock". ''

Coda Coda or CODA may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * Movie coda, a post-credits scene * ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television *''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...

'' was less enthusiastic, finding it "intriguing" with some "substantial" pieces of music but not as much as other

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

bands attempting the same kind of music, nor as imaginative and coherent as the music Williams, McLaughlin, and Young had made outside the group. The album was later issued on CD by

/ PolyGram Records in 1991 but with a "restoration" remix by

Phil Schaap Philip van Noorden Schaap (April 8, 1951September 7, 2021) was an American radio host, who specialized in jazz as a broadcaster, historian, archivist, and producer. He began presenting jazz shows on Columbia University's WKCR in 1970, and hoste ...

to overcome "Marked sonic problems". The original album mix was reissued on CD for the first time by

Verve Verve may refer to: Music * The Verve, an English rock band * ''The Verve E.P.'', a 1992 EP by The Verve * ''Verve'' (R. Stevie Moore album) * Verve Records, an American jazz record label Businesses * Verve Coffee Roasters, an American coffee ho ...

/ PolyGram Records in 1997. According to

J. D. Considine J. D. Considine (born 1957) is a music critic who has been writing about music professionally since 1977. Background J. D. Considine's work has been published in numerous newspapers and music magazines, and he has contributed to several books. ...

in ''

The Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'' (1992),

started on ''Emergency!'' where McLaughlin was first given the chance to combine jazz and rock. In a retrospective review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Leo Stanley said that it "shattered the boundaries between jazz and rock" with its "dense, adventurous, unpredictable soundscapes". Dennis Polkow of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' wrote that in spite of the album's questionable sound quality, the music has an "energy and spirit" that has never been surpassed in fusion. According to Nicholson, recordings like ''Emergency!'' and the 1975

LP ''

Agharta Agartha (sometimes Agartta, Agharti, Agarath, Agarta, Agharta, or Agarttha) is a legendary kingdom that is said to be located in the Earth's core. It is related to the belief in a hollow Earth and is a popular subject in esotericism. History The ...

'' showed jazz rock paralleling

by being "on the verge of creating a whole new musical language in the 1960s", suggesting the genre's "potential of evolving into something that might eventually define itself as a wholly independent genre quite apart from the sound and conventions of anything that had gone before." This development was stifled by commercialism, he said, as the genre "mutated into a peculiar species of jazz-inflected pop music that eventually took up residence on FM radio" at the end of the 1970s. ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: *Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * '' ...

'' regarded it as "jazz-rock's equivalent of ''

Are You Experienced? ''Are You Experienced'' is the debut studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Released in 1967, the LP was an immediate critical and commercial success, and it is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time. The album feature ...

''".Anon. (2007). ''Mojo'', Issues 158-161.

Track listing

;Side one # "Emergency" (Williams) – 9:37 # "Beyond Games" (Williams) – 8:19 ;Side two # "Where" (McLaughlin) – 12:11 # "Vashkar" (

Carla Bley Carla Bley (born Lovella May Borg; May 11, 1936) is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and bandleader. An important figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera '' Escalator over the Hill'' ...

) – 5:01 ;Side three # "Via the Spectrum Road" (McLaughlin, Williams) – 7:51 # "Spectrum" (McLaughlin) – 8:52 ;Side four # "Sangria for Three" (Williams) – 13:08 # "Something Spiritual" (Dave Herman) – 5:40 (Mistitled "Something Special" on some CD issues)

Personnel

The Tony Williams Lifetime

– electric and

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

s * Tony Williams –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Larry Young –

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

Production

1969 LP (Polydor) *

Ralph J. Gleason Ralph Joseph Gleason (March 1, 1917 – June 3, 1975) was an American music critic and columnist. He contributed for many years to the ''San Francisco Chronicle'', was a founding editor of ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, and cofounder of the Monterey ...

– Liner Notes *Elaine Gongora – Cover Design *

Monte Kay Monte Kay (September 18, 1924 – May 25, 1988)The New York Timesbr>obituary/ref> was an American musicians' agent and record producer. Kay acted as a talent scout and as the musical director of several night clubs on the New York jazz scene ...

– Producer *Jack Lewis – Producer *Sid Maurer – Art Direction, Photography *Gene Radice – Recording, Mixing 1991 CD (Polydor) Remix by

*James Isaacs – Liner Notes *Joseph M. Palmaccio – Digital Mastering, Final Editing *Paul Ramey – Reissue Producer *

– Liner Notes ("Engineer's Comments & Disclaimer"), Restoration, Remastering *Richard Seidel – Reissue Producer 1997 CD (Verve) Original Album Mix *Bill Levenson – Executive Producer *Gary N. Mayo – Remastering *John McDermott – Liner Notes *Jerry Rappaport – Reissue Producer *Richard Seidel – Executive Producer

References

External links

* {{Authority control The Tony Williams Lifetime albums 1969 debut albums Verve Records albums PolyGram albums Albums produced by Monte Kay Psychedelic rock albums by American artists Instrumental albums