Nothing Ever Was Anyway: Annette Peacock [Original recording reissued, Import]

Gary Peacock, Marilyn Crispell, Paul Motian | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 6, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording reissued, Import
• Label: Ecm Import
• ASIN: B000007Y6B
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #136,870 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For dedicated fans of Crispell and/or Annette Peacock, December 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Nothing Ever Was Anyway: Music of Annette Peacock (Audio CD)

Crispell's interpretations of the music of Annette Peacock are not for everyone. Most people have never heard of Peacock and have nothing to compare it to. Peacock's songs - all written, apparently, during the 60's are bitter-sweet, poingant in the extreme. Crispell brings her enormous power as a classically trained pianist to the interpretation of such little masterpieces as "Both" , "touching" and "open, to love". Inevitably the music must be compared to the definitive interpretations of the same music by Paul Bley's trio albums from the 60's and 70's. Crispell's approach is somewhat more lyrical if less dramatic. It is obvious that her drummer, Paul Motion, has listened to the nervous probing drumming of Barry Altschul who worked on Bley's albums. If you like this album, do explore Bley's work, especially early albums like "Ramblin'" and "open, to love". His later album, "Annette", likewise dedicated to Peacock's music, is to my mind, a little weak.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The art of the free jazz ballad, May 25, 2001

By 

N. Dorward "obsessive reviewer" (Toronto, ON Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nothing Ever Was Anyway: Annette Peacock (Audio CD)

When this recording came out in 1997 it was greeted with a lot of praise in the music press. I only belatedly got it last month; I was initially pretty disappointed with it, though I've come to appreciate it rather better since then. It is almost self-parodic in its fulfillment of the ECM aesthetic: two CDs of often ponderous & portentous but always immaculately-played & beautifully-recorded free-tempo ballads, by the cult composer/singer Annette Peacock. Crispell is best known for her combustible piano playing, which is one of the most individual developments of the Cecil Taylor line of free jazz. But there's always been something of a new-agey side to her music, too (not for nothing is one of her discs called _Gaia_); one might also more generously point to her increasingly obvious devotion to the music of Bill Evans (her earlier disc _Contrasts: Live at Yoshi's_ contains a couple Evans tunes...though she manages to mistake the structure of "Turn Out the Stars", alas). Her ballad-playing throughout her career has been typically heavily rubato, & often extravagantly rhapsodic & emotional; her rhapsodic side, though, is reigned in on _Nothing ever was, anyway_, & the tenor of the album is instead cool & understated for the most part. This is mostly sober & sombre stuff, though there's a fine humour on show in "cartoon".

As the foregoing suggests, this isn't an album that greatly moves me. But it would be churlish of me to give it a low rating, given the evident devotion of all the players involved to the music, & their often excellent performances. Paul Motian in particular is a key voice on the album--he's played with Crispell before, & they seem entirely in sync here; indeed, on several tracks Peacock either lays out entirely or plays very little, foregrounding the Crispell-Motian duet.

Two small notes. Annette Peacock herself guests on one track, "Dreams (If time weren't)". I think she's destined to remain a cult singer: some will find her wayward pitching as grating as fingernails on a chalkboard. That doesn't bother me unduly, but the sheer pretentiousness & awkward literariness of her lyrics do. -- Secondly: this album is issued as a double-CD but buyers should be aware that it contains only just a little more than could fit on a single disc. If the extra take of the title track that forms a coda to the 2nd disc had been omitted then it could have been a one-disc set.

A worthwhile recording, though I prefer some of Crispell's warmer & more varied discs like _Santuerio_. Those who enjoy it will want to catch _Amaryllis_, a recent disc that reunites this trio to perform their own material.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars priceless., March 22, 2005

By 

Lord Chimp (Monkey World) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nothing Ever Was Anyway: Annette Peacock (Audio CD)

There can be no doubt as to the beauty of this album, no matter what anyone thinks. Marilyn Crispell's first release on ECM, from 1997, reveals the stunning lyrical depth of which this free-improvisation-goddess is capable. But of course, she is but a part of the whole -- Paul Motian and Gary Peacock are the likewise essential to this immaculate album. The music performed is that of Annette Peacock, an influential and passionate artist of the avant-garde. One thing that makes this album remarkable is when you put in perspective the perceived natures of both Crispell and A. Peacock. Before this, Crispell specialized mainly in searing, atonal improvisation. But Annette Peacock's music is mysterious and stark, more "minimal" than "maximal". As unlikely as it might be, this album is one of the most heartstoppingly beautiful things ever created by mankind. Masterly in all respects, this is a gripping, quiet, beautiful work of art. A. Peacock herself appears on the album as guest for vocals on "Dreams (if time weren't)" -- her first recorded performance in 12-years. Otherwise, Crispell plays the adapted vocal lines with rapturous rhythmic accompaniment from Motian and Peacock.

Perhaps at this point, the overuse of the word "beautiful" in ANOTHER review for an ECM album might demand justification. But really, what else does one say? ECM simply has _that many_, uh, beautiful albums. And that "ECM sound" is not beautiful in any manner as pedestrian or superficial as that which aspires directly and intently for beauty (music which often feels emotionally empty and nonintuitive). Instead, one can only explain it verbally with a hollow truism: it is beautiful because it is beautiful. but if you know what I mean, then you _know_ what i mean. Not to mention that virtually all ECM releases have superlative sound production. More labels should be as good as ECM.

anyway, you must hear this album for your own sake. You are simply missing some of the most gorgeous music ever if you never hear it. And hearing it sooner is always better than hearing it later.