Terje Rypdal – Terje Rypdal

Early ECM, already bathed in reverb and Nordic winter vibes. Terje Rypdal at moments is a bit noisier than expected from label and artist. Imagine a Swedish John Mclaughlin just getting his first fuzz pedal. This record fits well with Bitches Brew, Tribute To Jack Johnson, Turn It Over and Zawinul's first Atlantic LP. TR's first three records are excellent and worth seeking out.

man, what an album! if i was forced to choose just one terje rypdal album, this would easily be my choice. i would be interested to know what rypdal was listening to when he made this LP. i can hear numerous influences here, but it's still very much his own thing. the music is distilled down to a minimalistic spaciousness, if that makes any sense. it's like the essence of something. it uses a lot of delay, echo and reverb and also uses the stereo effect of moving back and forth from the left to right speakers. all of his other early albums are just clarifications of this one, in my opinion. just a hard diamond of an album; excellent!

Fusion doesn't get much more "classic" than this. Terje Rypdal had long been refining his own twist on the music of Miles Davis, fusing in psychedelic rock elements and Nordic cultural flavours, adding space and depth, great playgrounds for infectious rhythms, textures, interplay and many a stunning solo. There was also an impressive cast of talent on this, ambitious in fact for an early ECM release.

It surprised me though to see only one LP pressing listed for this so far on Discogs, as I know of at least four. Collectors take note...
1st pressing green label with ECM logo, silver print. Laminated cover (is prone to peeling and yellowing with age), 1971
2nd pressing as 1st pressing but with labelcode, 1977+
3rd pressing revised dark teal label with ECM as font only, 1980's pressings, spray glazed cover, some withn PRS Hamburg emboss/stamp on the rear.
USA pressing as 1st pressing, but matt sleeve, made in US and WB dist (if I recall correctly)

Some early ECM albums also exist as white labels and black print in avant-garde font (before they had invented the ECM logo), but I think this one's slightly too late for that!