Combining two of his best
ESP recordings on one CD, the 1998 compilation of 1965's
Bells and 1964's
Prophecy is the tenor saxophonist at the peak of his powers.
Bells, originally released as an idiosyncratic one-sided LP, is a live set featuring
Albert Ayler, his trumpeter brother
Donald Ayler (this was their first recording together), alto saxophonist and
ESP labelmate
Charles Tyler, bassist
Lewis Worrell, and drummer
Sunny Murray, recorded live at New York's Town Hall. Although banded as a single track (and confusingly given the same title as an unrelated
Ayler composition),
Bells actually consists of a 20-minute medley of three
Ayler compositions, the incantatory "Spiritual Bells," "Holy Ghost," and the brief coda "No Name," with the middle piece the primary focus. The playing is positively ferocious, with all three reed and horn players swinging from wild solos to some even more out ensemble playing. In comparison, the trio date
Prophecy sounds almost normal. The four tracks (plus a second variation of
Ayler's early signature piece, "Ghosts") are, oddly, the same that appeared on
Ayler's
ESP debut,
Spiritual Unity. (
Prophecy was, in fact, recorded a month prior to
Spiritual Unity, although it came out much later.) Though both albums were recorded with the same sidemen, bassist
Gary Peacock and drummer
Sunny Murray,
Ayler's relentlessly questing solo style means that these performances differ greatly from the previous album, so thoroughly that other than the initial themes, they might as well be completely different songs. [A two-CD Expanded Edition of
Bells/Prophecy was released in 2016, featuring six additional tracks recorded at the Cellar Cafe during the
Prophecy trio date.] ~ Stewart Mason
![Pharoah [Expanded Edition]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0680899800822_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Pharoah [Expanded Edition]")
