Alice Coltrane: Eternity Vinyl LP

Released in 1976, Eternity was Alice Coltrane’s first album for Warner Bros. after eight long-players on “The House that Trane built”, Impulse! Records. Alice had recently moved to California where where she founded the Vedantic Center, an Ashram for spiritual studies. This change of location inspired an expansive and worldly record, combining the gospel and R&B of her youth with textures from traditional Indian music and the dissonance of modern classical composition. The album features a stirring reinterpretation of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (“Spring Sounds”) - her connection to Stravinsky is deep, she claims to have been visited by his spirit in a dream while working on 1972’s Lord of Lords. (He told her “I wanted you to receive my vote” before offering her an elixir in a glass vial.) “Om Supreme” is based around elements of Hindu devotional sounds, a precursor of the ecstatic devotional music she would later make with members of the Vedantic Center. “Spiritual Eternal” begins with pitch-bent Wurlitzer keys enlivened with a lush orchestra and and all-encompassing groove. “Wisdom Eye” is built on gently plucked harp and subtle acoustic tones, “Morning Worship” is more Wurlitzer vamps and endless percussion. This album is pressed on black vinyl and includes a printed insert with liner notes by Mark Richardson, packaged in a tip-on style sleeve.

• black vinyl pressing
• tip-on sleeve, includes insert with liner notes 
  
• music label: Superior Viaduct 2019

reviewed by KEPT A ROLLIN' 02/2020