01	Darkness falls						03:27
	02	Midnite						16:38
	03	Adagio						13:09
	04	Better off without you						07:30
	05	Over Birkerot						04:41
	06	Fare well						11:21
	07	Ballade						05:55

Recorded 1975, Oslo

"Odyssey" (ECM 1067/8) 1975

Review by Jeff Gower

With Whenever I Seem To Be Far Away, the confidence and unique style of Terje's playing first emerged, in my opinion. With his next release, Odyssey, Terje drove it home - he had arrived at his signature compositional and performance style of the 70s. This is what I consider to be the second consecutive "essential" Rypdal recording. I was my second Rypdal album, and remains one of my favorites.

This was recorded in August 1975 in Oslo, and features, in addition to Terje on guitar, string ensemble, and soprano saxophone: Torbjorn Sunde on trombone; Brynjulf Blix on organ; Sveinung Hovensjo on 6/4-string Fender bass; and Svein Christiansen on drums. This group was collectively known at the time as "Terje Rypdal Odyssey", and it was one of Terje's finest ensembles ever. The live recordings from this period are some of my favorite live Rypdal performances.

The CD opens up with the perfectly-titled (although most of Terje's tunes from this period, and other periods, had more than one title, depending on when they were performed) Darkness Falls - for the first time on a Rypdal recording, the very first sounds you hear are the confident and out-front wailing guitar of Terje. This is a GREAT opening tune! It really sets the mood of the entire CD so well in just a few minutes - the mood, that is, being DARK (darkness does seem to fall!) - this entire CD is very dark, almost sinister at times, in mood. But gorgeous and emotionally powerful, and yet not depressing (to me, anyway) - in fact, like much of the music I enjoy most, there are moments of sunny brilliance peaking through the darkness, which emphasizes the vivid contrasts in this great music (damn, I am starting to really sound like one of those vacuous music critics! sorry). Let me just say that although some would say this is definitive "winter music", I can listen to it anytime (after all, it was recorded in August, eh? haha).

The next track, Midnite, opens with a steady and repetive odd-metered (9/4) electric bass ostinato, similar to Keep it Like That - Tight, which opens Terje's first ECM CD, and Bend It, which opens Terje's second ECM CD. In this way, it starts off sounding like familiar material: bass ostinato, discordant chords, etc.. But this is better than the previous two similar tunes - more tightness, confidence, more compositionally interesting, etc.. We get to to hear Terje on soprano sax here - he does a good job of it, to my ears - very modal pensive playing, like that of early Garbarek (sans the virtuosity). Soon Sunde takes over on trombone - I enjoy Sunde's playing quite a bit - I think the lower-register brass instruments (trombone, french horn) sound great with early Rypdal - ingenious idea. At around 6 minutes into the piece, Hovensjo must have had enough with the 9/4 repetitive ostinato, because he lets loose with a few minutes of common-time bass groove, but we're back to the 9/4 ostinato soon. The main melody of the piece is a rather sunny-feeling thing in the midst of the darkness (between 8-10 minutes), and then Terje enters with his now-signature guitar work. Legato fade-ins, etc.. Great stuff! This was a great piece to perform live for TR's Odyssey.

The third track, Adagio, opens with some gorgeous-but-brooding organ by Blix - imagine stepping into a church and hearing this! Haha. Terje overlays a melodic line on string ensemble. Yes, this sounds dated today, but musically it is wonderful. It is appropriately titled, for I can imagine this being the Adagio movement of some larger marvelous symphonic work. I'd love to hear it orchestrated for traditional orchestral instruments, in fact. Anyway, soon Sune takes over melodic duties on trombone, and about half-way through, Terje fades in with that ecstatic guitar - yes! I remember when I first heard this album, I was struck by the utter originality of this music and this guitarist. I still am today. There have been guitarists that have tread Rypdalian stylistic waters since, but none have come close to Terje. At any rate, this is a superb track, and one of my favorites from early-70s Rypdal.

The next two tracks are shorter and allow Hovensjo to shine on his grungy bass leads (what is that, a ring modulator or something?). Better Off Without You is based on Terje's arpeggio of Am7sus4 variations, while Hovensjo cuts loose and Blix provides phase-shifted milky organ chords. Great track. Over Birkerot (which means "over the birk root" where "birk"="tree" - it basically means "running through the woods") is next up, and it also features Hovensjo's bass leads over Terje's gnarly chiming chords and Sunde's equally gnarly trombone - this is a more upbeat tune than Better Off Without You - it really rocks. This time, Terje and Brynulf trade licks on a wild-abandon funk ride - pure 70s fusion with a hard edge. This is not my favorite track on the CD, but at only 4:42, it is a nice break from the moodiness of the preceding tracks.

The next track, Fare Well, brings us back to the sombre and moody tone of Adagio. This is a gorgeous track - the opening string ensemble chord sequence is a reminder of what is to come on the superb After The Rain CD, especially Kjare Maren. Anyhow, when Terje comes in with the beautiful legato lead....well, this is IT, man! This is precisely what turned me into a Terje fan. And Sunde's trombone playing is again perfect for this music - to be honest, I like Sunde's trombone in Rypdal's music more than Mikkelborg's trumpet, but that is only a personal preference - I prefer the lower register darker tone of the trombone - it is not that I dislike Mikkelborg's playing because I consider him my favorite trumpet player! But back to Fare Well - this is one of those tracks you really can get lost in, like all of the After The Rain CD. Simply gorgeous, powerfully moving, and pure Rypdal. (I love the pull-offs that fade away at the end).

The last track (on the CD anyway) is Ballade, which again opens with a droning organ and milky phase-shifted wah-wah'd guitar arpeggios, but this time we are in for a real straightforward melodic treat, the main melody played on trombone. Terje's solo playing really appeals to me here - very expressive and rhymically "groovy" (sorry, but it is!) - this is a great track and a rather sunny (well, mildly so) ending to this heavily-moody CD. This is one of the Rypdal pieces I enjoy playing on solo guitar because of its melodicism.

For some reason, ECM decided to release this CD without the lengthy track Rolling Stone which was on the LP version - they claim to have done this "to enable the release of 'Odyssey' as a single Compact Disc". WHAT?! They remove what many consider to be a superb track from the recording just to save space, just so they wouldn't have to render the CD reissue a double-CD??!! Give me a break. Oh well, the CD is still a masterpiece even without this track. But still......you gotta wonder sometimes.

To conclude, I heartily recommend this CD without reservation to any person interested in Terje's music. This is a MUST-HAVE, in fact. Along with Whenever I Seem To Be Far Away, this is the CD that exhibits Rypdal in the dawn of his prime, stylistically and compositionally. If you have an hour of uninterrupted time, sit and listen to this one all the way through - man, talk about a trip! GET THIS CD.
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