UPDATE: Gaaaah!!! How could I draft and publish this post and not actually link to the music!? Beats me… but that appears to be what I did. Oh dear…
Thanks to Cy, whoever they may be, for posting this ‘original release’ version.
I have to say I’m not just perplexed – even though it’s explained in the liner notes – but I’m angry, that the much more recent ‘official’ release of Turiya Sings, on Impulse, 2021, stripped away the strings. Losing some of the synths? I could live with that. But I want to hear the strings.
I understand what Ravi Coltrane is saying, when he explains his reasons for doing so…* But surely they could have, and indeed should have, put out a set including both versions. It’s possible that wasn’t possible. I’ve read that the full/original master tapes have proven elusive.
But, returning to the theme of the sad missed opportunity, I think, given her history – mostly to do with being in the shadow of her more famed husband – it’s quite astonishing that even her own progeny, even if by force of circumstance, collude in the continued ‘curation’ (or, as I see it, tampering) that has beset some of Alice’s work.
The negative reaction to what Alice did with some of her husband’s music, most specifically on the brilliant – but much maligned (at the time) – Infinity, is a form of antecedent.
I believe there is a CD version of the full Alice mix – with strings/synth – on the Italian B. Free label. I’m trying to get a copy. I’ve also read that numerous unofficial releases of the original cassette version have been made, over the years. But, in the meantime, at least the music is online, so we can hear what Alice intended.
* “While producing her last Impulse release, Translinear Light, I came across some mixes of tracks from Turiya Sings that did not include the overdubbed material and only featured Alice’s voice and her accompaniment on Wurlitzer organ. As dynamic and bold as the original version is, hearing my mother sing and play in this stripped-down, intimate setting revealed the true heart and soul of these songs. In this form, I could hear every nuance and inflection in her vocal performance and feel the weight of her rock-solid pulse and timing and (dare I say it) groove on the Wurlitzer. And, most importantly, in this setting, I felt the greatest sense of her passion, devotion, and exaltation in singing these songs in praise of the Supreme.
In that moment, I knew people needed to hear Turiya Sings in this context.”
Ravi Coltrane, Turiya Sings liner notes.