From Amazon.co.uk
New York jazz rebel and advanced record collector Zorn has based several "concept" pieces around his key inspirational sources. Here, he's looking at
Ornette Coleman's prime 1960s tune-capsules, imploding them even further, accelerating up to thrash-metal speed, but keeping their careening intricacy intact. This has the effect of re-creating the furore of the time, re-translating the numbers into an updated cacophony, capturing the outrage felt before the originals were finally digested. Zorn's siren-squalling alto saxophone is doubled by Tim Berne, derailing any expectations of
Don Cherry trumpet-cloning. They also depart further from Ornette's classic quartet format with the addition of a second drummer. Joey Baron and Michael Vatcher take advantage of the echoey acoustic, crashing out artillery bursts from both sides, the curt themes often going through their whole head-banging barrage in barely over a minute. Zorn also includes four numbers from the 1980s, still very fresh when this album first came out. The 1987 "Feet Music" could almost have been its hit single, working around a straight dance-crash rhythm. An excellent disc to lure in the rock fan,
Spy vs. Spy delivers gut tension and cerebral satisfaction in equal measures, swiftly capped by serial orgasmic release.
--Martin Longley