THIRD RAIL

SOUTH DELTA SPACE AGE

  1/  Dusted                                     (Weaver,Ulmer,Laswell)        7.07
  2/  Grounded                                   (Ulmer,Modeliste,Laswell)     4.26
  3/  Funk All Night                             (Ulmer)                       4.51
  4/  In the Name of                             (Ulmer)                       5.17
  5/  Please Tell Her                            (Ulmer)                       3.55
  6/  Itchin'                                    (Ulmer)                       4.48
  7/  Blues March                                (Ulmer,Modeliste)             7.45
  8/  First Blood                                (Ulmer)                       5.22
  9/  Lord Thank You                             (Ulmer)                       8.03

          Recorded and mixed at Greenpoint Studio, Brooklyn, New York
          Engineered by Robert Musso and Oz Fritz
          Assistant: Layng Martine
          Drum Tech: Artie Smith
          Material Inc: John Brown
          Axiom: Bill Murphy
          Switch Operator: Peter Wetherbee
          Invasion Group: Steven Saporta
          Produced by Bill Laswell and James Blood Ulmer
          Prepared for U.S. release by Nate Herr and Daniel Triana
          Mastered by Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk
James Blood Ulmer: electric guitars, vocals; Bernie Worrell: Hammond B-3 organ, clavinet; Bill Laswell: bass; Joseph "Zigaboo" Modeliste: drums, percussion; Amina Claudine Myers: Hammond B-3 organ, vocals, piano.

          1995 - Antilles (UK), 533 965-2 (CD)
          1997 - Antilles/Verve (USA), 314 533 965-2 (CD)

REVIEWS :

The first album by the James Blood Ulmer and Bill Laswell collaboration Third Rail is a sometimes confusing mishmash of styles; however, given the title, it appears that the juxtaposition of dirty blues-based grooves and spacey psychedelic jazz-funk is entirely intentional. Whether or not the combination is entirely satisfying is up to the listener, but while the album occasionally seems to have more ideas than it knows what to do with, most of them do work. These nine lengthy tracks (all four to eight minutes) aren't geared towards soloing - a shame since the group includes, besides Ulmer and Laswell, includes drummer Joseph Modeliste, keyboardist Bernie Worrell (who sticks to Hammond B-3 organ and funky '70s-style clavinet) and secondary singer and keyboardist Amina Claudine Myers - but collective grooves and Ulmer's bluesy vocals. The Hendrix-like rocker "First Blood" and the trance-like opener "Dusted" are the dual high points, but the album's only real flaw is Ulmer's lyrics, which prove that as a wordsmith, he's an excellent guitarist. (The mindless, repetitive "Funk All Night" is by far the worst offender.) Those looking for hair-raising soloing will likely be disappointed, but anyone interested in collective improvisation and soulful rock-influenced jazz will be interested.

4 1/2 stars out of 5

Stewart Mason (courtesy of the All Music Guide website)