NewCC0057: John Coltrane
- Blue Train (57): *****
- A Love Supreme (64): *****
- Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings (95): *****
- Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings (97): *****
- John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (63): *****
- The Major Works of John Coltrane (65): *****
- Giant Steps (60): *****
- My Favorite Things (61): *****
- Complete Africa / Brass Sessions (61): *****
- Coltrane Plays the Blues (62): *****
- Live at Birdland (63): *****
- Interstellar Space (74): **** 1/2
- John Coltrane: The Prestige Recordings (91): **** 1/2
- Cattin' with Coltrane and Quinichette (57): **** 1/2
- Coltrane [Prestige] (57): **** 1/2
- Black Pearls (58): **** 1/2
- Coltrane Jazz (61): **** 1/2
- Ole Coltrane (62): **** 1/2
- Ballads (62): **** 1/2
- Afro Blue Impressions (63): **** 1/2
- Coltrane's Sound (64): **** 1/2
- Live in Seattle (66): **** 1/2
- Meditations (66): **** 1/2
- Newport '63 (93): **** 1/2
- Live in Japan (73): ****
- Lush Life (57): ****
- Soultrane (58): ****
- The Believer (58): ****
- Settin' the Pace (58): ****
- Bahia (58): ****
- The Paris Concert (61): ****
- Bye Bye Blackbird (62): ****
- The European Tour (62): ****
- Coltrane [Impulse!] (62): ****
- Dear Old Stockholm (63): ****
- Crescent (64): ****
- Sun Ship (65): ****
- First Meditations (65): ****
- Transition (65): ****
- The Avant-Garde (66): ****
- Expression (67): ****
- The Gentle Side of John Coltrane (74): ****
- Stellar Regions (95): ****
- Coltrane Time (72): ****
- New Thing at Newport (65): ****
- Dakar (57): *** 1/2
- Traning In (57): *** 1/2
- The Last Trane (57): *** 1/2
- John Coltrane with Kenny Burrell (58): *** 1/2
- Stardust (58): *** 1/2
- The John Coltrane Quartet Plays (65): *** 1/2
- Live at the Village Vanguard Again! (66): *** 1/2
- The Bethlehem Years (57): *** 1/2
- Standard Coltrane (58): ***
- The Coltrane Legacy (70): ***
This is a new entry in an up-dated series I'm calling the New Critical Consensus. Several people have requested updates of the older series, and since critical opinions shift, I am revamping the entire system. I am averaging the opinions of several excellent music critics to produce a list of each artist's albums. Rather than using a number system, which was perhaps a bit clunky, I will now be using a five-star system. The albums will be listed in a recommended purchasing order, so new fans will have an idea of where the best place to start buying an artist's work is.
These are not my opinions, although, since I have chosen the critics used (and I'm using many), my taste will perhaps seep through a bit.
Terribly nerdy, I know, but maybe this will help people only now beginning to dabble into certain artists' bodies of work.
Scale:
***** - Masterpiece
**** 1/2 - Classic
**** - Great
*** 1/2 - Good
*** - Above Average
** 1/2 - Average
** - Below Average
* 1/2 - Bad
* - Terrible
1/2 - One of the worst albums ever
One quick note: The first two above were consistently highly praised and singled out for especial attention. They're probably your best bets for starting out.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs