Audiopile Review: Every great artist has a singular moment when they produce something unique and unrepeatable. Arthur Russell clearly knew this, as he never even tried to recapture the magic unleashed by 1987’s ‘World of Echo’. Using voice and processed cello, Russell pulled nine-dimensional song structures from that ethereal zone where the meditative becomes transcendent. Some of his closest friends were disappointed that Arthur took a more musically conventional path after this, until his death in 1992. And we’ve always been peeved there seemingly wasn’t more of this stuff. Recently, though, more recordings from the ‘WoE’-era have emerged from Russell’s vault. ’Picture of Bunny Rabbit’ collected previously unheard material from this time. Live recordings in the ‘WoE’ style also started to appear on the Audika Records Bandcamp. The first to make it onto wax is our Record of the Week, ‘Open Vocal Phrases Where Songs Come in and Out’. There’s a reason this has been blessed with a vinyl edition. ‘Open Vocal Phrases…’ isn’t just a high-quality live bootleg or bonus-tracks compilation. Put it this way: The godlike Peter Hammill never made another record like ‘Nadir’s Big Chance’, his perfect meta-rock moment. And we’d all be delighted to hear a bunch of material unearthed from that album’s sessions and surrounding live gigs. But ‘Open Vocal Phrases’ is something even greater than that. This is an actual, proper album that simply captures Arthur Russell at a moment when he was miraculously able to conjure this extraordinary music out of thin air. Specifically, it was recorded just before Christmas 1985, at the legendary loft of minimalist composer and video artist Phill Niblock. The recording came out so well that Russell ended up editing some fragments into the final version of ‘World of Echo’. It’s truly incredible to hear these extended medleys unedited, with now-familiar songs mutating and melting into each other. While an audience was present, it’s clear that Arthur was sitting in a treehouse of his own imagining, inventing songs simply to enchant himself and maybe any squirrels who might wander by. It’s clear that he was utterly possessed by this music. And you will be, too.

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“Open Vocal Phrases, Where Songs Come in And Out and Sketches For World of Echo (AU 1029CD) offer two intimate unedited Arthur Russell solo live performances recorded at Phill Niblock’s Experimental Intermedia Foundation in Downtown NYC on 12/20/85 and 06/25/84. Phill curated and produced with Arthur both concerts at EI that would become part of the foundation for the World of Echo album. These extraordinary performances were recorded 18 months apart between 1984/85 by Steve Cellum and overseen by Phill and Arthur. Arthur would later edit sections from both concerts merging it with studio material recorded at Battery Sound to finalize the World of Echo album released in 1986. The double vinyl LP for Open Vocal Phrases, Where Songs Come in And Out includes the complete nineteen-minute-plus version of ‘Tower of Meaning/Rabbit’s Ear/Home Away’ along with the previously unreleased songs ‘That’s The Very Reason,’ and ‘Too Early to Tell.’ Side four includes two instrumental performances from the 06/25/84 Sketches for World of Echo performance, ‘Changing Forest’ and ‘Sunlit Water’ along with a full color insert and liner notes from Audika Records and Arthur Russell archivist Steve Knutson.”