Patty Waters - The Complete Esp-Disk Recordings CD

THE COMPLETE ESP-DISK RECORDINGS combines PATTY WATERS SINGS (1966) and COLLEGE TOUR (1967), Patty Waters's two LPs for the ESP label during the '60s, and her sole recording output until she reemerged in the '90s with LOVE SONGS. PATTY WATER SINGS was the debut that inspired a whole generation of avant-garde vocalists, including Yoko Ono and Diamanda Galas. The seven static Billie Holiday-like originals on the first side are more like found objects than songs, but the infamous screaming tour-de-force "Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair" remains a hair-raising performance. The performances heard on COLLEGE TOUR were culled from several New York State college appearances featuring the ESP-label roster, hence the appearances of pianists Burton Greene, Dave Burrell, and Ran Blake. Perhaps it's the live setting, but the musical feeling here is more emotionally holistic and organic than the dark and despairing SINGS. The singer even successfully tries on some standards like "Wild Is The Wind" and "It Never Entered My Mind" for size. Waters eventually gets around to her wild, emotionally abandoned thing on the last climactic track, "Song of the One (I Love) Or Love, My Love" but she keeps it relatively concise, in contrast in the scary vocal display on "Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair".

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