5 September 2008

Ray Russell - Rites and Rituals 1971 LP rip


When I bought this LP, thirty odd years ago, I'd never heard of Ray Russell. I bought it primarily because it featured Harry Beckett, who was, and still is, a big favourite of mine. Funnily enough, all these years later, I've still heard little of him, though apparently he is a cult figure in some quarters, and has made numerous recordings. His style on this recording is akin to that of John McLaughlin at the time, and is accompanied my some stalwarts of the British 70s jazz scene. Runswick is also a bit of an enigma to me. This is the only example of his work I've heard, but he really is excellent on both accoustic and electric bass.

I've included quite a lengthy resume of Russell's career in the rip for those people who can be bothered to read such stuff. Somewhat surprisingly, he's composed and recorded a number of TV theme tunes, including one which will be familiar to Brits - "Bergerac", the 80s detective series set in Jersey, that hotbed of crime, starring John (Barnaby) Nettles.

Details:

Ray Russell - gt
Tony Roberts - reeds
Harry Beckett - flg
Nick Evans - tb
Daryl Runswick - bass
Alan Rushton - dr

Tracks
Sarana
Rites and Rituals
Abyss
Cradle Hill

Recorded De Lane Lea Studios August 1970
Relased on CBS 64271

MP3 and Flac links in comments. Sorry no covers, no scanner at the moment.
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31 comments:

  1. Boromir5 September 2008 at 15:11:00 CEST

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  2. Dr Wommm5 September 2008 at 16:29:00 CEST

    Thanks so much for this, I lost my copy in a house move, and then discovered that the reissue had been deleted. Ray Russell is a bit of a neglected genius, and this, along with Secret Asylum are lost classics which deserve way more recognition than they've ever got in the past.

    Nice work Sir.

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  3. 10096 September 2008 at 00:09:00 CEST

    I highly recommend that people pick this up & then run out & buy Secret Asylum, wch has finally been reissued. Russell had a moment, man, & this was it.

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  4. Wallofsound6 September 2008 at 10:01:00 CEST

    Great post. I hope others enjoy this. Other Russell recordings would be very welcome, especially Dragon Hill and Live at the ICA. The Russell reissues from about eight years ago seem to go out of print before I could get hold of them all.

    It's still hard to believe that CBS (Columbia) signed Russell up in the late 1960s. Perhaps they were responding to McLaughlin's success with Miles Davis.

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  5. dalemcbdnl6 September 2008 at 11:46:00 CEST

    Hi WOS. This was certainly early interesting fusion. The comparison you and Boromir make with McLaughlin seems valid. I also hear Sharrock at times and maybe even some Hendricks. I went to Russell's My Space site and the snippet (of current work) he shared was pretty much rock'nroll or Eleventh House remake OR Soft Machine (w Holdsworth) imitation. Competent but I don't think it was nearly as interesting musically as this LP. I'm not familiar with Dragon Hill; I'll look around for a copy as well as Secret Asylum.

    Anyway, Thanks Boromir. A strong fusion post.

    Dale

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  6. kinabalu6 September 2008 at 12:49:00 CEST

    Thanks for this one, Boromir. I've been on the look-out for this for quite a while, so good to see it here.

    I have got a couple of Becketts with Ray Russell on the Ogun label which I could put up here if there's an interest.

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  7. Boromir6 September 2008 at 12:55:00 CEST

    Thanks to all for the interest in this post. Yes it seems that Russell went "commercial" and left his best stuff behind.
    Kinabalu, The Ogun's would be much appreciated.

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  8. Boromir6 September 2008 at 13:13:00 CEST

    I've found a site with 2 more Russell recordings:-
    http://direct-waves.blogspot.com/

    The links are over a year old, but still active. One is Secret Asylum which 1009 say has been reissued. I leave it to your own consciences.

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  9. 10096 September 2008 at 19:03:00 CEST

    That's right, Boromir. I first heard Secret Asylum by downloading it from Direct Waves -- then I went out & bought it when it was released on cd! This is the way this shit is supposed to work, right?

    Anyhow, the Direct Waves d/l is a vinyl rip, which although good, cannot stand up to the remastering that was done with the cd. You can buy it from Dusty Groove here:

    http://tinyurl.com/65mqhz

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  10. 10096 September 2008 at 19:07:00 CEST

    & here's a rip of the Dragon Hill cd, which I believe to be oop:

    mp3@320:

    http://www.sendspace.com/file/obsjg3

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  11. Boromir6 September 2008 at 19:35:00 CEST

    1009,
    Yeah, I think Dragon Hill is definitely OOP. Unfortunately, your link has expired too. Any chance of a re-up.
    I did d/l the Secret Asylum, only skim listened so far. Judging by the start of the record he'd been listening to Hendrix.

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  12. 10096 September 2008 at 19:38:00 CEST

    Whoops, sorry about that. Here's the real link:

    http://www.megaupload.com/?d=I967R08R

    I love Gary Windo's work on Secret Asylum. That & Alan Shorter's Tes Esat are wonderful records.

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  13. Anonymous8 September 2008 at 21:01:00 CEST

    Bassist Darryl Runswick also played on Basil Kirchin's somewhat notorious (? infamous) "Quantum" album in 1973.

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  14. Tantris9 September 2008 at 15:01:00 CEST

    Boromir - I'm enjoying this; thanks very much.

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  15. Jean K9 September 2008 at 17:17:00 CEST

    Daryl Runswick has a homepage [googling will get it] He was playing electric bass the first time I ever saw Paul Bley. It was at the Country Club in London with a line up of PB on synths and electric keyboards, DR, Annette Peacock and Robert Wyatt. It made my then teenage hair stand on end.....

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  16. brown beard1 December 2008 at 07:33:00 CET

    Hi, thank you for posting this album, but the files seem to be truncated...each song stops abruptly in the middle of the piece. Is there something wrong with the mp3 rip?

    Thanks again, I hope to resolve this...

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  17. Anonymous7 December 2008 at 04:15:00 CET

    Thank you for this album! I love it even more than "Secret Asylum". Does anyone have Basil Kirchin's "Worlds Within Worlds" with normal quality? If anybody is interested in his "Quantum" (VBR ~198) i can upload it to rapidshare or wherever else.

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  18. grumpy22 May 2010 at 13:06:00 CEST

    Another gem and links still active. I used to have an LP entitled 'Turn Circle'(I think) but sold it years ago, what an idiot!
    Many thanks.

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  19. Norm20 January 2014 at 20:41:00 CET

    Ahh. Is a re-up of this possible?? Thanks for all you do!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Jimi Justin8 April 2015 at 02:31:00 CEST

    I would like to second the reqest for a reup of the flac files of this. Its simply nowhere else to be found. I checked the lists of reups before posting also. Thank you,
    Jimi

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  21. tpfkaa21 June 2015 at 05:22:00 CEST

    Re-up please? Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  22. kinabalu30 June 2015 at 00:29:00 CEST

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  23. Chiquilicuatre y Zappa4 July 2015 at 10:35:00 CEST

    Many Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous5 July 2015 at 11:57:00 CEST

    Thank you so much!!!

    ReplyDelete
  25. tpfkaa11 July 2015 at 17:05:00 CEST

    Thank you kinabalu.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Jason27 July 2015 at 22:31:00 CEST

    Just a heads up that you can buy the CD of this for $5 new from Wayside Music. Easily worth it, buying or downloading.

    http://www.waysidemusic.com/Music-Products/Russell-Ray-Rites-and-Rituals-%28Mega-Blowout-Sale%29__19-NW-spc-0038.aspx

    ReplyDelete
  27. Bhowani17 September 2015 at 10:19:00 CEST

    But where is the re-up ? I can't find the link.
    And there is no such a title at the blog given by Jason. I've just checked it : the ref. doesn't exist anymore.
    Any help, please ?...

    ReplyDelete
  28. kinabalu17 September 2015 at 15:37:00 CEST

    Google it and you'll find a bunch of online shops that sell it, cheaply, too. I found three on the first page.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Jimi Hendrix23 March 2016 at 02:49:00 CET

    Hii! is posible a re up please?? c:

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anonymous19 August 2016 at 19:10:00 CEST

    Hi,
    any chance for a lossless upload of this great album?
    thanks in advance
    Alex in Solex

    ReplyDelete
  31. Andy19 August 2016 at 20:22:00 CEST

    It seems incredibly cheap on Amazon
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rites-Rituals-Ray-Russell/dp/B006VUMXTE/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1471630858&sr=1-1&keywords=ray+russell

    ReplyDelete