In 1983, the ubiquitous composers' collective known as
Oregon left its old homestead of Vanguard Records and moved over to
Manfred Eicher's ECM. It was also one of the final recordings the band did with multi-instrumentalist
Collin Walcott; he was killed in a car accident a year later. Here's the strange thing about this date: Since the early '70s,
Oregon had been an acoustic, chamber jazz/improvisational group. ECM had seemed like a proper home to
Oregon from the beginning -- especially since
Ralph Towner, the group's guitarist and pianist -- had done tons of solo work for the label. So what's the first thing that appears on ECM?
Towner playing a Prophet 5 synthesizer on "The Rapids," a track that belongs firmly in
the Pat Metheny Group's canon -- even though he composed it. If he were trying for an imitation, he could never have gotten closer. With its crescendos,
Paul McCandless' swirling soprano lines lyrically cascading over the top, and the
Nana Vasconcelos-like percussion from
Walcott, it is identical in compositional structure to anything from
Offramp. The group improvisation "Beacon" is more in line with the band's musical aims, featuring
Glen Moore on viola and
McCandless on oboe, but
Towner still holds fast to the synth instead of a guitar or piano. The piece is a study in textures and contrasts, with both
Towner and
Moore providing tonal drones for
McCandless to move through and around. Of the rest, only "Taos" and "There Was No Moon That Night" are reminiscent of
Oregon's ingenious musical past. The rest are loosely knit improvisations that seem to go nowhere; they're shoddy studies in dynamics and color with scant traces of microtonal ambiences seeming to be literally thrown in for good measure. If this disc was supposed to signal a new direction in the band's development, somewhere along the line they slipped off track, and despite the use of a Prophet 5, went backwards.