A Love Supreme or Blue Train?

Tough question. Although, like others have said, these are totally unrelated recordings (the only common point would be that they are maybe Coltrane's most popular records), I like playing games like these. But I just can't decide.

I absolutely love "Blue Train"; the way Coltrane enters at the beginnig of his solo on the title track sends chills down my spine every time. But it's not a very representative record for Coltrane on the whole. It's more of a jam session, well, let's call it a jam session deluxe. The Penguin Guide is right in saying it's over-valued. Still, I love love love every minute of it because it oozes out excitement.

"A Love Supreme" I wouldn't call over-valued, although it would be easy for me to do that, because I don't like the album too much. There are other albums I enjoy much more, like "Giant Steps", "Coltrane Jazz", the fabulous "Coltrane Plays the Blues", the sublime "Coltrane's Sound", the magnificent "Africa/Brass", even "Interstellar Space". But "A Love Supreme"? I don't know, there is something weird about it, it seems to be on the edge between the softer Coltrane and the later, more avant-garde Coltrane, but it is neither.

But at the same time, from the first note on, "A Love Supreme" FEELS more significant than "Blue Train". So I just can't vote.

 

easily accessible vs. advanced listening...I can see stepping into jazz with one and evolving into the other.

 

A Love Supreme. I is virtually the ultimate concept album and Coltrane burns.

 

Apples and oranges. As was said before, these are two different Coltranes in two very different stages of his development. No use comparing them.

 

I prefer "A love supreme", although it's not my favourite Coltrane Impulse! album (that would rather be Africa/Brass or the Village Vanguard 1961 sessions)

I think "Blue Train" is just an above average hard bop session, and it's only that famous because it's a Blue Note album, and most jazz legends primarily recorded for other labels. That's makes "Blue Train" stand out both in Coltrane's discography as well as the Blue Note discography.

 

I chose A Love Supreme, but my favorite Coltrane album is My Favorite Things.

 

Tough call---I can't choose. I will say this though. Blue Train & A Love Supreme are (for me) the bookends of Trane's essential period. Everything prior to Blue Train I find him still searching for his style, and not really arriving yet (this includes his sideman appearances).
Everything after ALS I find to be too far out there for my tastes. But man...EVERYTHING Trane did from mid 1957 through 1964 is beautiful perfection!

 

I like how you mentioned that these two albums are bookends of Trane's essential period. That's perfectly stated. After A Love Supreme, Trane went out there. I personally like late period Trane, but I can understand why it might be off putting to others.

Although, to be fair, while most of what Trane was playing was far out after A Love Supreme, not everything was out there. He did still record some fairly easily accessible material in this period now and then. Case in point, this LP below.

 

I agree. Fwiw, that cover of Blue Train is beautiful, I can't tell you how many times I've seen it blown-up on a poster in record shops, a dorm room, etc. Blue Note covers are in general iconic, but Blue Train's is the most famous, so before I ever got my hands on it, the fact that it was so commonly seen may have built up my expectations for it.

 

I voted for A Love Supreme because it's great all over. Blue Train is great in parts, I particularly love the sound of the combination of tenor sax / trumpet / trombone. Giant Steps is my favourite Coltrane album, though.

 

I vote Love Supreme. As has been said, Blue Train is a great hard bop album -- it's less, to me, a great Coltrane album. If I weren't listening too hard, I might be able to confuse Blue Train with an album by another of the day's great bop band leaders. A Love Supreme, I could never identify w/ anyone but Coltrane.

 

I really prefer coltrane on prestige and Atlantic, a love supreme has always been given too much credit because of the pretenses under which it was created. So if I were to choose which is better for frequent listening sessions and representative of what Coltrane is really about it's Blue Train all the way.

 

I agree with many of the points made so far, in that A Love Supreme, while not necessarily my favorite Coltrane album, just has the feel of something truly groundbreaking, whereas Blue Train is "merely" a very good hard bop album. As others have argued, I don't believe the latter would even be considered a particularly significant album in Coltrane's discography if not for the iconic cover art and the haunting title tune. Put it in a different cover and replace the title track, and I think the album would be considered neither better nor worse than any of his Prestige albums.

 

+1

 

Thank you for articulating things so well. I went for A Love Supreme, but it is like comparing Exile on Main Street to England's Newest Hitmakers, just a totally different scenario.

 

Blue Train

 

Which Coltrane album sounds close to Kind Of Blue? In Your Opinion...

 

Of the ones I've heard, I think Olé sounds closest to KOB.

 

Both are great, but Love Supreme for me just because I'd listen to it more and it's a bit more interesting.

 

Love Supreme. But my fav is Coltrane's Sound

 

Not sure I can really cast a vote on this one. As said by many others these are two very different works from different periods. As great as Blue Train is, it does not reach the sublime levels of A Love Supreme IMO. If we were voting for the greater album then the vote would be easy as I think ALS is one of the great musical achievements.

However, I need to be in the right mood to listen to ALS and be wiling to concentrate and give it the attention it deserves. Blue Train is so easy to kick back and enjoy that on an annual basis I listen to that album much more. Plus, I can put it on for any company I may be having knowing pretty assuredly that even those unfamiliar with the album or Coltrane in general are going to enjoy it. So, for me, ALS is the greater work, but Blue Train is the more frequented album.

 

7 posts in, not bad.

 

Blue Train for sure.

 

So what? He was just giving his opinion, or is that not OK with you? Sheesh...

 

I love Blue Train. It is filled with excellent performances of fine compositions and has earned its place among the most revered jazz albums ever released. A Love Supreme, on the other hand, is impossible for me to qualify in terms of its achievement. I don't think I have the words even to describe what it invokes in me emotionally every time I listen to it.

That said, I feel the same about Ascension and Meditations. Perfect, both.

Brian